Windows Installer will cache the MSI tables within a system folder so it can perform uninstalls accordingly. However, none of the binaries are cached meaning cannot perform maintenance unless browse to the install media or it is cached on the target computer.
I believe you are referring to the setting in the Setup.exe tab under Releases view within InstallShield. Note that it will only be enabled for relases that do not have the msi file available in the same folder as the setup.exe - for example a compressed build where the only output is a single setup.exe.
Specifically, the help says it will: Cache the .msi file and other installation files on the target system for use with application maintenance and repair.
The default location is [LocalAppDataFolder]Downloaded Installations\. On a Windows XP it will be C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\Application Data\Downloaded Installations\ and on Windows 7 it will be C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Downloaded Installations\. Generally I will modify that path to also include our company and product name.
I have follow-up question to others in the community. When are these cached msi's deleted? They appear to remain even after uninstalling. Additionally, since package code changes for every build (configurable within InstallShield) there will be many cached msi's if many installs occur. For frequent large installations this can add up to several gigabytes over time.
I delete the cached msi file during the uninstall. I had users complain about the "junk" the installations were leaving behind. It does seem these should be deleted during a remove.
On the setup.exe tab, I specify the cache location as [LocalAppDataFolder]Downloaded Installations\ to keep things a bit more tidy, and it allows for a consistent search string in the installscript should the app's GUID change.
