Written by: QA Spe_******ts of Network Test Direction, finally prepared by Liliya Smolyar, Junior Tester, Apriorit inc.

Contents

 
• Introduction
 
• Installation and uninstallation  process notions
 
• Types of  installation
 
• Testing of the  software installation
 
• Peculiarities of installation  testing for various applications
 
• How OS security  tools affect software installation
 
• Testing of repeated  installation
 
• Installation wizard  testing peculiarities
 
• Conclusion

Introduction

Working with the software starts  with its installation on the computer. During the installation, user gets the  first impression of a product. That’s why this process is very important and  claims certain attention.

  This article includes  practical recommendations on testing of software installation process and also  includes a bulk of ready tests that are a  good basis for a valid test plan preparation.

Installation  and uninstallation process notions

Installer is a program that  performs certain actions for software installation on a user computer such as:

 
• file copying to a destination folder on a hard disk;
 
• shortcuts creation;
 
• changes in the Registry;
 
• system files changing.

Widespread types of  installers:

 
• Windows: Windows Installer, InstallShield, Macrovision InstallAnywhere, Wise, SetupBuilder, Actual Installer, Smart Install Maker
 
• Linux: apt, rpm, dpkg, portage.

Software uninstallation  means deletion of all program  parts from the system (records in the Registry and in other system files, DLL  libraries in the WINDOWS/SYSTEM folder, etc.)

Types of  installation

Manual installation is a case when the software installation is performed without the  installer help or requires considerable user participation.

Automatic installation is an installation that does not require any user actions except its starting  (password entering, license agreement acceptance, etc.).

Self-installation is a fully  automatic installation that does not require an  initial start of the installation process.

Silent  installation. Messages and windows are not displayed during the installation of this  type.

Remote  installation is a type of installation when the control is performed from the remote  computer that is connected via LAN or serial cable.

Clear  installation is an installation that is performed in the absence of interfering  factors (files of the previous installation of this program, unstable OS mode, etc.).

Testing of the software installation

  During the first launch of the  installer, it proposes you to choose the installation mode.

  The principal moment, on which  you should concentrate during the testing,  is the control of correspondence of  installed components  to those chosen by  the user:

 
• Typical: For less experienced users, components are  installed by default.
 
• Custom: For advanced users, only the components chosen  by the user are installed.
 
• Full: Full installation of all components. All options  are included.
 
• After the installation, it is necessary to check recording  of the new data to the system Registry for the correctness, and successful  registration of a new application.
 
• Test it on different OS because the same installation  package can install different sets of files for different OS.

Peculiarities  of installation testing for various applications

  While testing, you should take into account specific of  installations of various applications.

Program packages

Pay close attention  to the work of the license agreement, i.e. check the program behavior at the  illegal license key entering. If the program validates the  key via the security server using the internet connection then the following tests  can be also performed:

 
• Try to install the program package with the disabled  internet connection.
 
• Check if it is possible to reuse the same license key  on several machines.

Antivirus software

  Antivirus software in most  cases conflicts with other installed antiviruses.  That’s why starting the antivirus installation testing you can single out two main  test cases:

 
• The system already has another antivirus application installed.  In this case, the launched installation must warn the user about the possible conflict with the installed  antivirus and propose to remove it or to cancel the installation.
 
• If the firewall is the only PC security tool, check  that the antivirus can redefine the protection responsibilities by  default to itself during the installation. This can be checked in the Security Center (Control Panel -> Security Center).

Drivers

  Driver installation testing should  be performed carefully and attentively.

 
• Make sure in the operability of the device after  installation, in case the OS installs standard drivers for it automatically. Usually  there are no problems in such cases.
 
• Test the incompatibility of drivers and the third-party driver installation in case you use  “Hardware Installation wizard” when a user is  proposed to choose driver and device it will be installed for.
 
• During the installation of drivers, which are supplied  with the software and hardware, check only the correctness of installation and  the operability of the device in the end of installation process.
 
• Check the possibility and correctness of rollback  after the canceling of unsigned driver installation by the system after warning  about the possible incompatibility.
 
• Test the installation of unsigned drivers in case such  installation is disabled (Control Panel -> System -> Hardware ->  Driver Signing).
 
• Make sure those temporary files, which are not  necessary for the work of application (*.tmp…), are deleted in case the program  contains files signed with MS certificate.

Games   

  Full-screen 3D games are the  most requiring for the PC hardware. Many games collect the information about  the system at the preliminary stage of installation.

 
• Check the installation of a game on PC with low  technical characteristics (e.g. install it on the corresponding virtual  machine). As a result a user should be informed  about the mismatch of system requirements.

Mail clients

  The installation of mail clients implies the choice of basic settings of  work with a client.

 
• Check various configurations: type of the server  access protocol (POP, IMAP4, MAPI), type of authentication and the connection port.

How OS security tools affect  software installation

Installation under different users

  As is known, for every Windows  user there is a folder with his own profile where different system settings are  stored. It refers also to the programs installed. That’s why installation  testing and starting a program for different users are the separate interesting  classes of testing. In this case, the following situations may occur:

 
• The program is installed for all users by default regardless of who installs it.
 
• The program is installed by default only for the user  who launches the installation.
 
• There is an option in the installation: “To install  the program for all users”/ “To install the program only for the current user”.

It should be mentioned in the  specification which of the installation variants your program uses. If it is  missed it is necessary to focus on common sense and the program functionality.

  Thus, the following tests should   be executed:

 
• Install the program under one user and then log in as  another user. Check the program behavior: either the program launches or it is  unavailable and its shortcuts must not appear in Start menu, Desktop, etc.
 
• Test the program launch for users with limited rights  in case it was installed for all users. In this case, the program can simply  fall at the attempt of performing some actions (e.g., at the first attempt to write  data to logs).

User permissions

 
• Also it is necessary to test the installation and the  first launch of a program for users with different rights. If the user rights  are not sufficient for starting of installation, the installation should not  run. Special case: a user has rights  for program installation but installation ends unsuccessfully. Reason: during  the installation program executes different actions with objects for which  additional rights are needed, e.g., the right to write in certain folders or to  connect to the data base.

UAC impact

  User Account Control is a Microsoft  Windows component that appeared first in Windows Vista OS. This component inquires  the confirmation of actions that require the administrator’s rights to protect  the computer from unauthorized use.

 
• Check the success of software installation with  enabled UAC.

There is a certain list of  actions that call the UAC message, e.g., writing to the system folders or  Registry branches, adding accounts, etc. If the program performs some actions  from this list, it must response correctly to the UAC reaction; especially it  concerns the silent installation.

  It can be enabled in such a  way:

  Vista:

 
• Select Control Panel  -> User Accounts.
 
• Turn User Account Control on or off.
 
• Select the options and click on the OK button.
 
• Restart your computer to apply the UAC settings.

Win7 has 4 UAC gradations (which  differ in the list of events that call UAC message), it is necessary to run  testing on the strictest gradation (Always notify). It can be enabled in such  way:

 
• Select Control Panel  -> User Accounts.
 
• Change User Account Control settings.
 
• Move the slider to the very top.
 
• Click OK.
 
• Restart the computer.

DEP impact

  Data Execution Prevention is a  set of software and hardware techniques that allow you to execute additional  testing of RAM contents and to prevent launching of a harmful code.

  DEP allows blocking viruses  and other malicious software that attempt executing their code out of system  memory space that is reserved for Windows and other authorized programs. After  discovering that a program uses system memory incorrectly, the DEP closes the  program forcibly and displays the appropriate message. Unlike the firewall or  antivirus program the DEP feature does not prevent the installation of  potentially unsafe programs. Instead of it monitoring is performed to make the  programs use system memory in the proper way. By default the DEP feature is  enabled only for basic programs and services of Windows OS.

 
• Test the installation and the first launch of the program  with enabled DEP function to make sure that your product uses the memory  correctly and the end user will not face problems if DEP is enabled.

DEP can be enabled in such  way:

  1. Right click on My Computer.

  2. Select Properties.

  3. In the Advanced tab, select Performance and click Settings.

  4. On the Data Execution Prevention tab, select the Turn on DEP for all  programs and services except those I select option.

Remote installation and  Firewall

  Your program must be ready to  be installed not from the local computer.

 
• Try to install the program from the network drive or  the share folder. In this case, installation must run successfully, just like  from the local disk.

Special  case:  programs that allow the installation from a single computer to all computers in  the network, domain, certain range of ip addresses,  etc. Such installation is not rather an object of installation testing, but a  separate functionality and is tested accordingly.

  Anyway, the remote  installation first of all faces the use of Firewall.

 
• Test the possibility of remote installation with enabled  Windows Firewall. Usually, having discovered, that the application connects via  the network, firewall proposes to enable or to reject or to add an exception.  You can try all 3 cases to look how the user will work with this application.

To  enable Firewallgo to  Control Panel -> Windows Firewall -> Change settings. Then launch the remote  installation.

  During the configuration of  environment for testing of remote installations pat attention to Exceptions in  the Firewall settings: Control Panel -> Windows Firewall -> Change  Settings -> Exceptions. Pay attention to all options that begin with the  word Remote. To perform the remote installation Firewall is often disabled but  if these options are included to Exceptions they will function and will not  allow to execute the installation.

Testing  of repeated installation

  During the repeated installation  it is often proposed to delete, update, recover or modify the installed  software.

Uninstall  (Remove) – deletion of a program.

 
• Check if all the components,  which the program entered to the system (files, registry records, library links,  etc.), were deleted after its uninstallation. Here  special utilities for system status monitoring can help.
 
• Check if the data, created  during the work with application, were saved.
 
• Check if the warning  message appears when trying to uninstall running application.

Repair – an application recovery if it was damaged.

 
• Delete some data from the  installation folder and the Registry. After using Repair, all the data must be  recovered.

Modify  (change) – change of  installation options after its termination.

 
• Install only the part of  available options during the first installation and while using the Modify function  add the rest (or cancel the installation of chosen options).

Update – update the program version.

 
• Check for the existent version update after using  Update.
 
• Make sure that after the installation of updates all  created earlier objects open and function correctly.
 
• Check the possibility of saving the document in the  old format in the updated version.
 
• The program must be tested for correctness after the  canceling the update process.

Installation  wizard testing peculiarities

  It is very important to test  the installation wizard as well.

 
• Test the navigation on wizard pages. Expected results:  entered data must be saved; having changed the data on the previous page check  for the appropriate change (or the answers reset) on the next pages.
 
• Make sure that wizard blocks the Next moves if the  data were not entered properly or the answer was chosen incorrectly.
 
• Check the operability of the Cancel (Close) button on  any wizard page.
 
• Perform validation testing for entry field: Unicode  and special symbols, empty field; if it is the field to enter the path: inexistent  path, path with incorrect structure, etc.

Conclusion

We made sure that software  installation is really a very important moment that has its own nuances and  bottlenecks. That’s why the installation testing must be performed with account  taken of all peculiarities of installation process. The basic moments were  covered in this article. Let’s summarize.

  Performing the installation  testing it is necessary to take into account the following things:

 
• type of the installation being tested (e.g., how it is  executed);
 
• pecularities of the application  which installation must be tested
 
• features of the OS where the software is being  installed
 
• interaction of the software being installed with the  OS security tools
 
• pecularities of the installation  wizard testing
 
• also the testing nuances of the repeated installation (Uninstall, Repair, Modify, Update)

Wish  your product be of high quality!