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Dealing with per-user installs?

  • 1.  Dealing with per-user installs?

    Posted May 16, 2011 01:42 PM

    I know this isn't really a Wise packaging question, but I'm looking for a little advice that maybe some of you packagers can help me with...

     

    We have a vendor who supplied us with an MSI for an Office plug-in.  They built the MSI in such a way that the user who wants to use the plug-in has to be the one who installs it -- if I install it via Altiris using a service account, no user on the machine (other than the service account) will have the plug-in available to them.  I also cannot get away with ALLUSERS=1 in the install to force it to install for everyone.

     

    That said, how would you normally tackle this issue?  We don't own Wise Package Studio so my options are somewhat limited.  The only thing I can come up with is to capture the install using Symantec's Software Virtualization tool, export the file/registry changes, copy the files to the destination machine, and use a vbscript to import the registry entries into each of the HKEY_USER keys.

    Any help/links are appreciated!



  • 2.  RE: Dealing with per-user installs?

    Posted May 16, 2011 03:40 PM

    Presumably the MSI is able to install even for a locked down user as it's a user MSI.

    The simplest option is to use Active Setup to handle the install. You basically deploy the MSI to the machine and set the Active Setup registry keys in HKLM to run the msi with the appropriate command line from the install location when the user logs on. It will happen once for each user on any machine.

    If you are unfamiliar with Active Setup, the details are here:

    http://www.etlengineering.com/installer/activesetup.txt



  • 3.  RE: Dealing with per-user installs?

    Posted May 16, 2011 03:48 PM

    Thanks for the info, EdT.

    If I'm understanding this correctly, I can deploy the current MSI with my Altiris service account to the machine, but also follow it up with merging an entry into the Active Setup key on HKLM.

    Will I also need to manually add the active setup key to each user's registry, or will Active Setup see the lack of entry on the user side, run the file, then add the key afterwards?



  • 4.  RE: Dealing with per-user installs?
    Best Answer

    Posted May 16, 2011 04:00 PM

    Active Setup runs during login and checks the keys in HKCU with the keys in HKLM. If there is a new key in HKLM that is not present in HKCU, the command in the stubpath is run and then the keys in HKLM are copied to HKCU. If the keys are present in HKCU, the version numbers are compared and if the version number in HKLM is higher than the version number in HKCU, the stubpath is run, otherwise if the numbers are the same, nothing happens on the next login.

    This will happen for any user that logs on for the first time on this machine.



  • 5.  RE: Dealing with per-user installs?

    Posted May 16, 2011 06:37 PM

     

    I think I'm on the right track, but this installer is only seeming to want to go into the single user context.  I get the error that the msiexec.exe /fu command is only valid for products that are installed, so the other user profiles don't even know the program is installed.
     
    I tried tweaking the Active Setup command to do an msiexec.exe /i on the msi, and I get stuck at a black screen at login as a normal user, so I'm assuming there's a UAC prompt asking for admin credentials somewhere in the darkness.
     
    Any other ideas?


  • 6.  RE: Dealing with per-user installs?

    Posted May 16, 2011 07:03 PM

    Since active setup is performing a first time install of this msi, you need to use msiexec /i  and to avoid the need for any input, you use the /qn switches for a silent install.  I presume a normal manual install of this MSI does not require any input by the user - if it does then no doubt a silent install is possible by passing the required information as a public property on the command line.



  • 7.  RE: Dealing with per-user installs?

    Posted May 16, 2011 09:01 PM

    The problem with that is that my users are not local admins, so when that msiexec.exe /i runs as the user, it needs admin credentials to install.  I almost need a way to force it into a per-computer install or something.



  • 8.  RE: Dealing with per-user installs?

    Posted May 17, 2011 04:35 AM

    This may be a good time to speak with the vendor. It is perfectly possible to create an MSI that can install "per user" to the user profile without the user having admin rights, but if you are unable to install the MSI as a non-admin user then something else must be going on that does require admin rights.  They should be aware that deployment systems target computers and not specific users, so if their MSI is not able to handle that scenario, they are not doing a professional job of packaging their add-on.

    You originally suggested using SVS as a capture tool to identify the files and registry entries, or you could use a free capture tool such as InstallWatch. Once you know what is actually being installed at the file and registry level, you should be in a better position to create a solution.  There may prove to be some "machine" components such as HKLM registry keys or files placed under Program Files or in the Office folders instead of being located in the user profile, which requires admin access.

    Ultimately, you may find the exact registry entries needed in HKCU to complete the install of your MSI, so that you can deploy to a machine, then add an active setup component to install the "per user" content at logon.



  • 9.  RE: Dealing with per-user installs?

    Posted May 20, 2011 10:03 AM

    Thanks Ed -- I spoke with the vendor and found out that I just needed to run a command from the files their installer put in the Program Files folder to get the plug ins registered.

    My deployment job consists of installing the plug ins as our Altiris service account, then merging in a registry key into the HKLM Active Setup area you mentioned so when users reboot, they'll get the plugin registered appropriately on that first login.



  • 10.  RE: Dealing with per-user installs?

    Posted May 20, 2011 11:05 AM

    Nice to see that one vendor at least is helpful and on the ball....;-D



  • 11.  RE: Dealing with per-user installs?

    Posted May 20, 2011 11:11 AM

    I wouldn't go too far with that statement.  I had to explain to them what local admin rights are and how not everyone is an admin on their box ;)



  • 12.  RE: Dealing with per-user installs?

    Posted May 20, 2011 11:30 AM

    LOL