First app I was trying to repackage was Mozilla Firefox version 3.0.6. After several unsuccessful attempts I discovered that FrontMotion already repackages Mozilla Firefox into msi packages and distributes them on their site.
I have been having a hard time with the repackager on AdminStudio when it comes to multiple users. With ALLUSERS=1 this is suppose to do a Per-Machine install which means that it points to the install location. But the MSI’s have been trying to repair themselves from the first install location when new users launch them for the first time. I want to be able to remove the MSI’s from the machine after install.
This is the command I am using to do a quiet install for multiple users and it works successfully. I tested under multiple accounts on XP VM and Vista workstation.
msiexec /i "Firefox-3.0.6-en-US.msi" SETMULTIUSER=1 /qb"
I am the student manager for the IT department at Walla Walla University and so we do a lot of re-imaging, formatting student’s computers, faculty, staff, etc. It is very nice once you have a few .msi packages you can write a simple batch script that once executed will do a silent install of all the apps and once finished launch Windows Updates. This can literally save you hours per machine.
Firefox 3 Logo
Tags: .msi, AdminStudio 9.0, Mozilla Firefox 3, Software
I have a suggestion from previous experience.
ALLUSERS=2
SOURCELIST=x:\distribution\apps\msisource
Have that as your install switch as well, put the path of the MSI where you are executing it from.
In multi user environment depending on how you have set it up, you would have controll of who gets what applications and generaly with SMS/SCCM/GPO you would have a general directory where you would keep all of your application and execute them from.
Having that as a shared drive with user can’t delete/modify the folder structure, you can set your SOURCELIST and eliminate your need for local msi files for repair, if it can’t find it in the temp folder it would go to the sourcelist to get the MSI.
Yes, that does work fine for our network installations, however we are wanting to package MSI’s for notebooks as well. If a person has a notebook and does an install, we don’t want the MSI to perform a repair. The problem I am working with right now is that the additional users that login and launch the application, the MSI is currently performing a repair, and if the MSI install file has been deleted then the APP is unable to run. Currently using:
ALLUSERS=1
But it is still searching for dependencies somewhere.
Saw this during my Thursday night web searches. Amazing what stuff you can find doing a search XP repair ideas.
Kind of caught me off guard.
Thanks for posting.
Thanks for the kind remarks. Ya I try to post as often as I can. I hope once I graduate and am in a full time career that I might be able to dedicate some more time to blogging
The MSI packaging is something I also want to work a lot on this year at work. So far I have had about 24 MSI packages working 100%. It saves so much time when reformatting a computer. You basically can just double click on a batch script that will then do a silent administrator install and watch your programs start appearing. Also installs of MSI packages are way faster than standard installs. Really fun and challenging project. Each application to package has its own challenge. Have a great evening!