Jenny, There is a difference between manual installation and password-protected automatic installation. Manual installation is caused by changing the INSTALL user exit, LSV$INST EXEC, to return '0' when called with the "AUTO" parameter. LISTSERV interprets this to mean that you do not wish to use the automatic installation procedures. It combines the separate spool files of a shipment into a single CARD-LOADable file and punches it to the postmaster. You are then expected to load it in whatever manner you find preferrable. Perhaps you like to put EXECs, MODULEs, etc. on read-only "runtime" disks, separate from the read/write data files (xxx FILE, xxx LIST, etc.). Password-protected automatic installation is a comparative breeze. If LSV$INST allows automatic installation (by returning '1'), the next check is for a password. If you've set one, LISTSERV won't do the install until it's supplied by the postmaster. In this case, the shipment sits in the reader in exactly the same form as it arrived (same spool files, in fact.) Once it has the password, it will retry the install. I whole-heartedly recommend the latter form. I use it myself, since we prefer to check out any and all software installed on our system, even from trusted sources. In fact, I read the entire contents of every shipment before giving LISTSERV permission to install. Not that I'm paranoid, you understand. ;-) As an aside, I recommend AGAINST editing the INSTALL FILE. It provides an audit trail, and I wouldn't be surprised if, in some future release, it contained hex data, just like the LIST files. Ross