Internet Explorer 4.0 Setup is based on an ActiveXÖ engine named Active Setup, which runs on the client's computer. The installation is modular, which greatly improves the ease of installing this browser over earlier versions.
The process begins with a small Setup package. This self-extracting file can be downloaded to the computer by using an existing browser, or it can be copied directly onto a computer with no existing browser. Only 407 kilobytes in size, it fits on a single floppy disk or downloads very quickly.
This file is all that is needed to start installing Internet Explorer. It contains the bare minimum of code necessary to give the client Internet access and provide a basic level of file download capabilities.
This small setup package also allows Setup to collect information about the host computer before download begins. Active Setup uses this information to intelligently manage the download of Internet Explorer 4.0 .cab files and make installation as efficient and problem-free as possible. Downloading this small setup package at the beginning of the process has many advantages, including the following:
Speed: It takes about two minutes to download IE4setup.exe over a 28 kbps link.
After IE4setup.exe has gathered all the needed information from the user and the computer, it downloads the necessary .cab files from one of the official Microsoft distribution servers on the Internet. Because Setup has already inventoried any existing Internet Explorer 4.0 components on the computer, and has already asked the user which components are desired, it does not download any unnecessary .cab files.
After the .cab files are downloaded successfully, Active Setup is complete.
The next phase of Internet Explorer Setup uses the traditional ACME setup engine used by most Microsoft products. At this point, the only difference between Internet Explorer Setup and traditional Setup is that the .cab files are in a folder on the local hard drive rather than on a removable disk or network drive.
If you are an intranet administrator, you can create a custom setup package (also known as an IExpress package) without rewriting Setup. To do that, you create a custom version of IE4setup.exe using a tool named IExpress.
Enhanced logging features simplify user, administrator, and Microsoft troubleshooting of setup problems. Internet Explorer Setup creates the following two log files that help you pinpoint any issues that may occur. The log files appear in the Windows or NT folder:
Active Setup Log.txt: Logs all actions during the Active Setup Wizard or component installation. Refer to this log if Internet Explorer 4.0 components are not installed properly. For more information, see Error log information for Active Setup Log.txt.
RunOnceEx Log.txt: Logs all actions during Dynamic Link Library registration. Refer to this log if you receive a message stating that a specific .dll did not register properly, or if any unexpected dialog box appears during the final phase of the setup process.