GPO Msi deployment fails

[Sheridan]

I'm trying to push out an msi (Geogebra) across our W10 stations, and have the MSI provided - which works fine when run manually

 

When applied using GPO though, the client PCs all log the following:

 

- The assignment of application GeoGebra Classic from policy GeoGebra 6 failed. The error was : %%1274

- The removal of the assignment of application GeoGebra Classic from policy GeoGebra 6 failed. The error was : %%2

- Failed to apply changes to software installation settings. The installation of software deployed through Group Policy for this user has been delayed until the next logon because the changes must be applied before the user logon. The error was : %%1274

- The Group Policy Client Side Extension Software Installation was unable to apply one or more settings because the changes must be processed before system startup or user logon. The system will wait for Group Policy processing to finish completely before the next startup or logon for this user, and this may result in slow startup and boot performance.

 

 

Now this is a Computer only policy, with the Software Installation pointing to the MSI, which is accessible on the network to all domain joined PCs. They have been rebooted umpteen times as well!

 

Is this just a dodgy msi, manually installing is an option but a complete pain.

[Mako]

Geogebra has been a pain since somewhere in the middle of it's v5 update. It worked fine and then stopped deploying. I got around it by installing it as a startup script:

msiexec.exe /i \\server\share\GeoGebra-Windows-Installer-5-0-443-0.msi ALLUSERS=2 /qn

 

It's such a lightweight program that it adds very little to the startup time and I only deploy it in the maths classrooms.

[Sheridan]

I've tried the script method as well - that logs no errors in the event viewer, but the application doesn't install. I directed the msiexec to output a log file as well, but that just gets created as a empty file! Its literally empty so it looks like the msiexec command hasn't even started

[foofighterjim]

Not much help but thank you for bringing this up, I was literally about to start working on GeoGebra but had half an eye on getting the maths staff to use the web version. This may be the line I now push to them if the newer versions aren't deploying properly.

[Sheridan]

Its a pain - manually install using a batch file or running the MSI directly and you're fine. Using the msi with GPO just generates errors, and trying to install with a script weirdly does nothing for me, yet has worked for @Mako - although I'm using version 6 instead of 5

 

Our maths department say the web version is missing the bit they need - so its on the build list for the next image.

 

Its been a while since I pushed an MSI out, so I'm assuming the bulk of the problems will be W10 related.

[Mako]

To be fair I'm not using v6 like you, and I'm also on Win7. I'll try with v6 and see how it goes, although I'm working on something else at the moment.

[jthompson]

When manually installing, are there any user prompts? I've had that before with an MSI: a GPO deployment failing because the installation isn't able to proceed unattended.

 

It wasn't GeoGebra, but we fixed our issue by creating a suitable MST transform file to go with the MSI (effectively working like an answer file).

Edited October 18, 2018 by jthompson

[Zoom7000]

Maybe consider installing PDQ Deploy on your server and use this for deployment? It has a very featured filled free version which should be useful for most deployments and certainly did well for me when setting up my networks.

[caffrey]

Are other MSI working ?

[Sheridan]

Other MSI's have worked - just checked and we rolled out a package to W10 PCs in Easter this year. As for the manual install it doesn't bring up any prompts at all - repackaging it might be an option. Shame there isn't a portable version.

[Katy]

I would guess that it's defaulting to per-user install when installed via the GPO (which is why it works with "ALLUSERS=2" done via the startup batch file) so perhaps if you make an MST setting the ALLUSERS property to 2, and apply that on the MSI inside the GPO it might work?

[jthompson]

Just checked how we deploy it and there is a portable version available - https://wiki.geogebra.org/en/Reference:GeoGebra_Installation

 

We've used that and put it into our main image.

[Sheridan]

Nice one, I hadn't even seen there was a portable version - giving that a try now.

[mrwoberts]

As for the manual install it doesn't bring up any prompts at all

 

That makes me wonder what context it works in/requires. When you ran it manually, were you in an elevated account, command prompt, 'Run-As Admin'...?

 

When you tried your script version, was that under a 'Computer' Startup Script, or 'User' Logon Script? The latter runs in the security context of the logged on user, the former runs as Local System (Admin) context.

 

EDIT: With the above in mind, if you ran the script under the Computer GPO, you'd need to put the MSI file in a location that is accessible from the receiving computers Local System account 'computer$'. The UNC path to the domain Netlogon folder should be fine. Running the script in User GPO just requires that user to have read/execute access to the MSI file.

Edited October 18, 2018 by mrwoberts

[Sheridan]

It’s in the computer startup scripts, but it mustn’t even start the msi as the log is empty, not even a startup message. Manual install is running the same batch file from file explorer, using run as administrator.

 

Testing the portable version has had good results though, so I will probably just use that now as it does seem specific to this application.

 

I suppose I could try building my own msi and trying that as well.

[mrwoberts]

It’s in the computer startup scripts

 

I imagine that's the problem then. Running the script manually as an admin from a network location vs. running it as a Computer Startup script are not necessarily going to yield the same results. You're comparing an admin account with a computer SYSTEM account; very different security context. Since you've got a working solution with your portable app I won't labour the point, but if you're interested in finding out why this script / MSI didn't work, I'd begin looking at the location of the MSI - try putting the msi in the netlogon folder, which gives access to computer accounts.

[Sheridan]

Hmm I’m not sure it’s the location of the msi as it’s in the same folder as all of the other msi files we deploy, which is a share that computer accounts have access to.

 

We’ve deployed msi packages this way for years, just this little blighter won’t work!

[mrwoberts]

Perhaps it doesn't like the SYSTEM context of the Computer GPO. I'm assuming the software needs to write to privileged folders and thus the User logon script wouldn't work??

Sounds like the portable route is the way forward, or you could look into PDQ deploy.

[Sheridan]

Perhaps it doesn't like the SYSTEM context of the Computer GPO. I'm assuming the software needs to write to privileged folders and thus the User logon script wouldn't work??

Sounds like the portable route is the way forward, or you could look into PDQ deploy.

 

Could be, but it seems like a very simple program, it only seems to install into ProgramFiles.

 

Before I tried the portable version I copied a previous install to a network folder and ran it from there and it worked ok, so it doesn’t seem to change registry settings, or put files anywhere else!

[mrwoberts]

Have you tried installing it manually within a standard (non-admin) account, and without elevating the install through 'Run as Admin', or Admin command prompt...

 

If you can install it without admin privileges then it should work through the User GPO logon script?

[KevinB]

If it's any help as a pointer, I've just done a test with SCCM and if I create a deployment type that's "Install for user" it fails but if it's "Install for System" it works so I'd tend to agree that it's something to do with the context that the installer is running in.