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Remote App Installation

Ending the Run-around

For most network administrators, taking care of the actual network is just not enough. They are also responsible for the individual PCs, including the user applications on those PCs. While the individual user might be quite expert at using their particular spreadsheet, graphics application or whatever, they don't always have the privileges or even the expertise to install their own software and what often seems to be a never-ending stream of patches and upgrades that come with it.

For better or worse, it is usually up to the network administrator to take care of all software installs, patches and upgrades, while still maintaining the servers and routers and making sure that the users get the latest anti-virus updates and uninterrupted access to e-mail, databases, printers, the Internet and all the other networked functions we can no longer live without. And it doesn't matter how spread out the users and their PCs might be.

One of the most consistent headaches for many network administrators is this task of deploying software to a bunch of systems that are spread out all over the building, or worse, all over the map. On the other hand, this has also been a source of consistent creativity, and there are now many ways to deploy software more efficiently.

A few years ago, the more skilled network administrators would create DOS batch files that would execute commands in response to installation prompts. This still required carrying a floppy to each computer individually and running the batch files one at a time. Things were simplified somewhat when Microsoft came up with shared folders and eliminated the need to carry a floppy, but the administrator's presence was still required. Today, there are many applications, including Microsoft's own Windows Server and Application Management software, that enable deployment of software around the network without going physically to each machine and in many cases without even being present. Deployment without a human being present is called an unattended or silent install.

These various applications range from complex and cumbersome to elegant and easy. On the complex end of the scale are programs that require expertise in Visual Basic scripting or Windows NT Group Policy Object configuration. Under cumbersome, some require a second server to hold a database, and others will generate enough traffic to bring the average network to its knees during a deployment exercise. At the elegant and easy end, we have programs such as RemoteScope (and yes, that's bragging, but I can't help it).

You should know however, software deployment does go somewhat beyond the point-and-click simplicity that characterizes most of RemoteScope's features. The thing that makes a silent install possible, in our software or anybody else's, is a macro file that records the keystrokes of the installation process and plays them back on cue. And that file has to be created by somebody going through the motions of installing whatever software is being deployed.

Almost all software being deployed these days on Windows systems will use either InstallShield or Windows Installer, and each of these have their own version of the macro file, with a unique procedure to create it. The one for Windows Installer is called an MSI file, for Microsoft Installer.

InstallShield calls theirs an ISS file, for InstallShield Silent Install. Neither program, by the way, will use the file directly to do a silent install. That requires a third-party application such as RemoteScope.

Creating the ISS file is the easier of the two. For a package that uses InstallShield, simply run through the installation procedure using a switch of -r. As in:

RUN filepath\setup.exe -r

With this switch in place, in addition to installing the software, InstallShield will create a macro file called setup.iss and put it in the C:\WINDOWS or C:\WINNT folder. Be aware that this installation must be done under the same operating system, and with the same installation options, that will be used in the silent install. Otherwise the keystrokes will not match.

MSI is a little more complicated but also a little more intelligent. The MSI package will determine the Windows OS in use and install the files required while discarding those that are not applicable. Have you noticed lately that you often don't need to specify the Windows version when downloading software, only that it's Windows rather than Apple or Unix? Right here is the reason for that.

MSI makes use of a file called msiexec.exe, which will be found in all recent Windows versions. For Windows 9x, it is included in one of the update patches as instmsia.exe, and for Windows NT, as instmsiw.exe. To use MSI you must have your systems up to date, or at least download and install the appropriate one of these patch files, because MSI won't work without it.