SolidWorks 2018 SCCM

[exhaustedittech]

Hey guys,

 

Sorry to post so much, but I'm super new to sccm

 

I'm trying to deploy solidworks out, but my command line installation will not work. All of it is absolutely fine when ran from my bat file, which installs the prerequisites and then solidworks shortly after but, when I try to install via sccm (with the prereqs listed as dependencies) it fails out immediately.

 

How are you guys deploying in sccm?

[wccppa1]

We are using the using the command line - "\\SERVERNAME\software\Solidworks2018\SOLIDWORKS 2018 SP4.0\startswinstall.exe" /qn

I didn't create this particular install app, let me know if you need more info and I can put you in touch.

[exhaustedittech]

That's awesome!! I've just assembled our admin image, so I'm going to give this a try. If you don't mind me asking, what's the detection method for the exe?

 

Thank you again for your help, seriously awesome

[Whisky]

Not installed 2018 but i have 2016 SP5 deployed. It been a long time since i have done anything with this but here is how i deployed it using SCCM.

 

Firstly i created the application for each of the PreReqs. Tested that these deployed ok individually.

I then created a .bat file with the following "\\SERVERNAME\sources\Applications\Product Design\SLDWKS2016SP5\64bit\SOLIDWORKS\Solidworks.msi" TRANSFORMS="solidworks.mst" /qn and created it as an application in SCCM using the batch file for the installation program.

 

I used SLDWORKS.exe and photoview360.exe as detection methods. Both needed to exists. When using the MSI detection i found it wasn't reliable.

 

I added all of the PreReqs as an dependencies. If any of them fail to install then Solidworks won't start the installation.

 

Hope that makes sense.

[exhaustedittech]

That's legendary Whisky! Going to muck about with SW tomorrow to see if I can get it going (finally!) -- Thanks so much for your input

[Arthur]

@exhaustedittech. It's worth mentioning that if you are going to use the install command Whisky posted it's far better to put it directly into SCCM (rather than use a separate batch file) since the exit/return codes from msiexec will be passed back correctly and the SCCM client will be able to automatically handle reboots and know if the application has been installed successfully (among other things).

 

 

The install command would therefore be...

 

Install

msiexec /i Solidworks.msi TRANSFORMS="solidworks.mst" /qn

 

Uninstall

msiexec /x {PRODUCT CODE FROM YOUR SOLIDWORKS MSI} /qn

 

You can still use the Solidworks EXEs as detection methods, even with an msiexec-based install command.

[exhaustedittech]

These responses are awesome! Thanks for that Arthur, I'm going to give it a whack and see how far I get!

[wccppa1]

We typically don't use file detection. In this case, registry:

HKLM:SOFTWARE\SolidWorks\SOLIDWORKS 2018\Setup

InstallSource = \\SERVERNAME\software\Solidworks2018\SOLIDWORKS 2018 SP4.0\64bit\SOLIDWORKS\

[themightymrp]

I know this is an old post but to keep the data fresh... When deploying the Solidworks 2021 SP5 using MECM, the simple silent install command was:

 

"StartSWInstall.exe" /install /showui /now

 

This installs all pre-requisites and seems to have worked just fine. We'll be getting access to the newer 2022 build in then next few weeks so will hopefully be using the same command

[Rogueleeder]

I know this is an old post but to keep the data fresh... When deploying the Solidworks 2021 SP5 using MECM, the simple silent install command was:

 

"StartSWInstall.exe" /install /showui /now

 

This installs all pre-requisites and seems to have worked just fine. We'll be getting access to the newer 2022 build in then next few weeks so will hopefully be using the same command

 

 

Just tried this while trying to get Solid Works to install during PXE Task Sequence and it doesn't seem to install Any ideas what I'm missing

[themightymrp]

Have you got any kind of detection method in there? We are now deploying the 2022 SP2 variant and the same install command works. I assume you have created the Admin build and it is this that you are trying to deploy?

 

We are using a 'check for folder' method to detect if the program already exists or not. See screenshots attached

 

 

[Rogueleeder]

Yep I've used the EXE's as detection methods, basically I'm having SolidWorks install as part of my main Windows build TS, but I'm watching it come up then move to the next App after 30 seconds which doesn't seem right for something so big.

 

I'm using the admin image and the same install command as you

 

Edit: Could it be something to do with the Admin Image? I'm calling the EXE from outside the 64bit folder, not the one inside it.

Edited July 27, 2022 by Rogueleeder

[themightymrp]

The one outside the folder is right - you should see a couple of EXE files, a HTA file and then 2 sub-folders for 64bit and Lang.

 

Are you using SCCM or MDT? Can you gather any information from the BDD.log file after the install to see where it might be failing?

[Rogueleeder]

SCCM.

 

I don't seem to have the BDD.log on my test machine .

[themightymrp]

Have you got any logs you can look at? I'm still fairly new at SCCM, my colleague has been the one setting up up to move us away from MDT. I think they are stored in c:\windows\CCM?

[Rogueleeder]

Oh Loads of logs in there, just don't know quite where to start.

[themightymrp]

My colleague says he had to adjust the cache size somewhere within the task sequence to allow it to download a copy of the installer to the machine first before it installs it. The Solidworks admin image folder is pretty huge and the cache was apparently quite a bit smaller. It'll delete that cache after the successful install (so I'm told)

[Rogueleeder]

AH I see, that would make sense, any idea how he did it and what size he set it too? I've got 128GB SSDs in the machines I'm building

[themightymrp]

OK, In the Configuration Manager console , go to Administration --> Overview --> Client Settings

 

Edit the Default Client Setting that is there. The second menu option down is Client Cache Setting. He has set the max cache size to 25000 Mb.

 

Seems to work just fine, we also have some machines with those size SSD's and it works OK. I think the installed version uses around 20Gb once the cache is all cleared up.

[Rogueleeder]

Thanks Friend! I'll give that a go and try a new deployment shortly. Will Report Back before end of day

[themightymrp]

No worries, fingers crossed it works for you

[Rogueleeder]

Sadly no joy with the install I'm a bit stumped now.

[themightymrp]

Does it still ditch out after a short amount of time? What cache size did you set in the end?

 

I'm assuming you've tested your silent install by triggering it from within a working copy of Windows to ensure it does actually run? I think we're back to log files to try and see what the issue is. In the c:\windows\ccm\logs folder, try looking in exemgr.log - though I'm not certain this is the right one. This site has a full breakdown of what logs where:

 

https://www.prajwaldesai.com/sccm-log-files/#SCCM-Client-Log-Files

[Rogueleeder]

Yeah same issue.

 

So the silent install works, but it does prompt for UNC, and shows the install ui. I wonder if that could be the issue?

[themightymrp]

Prompting for the UAC shouldn't be an issue during the deploy as it will be running as administrator at that point. When you say it shows the UI, does it require you to select or do anything or just show the splash screen and progress?