| Don’t require a reboot during installation |
Reboots – just say No! Nobody like reboots, they make everybody’s life more difficult and in most high-availability situations reboots are simply not acceptable. Installation of your application shouldn’t require a reboot except for the rarest of cases.
Typically, a reboot on Microsoft® Windows® 2000 should not be necessary, even if applications are running. Often installs reboot because they try to replace a file that is in use. However, on Windows 2000 files can often be replaced even while in use by using the MoveFileEx function, so you don’t need to reboot to replace these. Remember though, Windows 2000 protects operating system files as part of System File Protection, so applications shouldn’t attempt to replace them. Operating system files will be updated as a group via an operating system update package, instead of in a piecemeal fashion by individual applications.
In addition, Windows Installer automatically checks to see if other applications are using files that it is attempting to update. Windows Installer will then prompt the user to shutdown any apps that are using those files. If the user does this, then your application can install without a reboot. If the user opts not to shut down those applications, the Installer will prompt for a reboot.
The only two situations when you should consider a reboot are:
If you follow the guidelines contained in this issue, reboots should rarely, if ever occur. But even in situations when you absolutely HAVE to reboot, remember to give the user the option of rebooting later.