Patent ID: 8402458

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving a request to convert a non-layered installation of a software application into a layered installation of the software application, the non-layered installation of the software application being installed to a base file system of a computing system; determining a base location of at least one file associated with the non-layered installation of the software application, the base file system comprising the base location; creating the layered installation of the software application by transitioning the at least one file from the base location to a virtualization layer, wherein: the virtualization layer is isolated from the base file system, the virtualization layer overlays the base location, the virtualization layer has priority over the base file system; redirecting access requests for the at least one file from the base file system to the virtualization layer such that the at least one file in the virtualization layer appears as though it were located in the base file system; the receiving, determining, and creating, and redirecting are performed by a layering computing system.