Automated Installation Verification
Erik Peter Wibeck · Diva portal (Dalarna University Library) · 2015
When installing a software product there is a risk that the installed product does not start after the installation or the software does not work as expected due to missing files or wrong/missing configuration. Also, when uninstalling the product, there is a risk that files and registry keys are left on the system which can lead to system instability. Software manufacturing companies are negatively affected by these issues: if the software does not install properly the end user perception of the product quality will be low regardless of the actual quality of the final product. This can lead to customer dissatisfaction, fewer customers, bad reviews and bottom line: loss of revenue.This thesis has implemented a stable and predictable solution to verify, in an automated approach, that a software installation has been executed as expected. This means that there are no side effects and no unexpected changes to the operating system. The result shows that the solution vastly improves the testing of a software installer compared to existing methods. The solution has been developed targeting the .NET platform on Windows 7 or newer. By automating the test execution it is now possible to tell the state of the software installer for every build. Monitoring the system in real time does detect all changes and who did the change, hence, all changes by the software installer are accounted for.