Deploying/Using Arduino IDE in school

[carlosdss]

Hi All, We are looking to start using Arduino Uno's in the computer club and I am having trouble getting the IDE running for Students and teachers.

It appears that it may need permissions to write to the C: drive, regardless of how we are running it and from where.

Works fine for Admins.

Has anyone done this and did they have the same issues ?

I am running on Windows7 with Arduino Uno's and just downloaded v1.6.6.

Thanks for any help.

[carlosdss]

Nothing ?, Anyone ?.

Anyone already doing this without issues ?.

Thanks

[tommej]

We push this out via SCCM - currently having issues with drivers requiring admin permissions for the first run. Working on it today will update you!

[HC_Netman]

Did you have any joy with getting it working? Mine seems to work for teachers but not students students get the splash screen but then it just closes.

 

It appears to be an issue with the location of the preferences.txt file which defaults to C:\Users\*Username*\AppData\Roaming and I cant find a way to move it.

 

If I give everyone modify permissions to the whole C:\Users folder then it loads without a problem...

[free780]

Works for me through sccm why wouldnt the user have modify permissions to the profile? There's a config file somewhere in program files you configure which stops the update check. Also the cert for the signed drivers needs to be pushed out via GPO for the installer not to fail.

[jslate1980]

We push this out via SCCM - currently having issues with drivers requiring admin permissions for the first run. Working on it today will update you!

 

How are you deploying it with sccm? Have you converted the exe in a msi file or are there cmd switches to silent install it?

[free780]

I'll check tomorrow.

[free780]

OK I have a script that does this.

"%~dp0arduino-1.6.1-windows.exe" /S

copy "%~dp0preferences.txt" "c:\program files (x86)\Arduino\lib\preferences.txt" /Q

 

Uninstall is set to "C:\Program Files\Arduino\uninstall.exe" /S with the treat the command as 32 bit porcess on x64 PCs.

 

Detection method is through registry:

SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Arduino

DisplayVersion

1.6.1

 

In case it needs updating.

 

preferences.txt has been changed to stop updates. The C drive is hidden from students and they can run the software. They have roaming profiles. We are using version 1.6.1 the previous version wouldn't work for standard users.

 

The Cert gets push out via gpo to the rooms where its required. Though you could script this or may push it out via SCCM.

 

Let me know if you get stuck.

[HC_Netman]

I actually got it working in the end by editing the preferences.txt file that is stored in Program Files to redirect the users preferences.txt file to a folder I created (also in Program Files/Arduino). The students have modify permission to this folder but cannot browse to it as it is hidden.

 

It seems to be working now - I don't know why it wouldn't let them write to the default location but at least the problem is solved for now.

[Gaz]

Maybe a bit late now. I got it working by pushing the digital certificate out via GP to the Trusted Publishers store then using msi wrapper I deployed the msi via GP also.

 

I've hit a bit of a wall as I now need to silently uninstall it from the computers in order to update the software to the latest version. Will running "C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\Uninstall.exe /S" work to uninstall it silently via a startup script?

[free780]

Well if you deployed via MSI would it not be msiexec /x /qn

[Gaz]

Where would I find the product code?

[free780]

Regedit hkey classes root> installer> products >search for arduino the key under products is the product code.

[Gaz]

Excellent thank you.

[JasonNVSD]

copy "%~dp0preferences.txt" "c:\program files (x86)\Arduino\lib\preferences.txt" /Q

Thank you! I searched their site for a way to set default preferences and turned up nothing. This is exactly what I was missing.

[free780]

Happy to help.

[JasonNVSD]

Have you tried with a recent version? My silent install stops with a prompt for allowing the driver. I also got a prompt for Windows Firewall, although you might have that disabled. I got it all sorted out, but it required a lot more work:

 

certutil -addstore TrustedPublisher "%~dp0Adafruit_Industries.cer"
certutil -addstore TrustedPublisher "%~dp0Arduino_LLC.cer"
certutil -addstore TrustedPublisher "%~dp0Arduino_srl.cer"
"%~dp0arduino-1.8.3-windows.exe" /S
if %ErrorLevel% neq 0 exit /b %ErrorLevel%
copy /y "%~dp0preferences.txt" "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Arduino\lib"
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Java(TM) Platform SE binary" dir=in action=allow program="%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Arduino\java\bin\javaw.exe" profile=domain protocol=tcp
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Java(TM) Platform SE binary" dir=in action=allow program="%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Arduino\java\bin\javaw.exe" profile=domain protocol=udp

[free780]

No I haven't looked at it recently. You could script it or Group Policy the Certificate and the Firewall Rules.

[protocol]

Have you tried with a recent version? My silent install stops with a prompt for allowing the driver. I also got a prompt for Windows Firewall, although you might have that disabled. I got it all sorted out, but it required a lot more work:

 

certutil -addstore TrustedPublisher "%~dp0Adafruit_Industries.cer"
certutil -addstore TrustedPublisher "%~dp0Arduino_LLC.cer"
certutil -addstore TrustedPublisher "%~dp0Arduino_srl.cer"
"%~dp0arduino-1.8.3-windows.exe" /S
if %ErrorLevel% neq 0 exit /b %ErrorLevel%
copy /y "%~dp0preferences.txt" "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Arduino\lib"
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Java(TM) Platform SE binary" dir=in action=allow program="%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Arduino\java\bin\javaw.exe" profile=domain protocol=tcp
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Java(TM) Platform SE binary" dir=in action=allow program="%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Arduino\java\bin\javaw.exe" profile=domain protocol=udp

 

Thanks Jason. This seems to work for me (didn't need the firewall rules).

 

However despite installing Arduino manually on a few machines and then checking the certificate store, some computers only have the Adafruit certificate and some have Adafruit and Arduino_LLC. None seem to have Arduino_srl. Does this matter? The install seems to work without it but I haven't got an Arduino device handy to try it to see if it prompts for any missing driver. I've even manually ran the .exe that installs the drivers in the installation folder and I can see Arduino_srl mentioned but it then never appears in the store.

 

Also when you export to a .cer file, there's two encryption options. Does it matter which one is used?