How to create a setup experience much like LogMeIn?

Question

I would like to find out if someone (and maybe someone on StackOverflow works for LogMeIn, and can fill me in on the details) knows how to create a similar experience much like what you get with LogMeIn when you install their remote components on a computer, when logged into their site?

Typically, when you download and keep their remote components on a thumbdrive, you have to log into their software with your username and password, but when you're on their site, and click on "Add Computer" from their menu of options, the setup process bypasses the login process.

I'm writing up the specifications on a different tool, but similar in deployment model, and having that feature would make the setup process for the end user all the more simplistic in the long run.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: I did some digging and ran across this example of how to read from a table. So now I'm thinking maybe my way of doing this is to create a custom "download" page that when it gets clicked on, the msi is read into memory, I edit a custom property to insert a guid or other property that expires in 10 minutes or so, and use the guid to link the user account to the installation instance... Hmm... may work :)

Something to try during my next geek week before I go about building the msi installer for said project.

Answer 1

Once you have the admin password to a (non-firewalled) windows box, you can copy files, remotely update the registry, start services, etc.

This is one example of a remote VNC install procedure.

One remote desktop vendor (don't remember which) that I looked at allowed remote installation by ordering a computer to log in and install on any computer located on the same subnet.

Answer 2

Windows Installer has the concept of transforms. LogMeIn is probably just using a base msi and programtically generating a transform and applying it as part of a watermarking process.

Morphing Installers ( with transforms ): http://www.tramontana.co.hu/wix/lesson9.php

The concepts here are straightforward and the majority of your work is going to be integrating it into your websites build/release process.

Personally I get nervous about baking that much information into an MSI but the LogMeIn people obviously had a business case for making it as easy easy easy as possible for their users.