A desktop support technician is deploying a new productivity application to workstations located in a secure, isolated network segment with restricted outbound Internet access. When the technician launches the small executable setup file downloaded from the software vendor's website, the setup wizard opens but immediately fails with a network connection error. Standard offline software installation packages install successfully on these same machines. Which of the following is the most likely cause of this installation failure?
- The setup executable is a stub bootstrapper that requires active Internet connectivity to download the full installation files.Answer
- BThe current user account lacks local administrator permissions required to modify the Windows System Registry.
- CThe Windows Event Viewer service is disabled on the target workstations, blocking installation logging.
- DThe setup executable requires an explicit /x64 command-line switch to extract binaries on 64-bit operating systems.
Answer
The setup executable is a web-based bootstrapper requiring outbound Internet access to download the application payload.
Many software vendors provide web installers (stub or bootstrapper executables) that are very small in file size. When launched, these bootstrappers connect over the Internet to vendor repository servers to download the latest application payload and prerequisites. In a secure network segment with blocked outbound Internet access, the bootstrapper cannot retrieve these files, leading to a network connection failure. The solution is to download and deploy the complete offline or standalone installer package.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Application Installation Methods (Web/Bootstrapper vs. Standalone/Offline Installers)