If you depend on DCOM95 functionality, you have two options: redistribute the updated system files (DCOM95) with your application, or point users at our DCOM95 web release. Pointing users at the web release is recommended if your application will be downloaded from the web, since DCOM95 is fairly large and many users may already have it. In particular, DCOM95 is installed by Internet Explorer 4.0 and Windows 98.
Pointing Users at the Web Release
---------------------------------
If you want to point users at the web release, you can detect whether DCOM95 is installed on the user's system. First check whether the user is running on Windows NT. If so, the user does not need DCOM95. If the user is running on Windows, then check for the registry key
where a,b,c,d is the DCOM95 version number, eg. 4,71,0,1718. This key only exists if DCOM95 has been successfully installed. If you need a particular build of DCOM95, you can use the value of the key to determine whether that build has been installed.
If you determine that DCOM95 needs to be installed, you should point users at http://www.microsoft.com/com/dcom95/dcom95.htm, where they can read the download instructions and release notes.
Redistributing DCOM95
---------------------
Before redistributing DCOM95, please read the DCOM for Windows 95 redistribution license.
If you elect to redistribute DCOM95, you should include the files DCOM95.EXE and optionally DCM95CFG.EXE on your distribution media. You should run these self-extracting executables from your setup program. These executables will install the correct files only if a more recent version is not already installed. They write the correct registry entries required by DCOM95. They do not install anything on Windows NT.
By default, DCOM95.EXE and DCM95CFG.EXE display a EULA and other prompts to the user. DCOM95.EXE prompts the user to reboot the system on completion. If you run either executable from your setup program, you may elect to run the self-extracting executables in "silent" mode. You may only run the self-extracting executables in "silent" mode if your EULA stipulates that your product may only be installed on a properly licensed copy of Windows and if the EULA is presented to the user for acceptance before DCOM95 is installed on the user's machine. You must prompt the user to reboot the system when your setup program exits if DCOM95 has been installed.
To run either DCOM95.EXE or DCM95CFG.EXE in silent mode, use the command line:
