DCOM95 For Windows 95 Redistribution Guidelines
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scriDCOM95 For Windows 95 Redistribution Guidelines
Uploaded by
scriDCOM95 for Windows 95
Redistribution Guidelines
Updated July 1, 1998
============================
If you depend on DCOM95 functionality, you have two options: redistribute the
updated system files (DCOM95) with your application, or point users at our DCOM95
web release. Pointing users at the web release is recommended if your application
will be downloaded from the web, since DCOM95 is fairly large and many users may
already have it.
Pointing Users at the Web Release
---------------------------------
If you want to point users at the web release, you can detect whether DCOM95 is
installed on the user's system. First check whether the user is running on Windows
NT or Windows 98. If so, the user does not need DCOM95 because the DCOM
functionality has been implemented into the operating systems. For DCOM bug fixes
on Windows NT and Windows 98, the user has to install latest service packs of the
corresponding operating system. If the user is running on Windows 95, then check
for the registry key
HKCR\CLSID\{bdc67890-4fc0-11d0-a805-00aa006d2ea4}\InstalledVersion = "a,b,c,d"
where a,b,c,d is the DCOM95 version number, eg. 4,71,0,2618. This key only exists
if DCOM95 has been successfully installed. If you need a particular build of
DCOM95, you can use the value of the key to determine whether that build has been
installed.
If you determine that DCOM95 needs to be installed, you should point users at
http://www.microsoft.com/com/dcom95/dcom95.htm, where they can read the download
instructions and release notes.
Redistributing DCOM95
---------------------
Before redistributing DCOM95, please read the redistribution section of the end-
user license agreement.
If you elect to redistribute DCOM95, you should include the files DCOM95.EXE and
optionally DCM95CFG.EXE on your distribution media. You should run these self-
extracting executables from your setup program. These executables will install the
correct files only if a more recent version is not already installed. They write
the correct registry entries required by DCOM95. They do not install anything on
Windows NT or Windows 98.
By default, DCOM95.EXE and DCM95CFG.EXE display a EULA and other prompts to the
user. DCOM95.EXE prompts the user to reboot the system on completion. If you run
either executable from your setup program, you may elect to run the self-
extracting executables in "silent" mode. You must prompt the user to reboot the
system when your setup program exits if DCOM95 has been installed.
To run either DCOM95.EXE or DCM95CFG.EXE in silent mode, use the command line:
[exe-name] /r:n /q:u