Consider the following requirements
- Windows software which communicates with a web application using basic authentication
- The software is an MSI package
- The software requires a token to be placed in order to authenticate itself to the web application
- The token is unique to every user, but the user is expected to install the software with the same token on several machines
The question is:
What is the best strategy to distribute the software from the web application with appropriate token in it ? (The user should not be asked to enter the token.)
The proposed solution is::
When the user clicks the download software button from the web application instead of giving then the software, we generate a VBScript file which contains the token and download location of the software package (MSI), and deliver it as a download. After that, when the user invokes the script, the following things will happen.
- The software will be downloaded and the token is passed to the installer and a custom action inside the installer will get the token and configure the application accordingly
Will the Windows world accept the above solution? Do they feel it unnatural? Is there a better solution to the problem at hand?