Garacesh Posted January 27, 2016 Posted January 27, 2016 I loathe to start few-sentence topics but it really is what it says on the tin here There's tonnes of programs in the Google results but I wondered if anyone had any first-hand experience with any of them. It's mostly just because VLC don't offer MSI packages, but this problem has come up a few times before and it would be nice to have a solution for it. Basically taking an EXE installer and creating an MSI for an unattended install through Group Policy.
bossman Posted January 27, 2016 Posted January 27, 2016 @Garacesh I now use PDQ Deploy to deploy small bits of software that comes as exe's and also copy files to certain destinations across the network, I use it with the Inventory part as well and for the cost of approx £700 for the two its worth its weight in Gold. We have one licensed enterprise version and with this you also have access to ready made update deployments of all runtime engines and media players etc etc, You can get a free version to use for as long as you want only exception is that you can only deploy 3 of the ready made application deployments, Have a look its well worth it!
dayzd Posted January 27, 2016 Posted January 27, 2016 I made a quick and dirty MSI for VLC using MSIWrapper, and added "/S /NCRC" as both an install and an uninstall argument, to make is as silent as possible. It may not be a customised package, but it works. I found ITNinja to be a good place to look for advice on custom packages, if you want that. There's some useful stuff on there if you want to package things like Adobe Reader and Quicktime, too...
LeMarchand Posted January 27, 2016 Posted January 27, 2016 I made a quick and dirty MSI for VLC using MSIWrapper, and added "/S /NCRC" as both an install and an uninstall argument, to make is as silent as possible. It may not be a customised package, but it works. You can also cheat if you're feeling brave: http://sourceforge.net/projects/vlcplayermsiinstallers/
Garacesh Posted January 27, 2016 Author Posted January 27, 2016 You can also cheat if you're feeling brave: VLC Player MSI Installers download | SourceForge.net I did find this link, but I'd feel safer making it myself. (Then again, it's entirely possible any program could embed malware into the installer anyway. So, bummer.)
korifugi Posted January 27, 2016 Posted January 27, 2016 I've had a fair amount of success with Wininstall LE, but I'm not sure that's still going. Failing that, I've used Orca - but beware, Orca is VERY powerful and can be a bit confusing.
Chuckster Posted January 27, 2016 Posted January 27, 2016 What I do with software such as VLC is use the robocopy command to mirror the standalone files from the network share to each workstation. This occurs on every startup and checks with the network share by mirroring it if there are any files newer than what's on the workstation. Quick and simple, and it's what I also do with other software that provide standalone files.
Garacesh Posted January 27, 2016 Author Posted January 27, 2016 What I do with software such as VLC is use the robocopy command to mirror the standalone files from the network share to each workstation. This occurs on every startup and checks with the network share by mirroring it if there are any files newer than what's on the workstation. Quick and simple, and it's what I also do with other software that provide standalone files. Aye, but this wouldn't resolve file association. We run VLC from an application server at the moment and the staff start menus have pre-crafted shortcuts that load VLC (From the application server) and connect to TV or Radio streams. So that works. But if they want to play footage locally (to use a real example, one of the ladies that deals with problem kids got emailed CCTV footage from another school in MKV format) it won't work.
DJ-1701 Posted January 27, 2016 Posted January 27, 2016 I've had a fair amount of success with Wininstall LE, but I'm not sure that's still going. Yeah, 2003 I think was the last version of WinInstall LE, and used that on Windows XP. A few years back I used IT Ninja's AppDeploy Repackager to create an MSI. Article: The AppDeploy Repackager | ITNinja Was a little be quirky iirc, but I did manage to create one with it. As an alternative to this MSI fun, you could always look at WPKG/WPKG-gp and deploy EXEs with silent switches (or SCCM if you have some funds available).
sparkeh Posted January 27, 2016 Posted January 27, 2016 (edited) Rather than muck around creating an msi I just called a script (exit code optional, that's just there for sccm). @echo off REM Run the VLC installer "\vlc-2.2.1-win64.exe" /language=en_GB /S REM Removes the Desktop icon if exist "%public%\Desktop\VLC media player.lnk" del "%public%\Desktop\VLC media player.lnk" /S REM Return exit code to SCCM exit /B %EXIT_CODE% and to uninstall @echo off REM Uninstall VLC if exist "%PROGRAMFILES%\VideoLAN\VLC\uninstall.exe" "%PROGRAMFILES%\VideoLAN\VLC\uninstall.exe"/S Edited January 27, 2016 by sparkeh 1
Norphy Posted January 27, 2016 Posted January 27, 2016 (edited) A quick and dirty bodge would be to use a startup script to deploy the software rather than use the GPO MSI deployment tools. /edit Ninja'd by sparkeh. With a code example too. Now I'm embarrassed Edited January 27, 2016 by Norphy
Garacesh Posted January 27, 2016 Author Posted January 27, 2016 We don't have SCCM here, nor the wallet to get it off the ground If I can run it as a batch file during startup, that would work, I'm just not sure what capabilities are available with silent/administrative/non-interactive installs. Not something I've looked into until now.
Norphy Posted January 27, 2016 Posted January 27, 2016 The vast majority of installers can be run silently with the appropriate command line switches. VLC definitely can. The /S switch that sparkeh put in his script will work. Pretty sure it's case sensitive with VLC so be sure to use a capital.
DJ-1701 Posted January 27, 2016 Posted January 27, 2016 We don't have SCCM here, nor the wallet to get it off the ground If I can run it as a batch file during startup, that would work, I'm just not sure what capabilities are available with silent/administrative/non-interactive installs. Not something I've looked into until now. The vast amount of times exe's have silent install commands and the information is available from the manufactures website. As VLC is a small program, it should be fine to deploy over Computer startup GPO, but something to be aware of is there is a built in time limit of 15 minutes for scripts before the system exits execution and goes to the next step in the boot sequence. That's why most of us use SCCM or if we want something free WPKG or WPKG-gp for deployment.
Garacesh Posted January 27, 2016 Author Posted January 27, 2016 (edited) So how does /S work, exactly? Just auto Next's and I Agree's? Default location, etc? Edit: there is a built in time limit of 15 minutes for scripts before the system exits execution and goes to the next step in the boot sequence. Ouch, I did not know that. Edited January 27, 2016 by Garacesh
korifugi Posted January 27, 2016 Posted January 27, 2016 (edited) Well for installing silently via command line you could always use: vlc-2.2.1-win64.exe /L=1033 /S /L=1033 should set you up as English with /S being silent. Le Edit - yes, silent just automatically goes 'yes' to I agree and default location Edited January 27, 2016 by korifugi extra! extra!
Garacesh Posted January 27, 2016 Author Posted January 27, 2016 So, where VLC is concerned, if I create a batch file reading \\location\of\vlc-2.2.1-win64.exe /L=1033 /S, would that not install VLC every time the machine booted up? I'd need to put in IF EXIST C:\...\VLC.exe or something, right?
Norphy Posted January 27, 2016 Posted January 27, 2016 So, where VLC is concerned, if I create a batch file reading \\location\of\vlc-2.2.1-win64.exe /L=1033 /S, would that not install VLC every time the machine booted up? I'd need to put in IF EXIST C:\...\VLC.exe or something, right? Right.
korifugi Posted January 27, 2016 Posted January 27, 2016 (edited) Bingo - an IF EXIST will allow you to skip installation if the directory is already there Edit: got called away and ninja'd Edited January 27, 2016 by korifugi ninja'd
Garacesh Posted January 27, 2016 Author Posted January 27, 2016 Haven't coded in batch since forever.. Too used to usual Powershell. Right, I'll give that a try tomorrow. Thanks guys! Had no idea about /S.. I figured all the switches were all via msiexec so I needed an MSI first
jmak Posted January 27, 2016 Posted January 27, 2016 Well for installing silently via command line you could always use: vlc-2.2.1-win64.exe /L=1033 /S /L=1033 should set you up as English with /S being silent. Le Edit - yes, silent just automatically goes 'yes' to I agree and default location What does this do about the bloatware that comes bundled in the exe installers?
Arthur Posted January 27, 2016 Posted January 27, 2016 What does this do about the bloatware that comes bundled in the exe installers? Like the browser plugins?
DJ-1701 Posted January 27, 2016 Posted January 27, 2016 Had no idea about /S.. I figured all the switches were all via msiexec so I needed an MSI first This... this makes me feel old.
DJ-1701 Posted January 27, 2016 Posted January 27, 2016 What does this do about the bloatware that comes bundled in the exe installers? Like the browser plugins? Exactly. To my knowledge, there is no bloatware with VLC, but as for other programs, sometimes you will get switches to disable installation of said bloatware, but unless there is a specific command, all you can do is test. Any good installer can be questioned for it's arguements by typing in the command prompt: ExeNameHere.exe /? Otherwise information should be on the website for the company that produced the installer. 1
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