Sunday, April 19, 2009

What is Installation Testing?

Installation Testing

The main purpose of installation testing is to find errors that occur during the installation process. In this kind of testing we install and uninstall the software in different ways and on different systems on which it can be installed.

Clear and concise installation procedures are among the most important parts of the system documentation.

Re-installation procedures need to be included to be able to reverse the installation process and validate the previous environmental condition. Also, the installation procedures need to document how the user can tune the system options and upgrade from a previous version.

Some key installation questions the tester needs to consider include the following:

Who is the user installer; for example, what technical capabilities are assumed?

Is the installation process documented thoroughly with specific and concise installation steps?

For which environments are the installation procedures supposed to work, for example, platforms, software, hardware, networks, or versions?

Will the installation change the user’s current environmental setup, for example, config.sys and so on?

How does the installer know the system has been installed correctly; for example, is there an installation test procedure in place? [Source]