I'm a .net winform application programmer. While I make my own program, I somewhat came up with a Question. What is a Installation mean exactly?

When I Build in a "Release" mode a Visual Studio 2022, it gives me a .exe file inside a Release/bin folder.

I have already looked up how to use the Microsoft's Click Once and VICX Custom setup project builder.

A Setup Project asks users their local folder path where to install the files. I'm also curious about the meaning of Install files to their local folders. isn't it just copying my some .dlls to their folders? Is there difference between copying files and Installation?

When I use the Click once, Users downloads the setup.exe file and double clicks to run it. It asks users to Install program to their computer. After finishing the Installation, the program come up to a Window applications list. Where are my .Dlls? Can users delete completely clean when they just 'delete' the application?

To sum up, my point is, What is the difference between just running my .exe file that was located in my Release/bin/ folder and Installing inside the window application?

CodePudding user response：

What constitutes an installation depends on the application. For very simple applications, placing just the EXE file in a particular folder may be all that's needed. Perhaps a DLL or two and a data file might be needed too. Things can get a lot more complex though.

Maybe you need to make some changes to the Registry. Maybe you need to register a file extension as opening by default in your app. Maybe you need to install an application framework or a server application. Maybe you need to create a desktop shortcut that points to the EXE location that you won't know until the EXE is actually there. As well as all this, there's keeping track of what was done so that it can be undone if and when the application is uninstalled.