[wpkg-users] Installs from start to finish....

[Rainer Meier]

Hi Kevin,

Kevin Landers wrote:
> Can wpkg completely take a computer from fresh install to fully loaded?

Well, not directly let's say. WPKG cannot deploy Windows itself as it is
based on the principle to run on a finished Windows (base)-Installation.

But WPKG can help you to create a full automated installation of your
clients. Read on.


> For example, in our office we have an automated Windows XP installation
> CD that we pop in and when finished it gives us a pristine install
> without prompting for anything.

That's great. I also prepared some fully unattended CDs. Recently I
moved to RIS (or RIS-Linux) to install the clients over the network. So
either installing with RIS or using an unattended CD prepares a machine
with a basic installation.

So the only thing you have to do is to install WPKG client with an
appropriate configuration after setup has finished.
Personally I use cmdlines.txt method to enhance Windows setup. Commands
listed within cmdlines.txt are run at T-13 during Windows setup. Here I
just call a batch file which is inserting the WPKG client installation
(along with a delayed reboot command) to the RunOnce registry key. So
after rebooting the machine after setup (fully automatic) Windows will
log on using an administrator account (one-time logon is enabled), then
it installs WPKG client as specified by the RunOnce key and reboots the
machine after ~30 seconds (another RunOnce entry).

On next start WPKG starts to synchronize the software (wpkg.js
/synchronize). The profile can either be hard-coded within the WPKG
client configuration or (my preference) evaluated by hostname (see
WINNT.SIF documentation on how to automatically generate hostnames which
have a defined "prefix").

So WPKG automatically installs all software on the client while doing
reboots as required (a package which needs reboot can indicate this
within the package configuration).

So after a few reboots (depending on your applications) your machine is
ready to be used.
Then you can ship it to your clients.

Unless you uninstall WPKG client on the workstation it will continue to
synchronize the software on each startup. As a result you might just
update the package definitions on the server and all clients with access
to the package share keep up-to-date automatically.


> I am curious as to whether or not wpkg could then be set to install, run
> and install each application needed on that machine in turn. I would
> imagine there would be a need for reboots. There would be multiple
> applications such as office suite, virus scanner, firewalls, etc.

See above.


> And with this in mind, how does wpkg handle GUI installers that do not
> have a CLI method of install?

WPKG does not directly handle GUI installers. The installer (any
executable) needs to install the application silently. Almost all
applications I know are supporting such a method (NSIS installer use /S
switch, msi packages can use the /qn switch etc.). Applications which
are not supporting any silent installation (like the current Azureus
Vuze installer) need to be re-packed. Personally I usually crate a 7-Zip
SFX archive of the installation directory, then put it onto a share and
let WPKG just unpack that SFX archive to the %ProgramFiles% directory
again. In some cases you just need to to some post-installation actions
like creating icons or registering DLLs afterwards. All this can be done
silently using batch scripts.
Again, this needs to be done only in very rare cases as most installers
are able to run silently. One of the main advantages of WPKG is that it
is able to run any executable with any number of parameters (so it's not
limited to MSI package deployment only).
So feel free to share your experiences with specific programs on
<http://www.wpkg.org/>.


br,
Rainer