I work at a retail store, where I get new computers in all day that I need to uninstall certain programs from (like McAfee) and install certain programs on (like Java, Silverlight). Until now I have been using deCrapifier and ninite to get this done, but i was wondering if I could make a script that would automatically do this. A script that i could put on a USB and just run one time on each computer.
Could i accomplish this using a powershell script mabye?
Yes, you can! Provided you know the software you are going to install, and have administrative rights. It will take you some time to get it right as you need to detect each of the software separately and potentially follow different steps to uninstall, but nothing is impossible.
Many of your suggested examples (such as Java, and SilverLight's /q switch) have "Silent," or "Quiet" installers that do everything for you. These are simple to launch from a batch file, or even via PowerShell if you'd like.
Additionally, for uninstallations, if you know the application's name as it exists on that box (exactly), you can use PowerShell to uninstall applications, as well.
Related
We have an application (really a platform) which we need to customise on a per-user role basis. This involves asking some questions and then installing the application and then customising it before handing back to the user.
After the app has been installed, we need to update the application (but not the settings) from time to time as new versions are released.
Our IT people have said I should use a PowerShell/cmd script to do the initial install - because of its specificity. I'd like to get SCCM to do the version updates but I've been told that if SCCM doesn't do the install, it doesn't know there's anything to update - fair enough! So I was wondering how can I call SCCM from my PowerShell script to perform the initial install and then return control to my script for final customisation?
On this site you can learn more about managing SCCM over PowerShell:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/sccm/overview?view=sccm-ps
But this won't be just a simple script, it will take a bit of time to create!
I am working on a project where we need to repeat certain steps with powershell to deploy stuff. i would like to create a process/install guidance (steps supported with UI) with WIX but after the msi has finished i have an entry in programs and features. I just need it to execute the powershell and the end without registering in windows. i might be using the wrong tooling or whatever, any suggestions are welcome.
Definitely not recommended unless you want to track the deployment of these scripts on different systems by checking the entries in ARP (Add/Remove Programs), and even then it clogs up the Add/Remove view of your computers. Most system administrators hate this approach, it is better to just write to your own registry key and read it back from every machine.
What are the scripts doing? Are you actually installing files.
Hi I'm wondering if it's possible to create application installers for MSI's. What I want it to do is when I run an MSI I want to be able to run it in it's own process so I can reference it via it's process ID so I can send various keys to it so it installs the way I want it too.
I can code in both C and Java but for the Sys Admins would be good if I could code it in Powershell for them. Also I've seen other installers that can detect when the next instance of the install screen appears so it immediately send the new command keys, well appears that way.
Any advice is welcomed.
MSI's traditionally allow for admins to provide an answer file or arguments using msiexec.
See this q/a on SuperUser or this SO Q/A for more info.
You can then use PowerShell to call the exe's by using the 3rd party Windows Installer PowerShell Module
.
[The Windows Installer PowerShell Module] Exposes Windows Installer functionality to PowerShell, providing means to query installed product and patch information and to query views on packages.
for example:
install-msiproduct .\example.msi -destination (join-path $env:ProgramFiles Example)
See this page for additional examples.
If you need to send keystrokes to the msi gui; you could look in to the Windows Automation Snapin for PowerShell. I have never used this personally.
Okay, I am trying to write an installer that installs multiple programs. The installer needs to be able to either get the files from a web server, or be able to package the files into a single installer file.
The end result I am looking for is a user hits a webpage, they can click a link to download a single installer file and the installer goes ahead and installs each of the programs. Quiet installations would be preferable but not absolutely necessary. I am trying to make this as user friendly and idiot proof as possible.
Grabbing the installers for each program from a web server would be preferable so it always grabs the latest version and I will not have to tweak the installer script each time the programs are updated.
I have looked into NSIS and MSI, and neither seem to be able to do what I need. I have entertained the idea of using Java Web Start to run a Java program that can install everything, but I am not sure the plausibility of that. If that is possible, then the user would not even need to run a file the Java Web Start would just take care of everything.
Perhaps Ninite will help.
If not, there are two possible solutions:
You can try using a MSI wrapper which installs the applications as prerequisites or through custom actions. It's dirty and complicated, but MSI is a standard.
You can write your own application which handles the installers. This is most likely the best approach.
I work part-time as a computer tech at the local high school. They needed a system to keep track of all the computers in the district (things like physical location of the machines and serial numbers for inventory), and told me to keep it on a budget. I sat down and wrote a little thousand-line script in Perl/Tk, which accesses a PostgreSQL database on the local server.
I also successfully wrote a launcher in C++ and compiled it with bcc32, so they can single-click the launcher executable to start the program without having to type anything into DOS. That works fine, and I can load this program myself by manually installing all the dependencies for it by hand.
I would like to build a setup program to automatically load the PostgreSQL application, Strawberry Perl, as well as the Tk, and DBD::Pg libraries, and finally, of course, the folder my application is stored in. It'd be nice to be able to create desktop shortcuts or start menu items too.
Has anyone had any success with software to generate .MSI files for Windows Installer on Windows XP and above? If so, what did you use, and did it cost any money? Alternatively, where do I need to begin reading in order to write my own setup program?
Nullsoft Scriptable Install System
I'm not sure if this will do everything you want, but have you looked at Win32::InstallShield?