Installation locations

IBM® Installation Manager retrieves product packages from specified repositories and installs the products into selected locations, referred to as package groups.

Package groups

During installation, you specify a package group into which to install a product.
  • A package group represents a directory in which products share resources.
  • When you install a product using the Installation Manager, you either create a package group or install the product into an existing package group. A new package group is assigned a name automatically; however, you choose the installation directory for the package group.
  • After you create a package group you cannot change the installation directory. The installation directory contains files and resources shared by the products installed into that package group.
  • Product resources designed to be shared with other packages are installed in the shared resources directory. Not all products can share a package group, in which case the option to use an existing package group will be disabled.
  • When you install multiple products at the same time, all products are installed into the same package group.
Note: When installing products from Windows™ operating system, if you create the package groups in the Program Files directory (C:\Program Files\), only users with Administrator privileges will be able to use the product. If you do not want to require running your product as Administrator, complete one of these steps:
  • For your product and any other programs that sharing the same installation location, select an installation location that is not in the path C:\Program Files.
  • For your product and all Software Delivery Platform product packages (regardless of their installation location), select a shared resources directory and installation locations that are not in the path C:\Program Files.

Shared resources directory

The shared resources directory is where product resources are installed so that they can be used by multiple product package groups. You define the shared resources directory the first time that you install the first product package. For best results, use your largest disk drive for shared resources directories. You cannot change the directory location unless you uninstall all product packages.