Installation testing (in software engineering) can simply be defined as any testing that occurs outside of the development environment. Such testing will frequently occur on the computer system the software product will eventually be installed on.

Whilst the ideal installation might simply appear to be to run a setup program, the generation of that setup program itself and its efficacy in a variety of machine and operating system environments can require extensive testing before it can be used with confidence.

In distributed systems, particularly where software is to be released into an already live target environment (such as an operational web site) installation (or deployment as it is sometimes called) can involve database schema changes as well as the installation of new software. Deployment plans in such circumstances may include back-out procedures whose use is intended to roll the target environment back in the event that the deployment is unsuccessful. Ideally, the deployment plan itself should be tested in an environment that is a replica of the live environment. A factor that can increase the organisational requirements of such an exercise is the need to synchronize the data in the test deployment environment with that in the live environment with minimum disruption to live operation.