Patent ID: 6931546

Claim:
A system for providing application services in a computing environment having both user-mode processes and privileged-mode processes, the system comprising: an agent executing in privileged mode and exposing an interface to user-mode processes; a user-mode component having an interface configured to access the agent's exposed interface; and a configuration component specifying a list of installable code components that are authorized for installation, wherein the agent will only execute privilege mode functions in response to accesses by the user-mode code component when the installable code component is represented on the list; wherein the user-mode component comprises an application software installation wizard; wherein specifications are included within the configuration component specifying instructions for installing program components into an operating system; wherein the agent is capable of creating an instance of the application software installation wizard in accordance with a definition supplied in the configuration component; and wherein the configuration component includes an initialization file embedded within a cabinet file, the initialization file represented in a plain text format and comprising a plurality of sections each including attribute specifications, the initialization file including an AutoRegister section, an AutoUnregister section, and an allowAdmin section.