Capturing legacy/non-MSI applications for use with MDT?

[LRSFC_DanJ]

We're hoping to move to MDT for our PC imaging and deployment but we have a few applications which don't have silent/unattended installers.

 

What tools do you use to repackage your legacy/non-MSI-installer applications so they can be used with MDT?

 

I've looked around at a few commercial solutons (Advanced Installer, AdminStudio, PACE Suite) but they all seem really expensive and do a lot more than we need to be able to do.

 

Thanks,

Dan Jackson (Lead ITServices Technician)

Long Road Sixth Form College

Cambridge, UK.

[sted]

depends what they are it may be easier to build them into the base image you deploy via mdt (so instead of just deploying the win file direct from the dvd you install it to a vm install updates and this software then capture and deploy that image to pcs. It just depends on the software really

[Davit2005]

You could put a pause in the MDT script and install manually for the odd real stubborn piece of software.

 

Wouldn't want to do it too often because of Human element of forgetting .

 

I must admint that I never encountered an application that I couldn't install given the time to fathom it out though .

Edited November 14, 2016 by Davit2005

[LRSFC_DanJ]

depends what they are it may be easier to build them into the base image you deploy via mdt (so instead of just deploying the win file direct from the dvd you install it to a vm install updates and this software then capture and deploy that image to pcs. It just depends on the software really

That's essentially what we do at the moment and that kind of monolithic imaging is something we'd like to move away from, but we have a small percentage of apps that we don't have a silent install for.

[Rob_D]

For some of the really stubborn ones we used autoit to interact with the install gui, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you have to.

[Arthur]

If you have a Microsoft EES (OVS-ES) subscription you can use the App-V Sequencer* to capture applications.

 

* The latest version is included in the Windows ADK.