Trans OS Program Installation

[Seekermeister]

I think that I already know the answer to this question, but I'm going to ask anyway. On a mutlti-boot system, is there anyway that you can install a program in one OS from another? To run an installation is the easy part, but to have it register itself in an OS other than the active one...that is the question.

 

[phisrow]

To the best of my knowledge, there is no trivial or "pre-canned" way of doing so. However, depending on the OSes and programs in question, it ought to be more or less doable(since, ultimately, all installs are just operations on a filesystem).

A good number of *nix programs, for example, just need to be untarred into the appropriate location. Any OS that can write to the filesystem and understand basic compressed archive formats can manage that without trouble. Installing the ones that need to be compiled would be trickier; but one could, in theory, set up a cross compilation environment and have it work.

Installers for Windows programs would be a mite trickier. Those are generally executables or MSIs, which would require a strongly windows like environment in which to execute. If that could be satisifed, it would come down to how much of the install is basic file copying, and how much is registry futzing. You could, though, in many cases install the program on one Windows system, and then transfer the files and the RegDiffs to another Windows system. Installs that do serious things to the system(firewall, antivirus, VMWare, etc.) are formally possible, it's all just bits; but I don't really want to think about doing so in practice.

 

[Seekermeister]

It sounds as though it might be doable for some people, but it sounds like it would be beyond my abilities. I was trying to figure a way to install my preferred file manager, because I'm having problems with my optical drives on that HD because of the controller card that it is connected to. However, I think that it would be easier to just clone the OS to another drive.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Seekermeister
It sounds as though it might be doable for some people, but it sounds like it would be beyond my abilities.

Why is it you need to run 3 versions of Windows (2 of which are the same 2005 MCE version as I recall) in the first place?

 

[Seekermeister]

To anyone else, I wouldn't bother answering, but since you are being nice for the holidays, I have to follow suit. 2 of the installations of MCE are temporary. Once I get things square away, there will be only one.