ToyHeartsFan Posted January 8, 2016 Posted January 8, 2016 Hi Could you tell me why Promethean have stopped providing its ActivInspire drivers as msi files? https://support.prometheanworld.com/article/?kb=How-do-I-install-ActivDriver-over-my-network The change in policy means that we can no longer update the drivers unless we either install it manually or bodge a script so we’re now stuck on V5.11.7 indefinitely. It makes no sense for promethean to remove the ability of network managers to deploy the drivers using group policy. All of our curriculum software is deployed by group policy and we have no other means of deploying software. We have over 30 Promethean boards and deploy the software site wide so that it can be used for lesson preparation and so that teachers can just plug their laptops in to one of the boards as needed. Thanks
Michael Posted January 8, 2016 Posted January 8, 2016 I agree it doesn't make a lot of sense, but in saying that, once the driver's installed there's no need to keep upgrading it unless there's a specific issue. Some of their newer ActivPanels (interactive TVs) don't require a driver to work at all.
Arthur Posted January 8, 2016 Posted January 8, 2016 Could you tell me why Promethean have stopped providing its ActivInspire drivers as MSI files? http://vgy.me/TVqU2X.png The change in policy means that we can no longer update the drivers unless we either install it manually or bodge a script How do you usually deploy the MSI? Via Group Policy, SCCM etc.?
DJ-1701 Posted January 8, 2016 Posted January 8, 2016 How do you usually deploy the MSI? Via Group Policy, SCCM etc.? I am assuming group policy due to the phrase used here: It makes no sense for promethean to remove the ability of network managers to deploy the drivers using group policy. Some companies say they don't give an MSI, and then you find one extracted to the %temp% folder during installation... though from what I have seen MSI creation and deployment has been dwindling for sometime now. Also MSI packaging can at times be a pain to create. That's why most of us use items such as WPKG/WPKG-gp or SCCM for deployment as they will handle exes as well. I find it more of a pain if no one bothers to make a silent installer/uninstaller. Instead you might be able to create computer startup script and attach it to a gpo to check if the software is installed, and if not install.
ToyHeartsFan Posted January 8, 2016 Author Posted January 8, 2016 We had a demo of a smart board and smart amp after which I decided to have a look at Classflow which we hadn’t gotten around to trying yet just to see what it offered. I can’t get it to work on our Learnpad Tablets but that’s a separate issue so I put it in another thread. Apparently they have replaced flash bridge with activrelay in 5.12.x which might be of benefit on our 500Pro boards apparently, information was a bit sparse as to the impact of the changes but I was going to try deploying the new driver which is when I found out they no longer provided the msi for it. It just doesn’t make much sense that you can create a network installation of activinspire and deploy it by group policy but now you can’t deploy the driver in the same way.
ToyHeartsFan Posted January 8, 2016 Author Posted January 8, 2016 How do you usually deploy the MSI? Via Group Policy, SCCM etc.? We use Group Policy we don't have SCCM
ToyHeartsFan Posted January 8, 2016 Author Posted January 8, 2016 Some companies say they don't give an MSI,. Java being one of my favourites... I've not actually searched to see if the installer creates an msi during installation but they provide the msi for the rest of activinspire its just the driver they are saying isn't available now which is why I think its an odd decision. Instead you might be able to create computer startup script . I've scripted software install before it just seems a bit messy when you can allocate software via group policy, I've not had to resort to scripts for several years now and it seems a step backwards. SCCM would be nice but we're only a Primary and I'm not sure how much it would cost to get it up and running. I've seen people mention WPKG before but I haven't tried it yet I might take another look at it thanks for the reminder. I just haven't needed to deploy exe's, you can usually capture simple primary programs with wininstall or just install them on a network share.
phillyrovers Posted January 11, 2016 Posted January 11, 2016 Hi All, Thank you for your feedback. To clarify the situation. ActivDriver as mentioned above uses BitRock installation technology, rather than using Microsoft's installer technology. This allows us to create cross platform, cross operating system installers, and will allow us to deploy fixes and updates quicker than we currently do, when an update is required. We will be moving all of our software installations to BitRock at some point in the future. ActivDriver was the first. So the issue of having ActivInspire with MSI, and ActivDriver with .exe is only a temporary "thing". The command to install ActivDriver silently and without user interaction is docuemented here: https://support.prometheanworld.com/article/?kb=How-do-I-install-ActivDriver-over-my-network We have been looking at various installer technologies, and ActivEngage 2 was released using NullSoft installer technology. BitRock is the one that we are moving to. Thank you
DJ-1701 Posted January 11, 2016 Posted January 11, 2016 (edited) Hi All, Thank you for your feedback. To clarify the situation. ActivDriver as mentioned above uses BitRock installation technology, rather than using Microsoft's installer technology. This allows us to create cross platform, cross operating system installers, and will allow us to deploy fixes and updates quicker than we currently do, when an update is required. We will be moving all of our software installations to BitRock at some point in the future. ActivDriver was the first. So the issue of having ActivInspire with MSI, and ActivDriver with .exe is only a temporary "thing". The command to install ActivDriver silently and without user interaction is docuemented here: https://support.prometheanworld.com/article/?kb=How-do-I-install-ActivDriver-over-my-network We have been looking at various installer technologies, and ActivEngage 2 was released using NullSoft installer technology. BitRock is the one that we are moving to. Thank you Thanks @phillyrovers To be fair, @ToyHeartsFan problem wasn't that the ActivInspire and ActivDriver were different installer types, but that ActivDriver by itself is an EXE so not as easy to deploy under their current system. Obviously from your statement Promethean aren't looking to use MSIs in the future, so @ToyHearthFan will unfortunately need to evaluate the situation and deside where to go from here. I haven't used the new driver yet, but I would like to say thank you for including silent install option for the installer , but is there a silent uninstall string in case we need to remove the product? Edited January 11, 2016 by DJ-1701
phillyrovers Posted January 11, 2016 Posted January 11, 2016 Thanks @DJ-1701, I could of explained even further but chose not to. The reason that we no longer have MSI's using BitRock, is because BitRock do not allow us to create MSI's from within their installer technology. The uninstall command string string would be: uninstaller path and file name --mode unattended e.g: C:\Program Files\Activ Software\ActivDriver\uninstall.exe --mode unattended Thanks 2
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