If customers are regularly reaching out to your support team to help them set up your product, this results in a heavy burden for your business and a poor user experience. The software installation guide empowers customers to get started on their own. You’ve spent lots of time developing your software product and now it’s time to distribute it to your users. But wait – how are users going to install your software product without you there to help them? This is where you need to make use of a software installation guide to enable users to properly set up your product without running into errors.
- All software products and most electronic gadgets and systems display messages to give feedback about system status and to signal if there are problems with the system.
- Klariti provides you with the business, marketing and technical documents you need to get the job done.
- It should also identify any software dependencies that need to be installed as well as software license terms that users will need to agree with before software installation can take place.
- Although this is Apple’s preferred delivery method for macOS,[7] previously purchased licenses can not be transferred to the Mac App Store for downloading or automatic updating.
- Only after both of those prerequisites have been completed can you test the connection to verify that everything has been set up correctly.
- If customers are regularly reaching out to your support team to help them set up your product, this results in a heavy burden for your business and a poor user experience.
For example, let’s say you have four LED lights in the front of your product or four circles displayed on the status bar of your software. Explain what it means when all lights are GREEN, three GREEN one YELLOW, all YELLOW, all GREEN one RED, etc. Describe what such color combinations mean and then also explain how to take care of the error or malfunction (if it is such) in the troubleshooting section. Explain how to identify and interpret any system or hardware codes, serial numbers, acronyms or abbreviations that the product comes with. It is appropriate to include in this section also ways to CONTACT the company or the client service department in case there are any product, warranty, registration, etc. related questions. Another example is found in the Haiku operating system, which uses a utility called Haiku Installer to install itself onto a device after booting from a live CD or live USB.
A software repository is a location where software and software packages are stored and accessed from. – If you are having problems with your computer and cannot seem to fix them, doing a clean installation may be the solution to your problems. So, when in doubt, include important information in more guides than one despite the risk of redundancy and repetition. In this section you should list all those messages, including the audio ones, explain what they mean, and follow them up explaining what to do about it – that is, also provide a troubleshooting section.
Installation Plan Validation Checklists
For example, if you wanted to install the Google Chrome web browser, you can visit this page and click the Download button. From the mid-1990s through the late 2000s, the most common way to get new software was to purchase a CD-ROM. You could then insert the disc, and the computer would walk you through the installation. Application Administrator account(s)—The Application Administrator and his or her backup need to have accounts on the server. You will be spending a significant amount of time on this server and your account will need to have full access to it. Vendor support accounts—You need to be very leery of giving a vendor unrestricted access to your server.
The software installation guide should be reviewed and updated by the software developer or development team on a regular basis with the help of the technical writer. A software installation guide is critical for businesses that want to onboard new customers and drive product adoption. If users don’t understand how to set up your software, they are likely to churn and leave bad reviews about your business.
Choose a software documentation tool
It’s generally presented in the form of a simple, easy-to-use how-to guide that is written in concise and plain English. Installation guides are most often used by software developers who wish to help users install their software programs smoothly and successfully. Irrespective of the nature of your interorganization migration, you must adhere to some general guidelines when it comes to embarking on a migration project. Third-party migration tools generally implement a console/agent architecture with a single central Console acting as the management interface to all migration projects under-way. The system running the Console is typically also used as the Database repository, where configuration information is stored and maintained.
The software installation guide should ideally be written by the software developer or a member of the software development team. Users are more likely to have a positive experience with software if the software installation guide is clear, concise, and easy to follow. A software installation guide is necessary because it can help you avoid common pitfalls and errors that can occur during software installation. If you use documentation software, you’ll be able to access analytics that give you insight into the performance of your installation guide.
All websites that will be viewed in compatibility mode will be displayed in the list box shown on the screen. If you want to view all websites in Compatibility view mode, then click on the last checkbox on the screen. The new release no longer works with the web browser or version of it that most of your users have on their desktops.
Installation Guide Template: Who uses it?
A system installer is the software that is used to set up and install an operating system onto a device. In case of payment, installation costs means the costs connected and relevant to or incurred as a result of installing the drivers or the equipment in the customers’ premises. While configuring a software pacakge, especially an executable, you can enter the silent switch commands.
Use the following checklist for post-installation and configuration requirements. However, if you do need to install software from a CD-ROM, simply insert the disc into your computer, then follow the instructions. Loading this software should be done after the DBA has created the database and the firewall port has been opened between the application and database servers.
A clean installation is a process of installing software on a computer without first running an install program. The software is usually placed on a CD or some other medium, and the user manually copies the files to the hard drive. It is highly recommended that the structure of your software installation guide reflects the needs of software users, so be sure to plan ahead before you start writing.
Administrators are frequently bombarded with numerous software installation requests, and have to validate those requests individually and authorize the software installation. Traditionally, a software is placed in a Network Share and the end users can install the software manually. As organizations are ever-expanding, this method soon becomes unsustainable. The first step for installing a piece of software on Windows is to download the software’s installation executable. This executable (a .exe file) contains the tasks our computer must perform to install the software. Software installation guides should be reviewed and updated by the software developer or development team on a regular basis to ensure the software installation guide is up-to-date.
If multiple installation methods are possible (for example, beginner versus advanced) make sure to include instructions for both types. Administrators are bombarded with open-source software installation requests. In order to reduce the frequency of these requests, we let you configure the Self Service Portal. As the very name implies, the end users can open the portal and install the software when required. A well-designed software installation tool can pragmatically address the growing number of requests through an automated software installation tool. The software deployment module equips you with easy-to-use and user-friendly tool that provides effortless automated software installation in Windows, Mac and Linux environment.
Unattended software installation requires zero user input to complete the software installation. For example, you can ASSUME that a customer would refer to the Installation Guide to understand the meaning of System Error Codes but https://www.globalcloudteam.com/ perhaps he or she won’t. Your customers will really appreciate this section of the Installation Guide since they would be able to set up the product and see it in action quickly and thus build up their confidence in the product.
For example, the infamous Conficker was installed when the user plugged an infected device to their computer. Sometimes, software installation can encounter errors or issues that prevent the users from completing the process successfully. To help the users to overcome these challenges, you need to anticipate the possible scenarios and provide solutions or alternatives.