This guide explains how to silently install software on Agent machines from the Administrator console using the Execute PC Installer command in conjunction with the Windows Installer Service. The Windows Installer Service allows you to install applications that have been packaged in MSI format. The MSI format has quickly become the standard format for installation packages on the Windows platform. The majority of software currently being released has a version that comes packaged in MSI format.

When netOctopus installs PC software, the install typically cannot complete without the user navigating through a series of dialog boxes invoked by the setup program provided by the software vendor. Following are the steps that can be used to perform a silent install of software packaged in MSI format so that no user intervention is required. netOctopus does this by using the Execute PC Installer command to trigger the Windows Installer Service to install the specified MSI package under the security context of an administrator.

This document assumes that you have a good understanding and working knowledge of the Execute PC Installer command. Before continuing please take some time to review the following Execute PC Installer How-to Guide.

Make sure that the Windows Installer Service is already installed on the Agent machines that you want to deploy the MSI package to. If the Windows Installer Service is not installed on the Agent machine then it will need to be installed. You can use the Execute PC Installer command to deploy the Windows Installer Service to your Agent machines that do not have it installed. The latest version of the Windows Installer Service can be downloaded from:

http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/platformsdk/instmsi.htm

Normally when you use the Execute PC Installer command to install software that is not an MSI package (such as software packaged with InstallShield or Wise), you are instructing the Agent machine to run the installation from a network share. However, when you install an MSI package, you are using the Execute PC Installer command to trigger the Windows Installer Service local to the Agent machine to install the specified MSI package from a network share. You are actually using the Execute PC Installer command to execute a program on the local hard drive of the Agent machine as opposed to a network drive. As a result, the Execute PC Installer window for deploying MSI packages silently will look different than the examples in the aforementioned Execute PC Installer How-to Guide. Highlight the Agent machines in the netOctopus Computers window that you want to deploy the MSI package to and select Execute PC Installer from the Commands menu.

Windows 9X/ME

Windows NT/2K

The items in the Options field have the following meanings.

If the Agent machines selected are Windows NT/2000 machines, you may choose to replace the '/l* c:\package.log' option with '/l* \\server\share\%computername%.package.log'. You cannot do this for Windows 9X/ME Agent machines because Windows 9X/ME does not have a built-in computername environment variable like Windows NT/2000. This option instructs the Windows Installer Service to place copies of the log files for the each of the installations on a network share and name them based on the machine that they came from. Doing this will allow you to better monitor and troubleshoot installations remotely from one central location.

This procedure assumes that you have placed the MSI package (package.msi) and all supporting files to be installed on a server share (\\server\share) and granted the Everyone group read access to this share. If security is an issue in your network environment and you do not want users to be able to browse to this share, add a $ to the end of the share name to hide the share.

This procedure will install the desired MSI package silently. However, keep in mind that since there is no user interface the installation will assume that you have chosen all the defaults for the installation including installation path, installation type, and components to be installed. To customize an installation, use the transforms argument to modify the installation with the desired transform (MST) file. If later you wish to uninstall the same package from your Agent machines remotely, simply replace the /i switch with the /x switch.

A complete listing of command line options for the Windows Installer Service is available at:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;227091.