Windows Setup Toolkit Tutorial Available for Download

• Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows version 3.1

SUMMARY

The Microsoft Setup Toolkit, included with version 3.1 of the Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK), is documented in the "Setup Toolkit for Windows" manual, also included with the SDK. Although this book provides a great deal of reference information about the setup tools, it does not provide a tutorial that explains how to use the tools.

SETTLKIT is a file in the Microsoft Software Library that contains a text file that describes using the Setup Toolkit and a set of exercises that build a simple set of installation disks.

Download SETTLKIT.EXE, a self-extracting file, from the Microsoft Software Library (MSL) on the following services:

• Microsoft Download Service (MSDL)

        Dial (206) 936-6735 to connect to MSDL
        Download SETTLKIT.EXE (size: 23632 bytes) 
  

• Internet (anonymous FTP)

        ftp ftp.microsoft.com
        Change to the \SOFTLIB\MSLFILES directory
        Get SETTLKIT.EXE (size: 23632 bytes) 
  

MORE INFORMATION

The SETTLKIT document demonstrates the basic use of the Microsoft Setup Toolkit, provided with version 3.1 of the Windows SDK. The Setup Toolkit is a collection of tools and programs designed to build a "setup" disk--that is, a floppy disk (or group of disks) that install one or more files onto a client's computer system.

Because the Setup program itself runs in the Windows environment, the Toolkit is aimed primarily at building installation disks for applications for the Windows environment. The Toolkit contains features that allow the setup disks to copy software and other data files to the target disk, create groups and program items in the Windows Program Manager, and create or modify profile (.INI) files. The tutorial does not discuss all of these features; it focuses on using the Setup disk layout tools and on creating a "basic" setup disk.

The tutorial discusses the following topics:

• Selecting the files to install on the target system.
• Including the required Toolkit files on the installation disks.
• Creating the required directory structure on the target disk.
• Controlling file compression and decompression.
• Using the Dsklayt and Dsklayt2 utilities in the Setup Toolkit.