Abstract: The method of the present invention presents a plurality of option panels to a user, each option panel requiring at least one user input which specifies a system option for a selected data processing system. Thereafter, an installation profile is created utilizing these specified system options, including at least a description of the operating system to be utilized and a description of the data processing system hardware configuration. In one embodiment of the present invention this installation profile is then stored in conjunction with a complex multilevel software application on a portable storage media, such as a tape reel. Thereafter, the installation of the complex multilevel software application may be automatically accomplished by reference to the installation profile which contains those values which represent preset installation options.