Introduction
In summary, the purpose of this article is to describe how to perform installation of products that require a restart during a rollout process when there’s no possibility to perform an unattended installation using a Managed Delivery Policy in Software Management Solution. Two examples I know of that require a reboot are Daemon Tools Lite, and Microsoft SQL Server 2016.
As an example, this article will demonstrate how to install Microsoft SQL Server 2016 software, which requires a restart during an installation process. Thus, below is the list of items to complete in this example:
NOTE: The solution described in this article is not applied only to a Microsoft SQL Server 2016 installation, but to any product that require a restart during a rollout process.
Creating a Software Resource
The following process walks through the creation of the Software Resource. In this example we are using Microsoft SQL Server 2016 as the example. These steps can be used for any Software Resource that requires this method to account for a mid-install reboot.
The Software Resource has now been created. This will be used for both pre and post boot executions. Essentially this configuration accounts for both allowing the Managed Delivery to execute the reboot, and for the installation to resume on reboot.
Creating and configuring a Managed Delivery Policy
Now that the installation package and execution has been configured, a Managed Software Delivery Policy will be used to deliver and properly execute the Software Resource, allowing a reboot to occur in mid-installation. Use the following steps as an example of how to create and configure this policy, using Microsoft SQL Server 2016:
The Policy is now setup and scheduled to be installed.
Other considerations
Please note the following items. These are geared specifically towards Microsoft SQL Server 2016, yet the principle may apply to other software installs as well.
Conclusion
This process should fundamentally work for any installation that requires a reboot in the middle. Note that it is important to configure it properly, and note that for some installs the first Software Resource execution may report as failed, but this is expected.