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Autocad mechanical 2011 admin image customization

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Message 1 of 13
darkbrewer
2122 Views, 12 Replies

Autocad mechanical 2011 admin image customization

I'm attempting to make a couple of customizations to the admin image I created.  First of all, the "silent" installation still has a basic UI that opens and allows a user to "cancel" the installation during all of the 3rd party installations.   I tried adding the SILENT! option to the adminimage.ini but that didn't seem to change a thing.  If I try passing parameters/switches directly to the setup.exe it begins the install, but acts as if I need to provide all of the installation information.   Is there an easier way to disable these? 

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Message 2 of 13
darkbrewer
in reply to: darkbrewer

Additionally, we're using a lengthy DFS share name and during the creation of the admin image the installer exceeds the 256 character limit in windows.   If the creation tool would accept a drive letter I could easily remedy this problem, but it will only allow me to specify a UNC path.   What are the implications of creating this admin image in location that would not exceed the 256 character limit and then moving it to where I want.  I see the adminimage.ini uses this location as well as the shortcut that launches the installation after it has been created.  

Message 3 of 13
TravisNave
in reply to: darkbrewer

You could potentially do that, I suppose.  But the DFS is not supported and the method for deployment is from a UNC share.  Give it a shot and post your results.  The worst that can happen is that it won't work.  😉 



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Message 4 of 13
darkbrewer
in reply to: TravisNave

I'm currently testing different scenerios, but the use of a UNC path in my case is not ideal because this share differs from site to site (we have about 😎 regarding the physical server that hosts the data.   Coming across the WAN to install such a large product simply won't work.  

Message 5 of 13
TravisNave
in reply to: darkbrewer

I can definitely respect that aspect. 

 

You could use a dummy servername UNC path and create a hosts file entry for client machines to point to this fake server... that would be a local server at each site.  Just a thought.



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Message 6 of 13
darkbrewer
in reply to: TravisNave

I suspect that would work, but opted to try a different technique.  I just modified both DEPLOYMENT_LOCATION entries in the ini's in the adminimage dir and the shortcut the admin install creates to point to a drive letter instead of a unc path.   I basically substituted a drive letter for the lengthy UNC path of our DFS share.  So far it seems to be installing just fine.   I still don't like how I have the option to click cancel during the installation progress dialogue of each installed product. 

Message 7 of 13
TravisNave
in reply to: darkbrewer

Yeah, changing the ini file and shortcut will work for you.  Although it is sometimes problematic with Autodesk deployemnts, you could consider creating a silent GPO installation if you want to avoid the user's ability to cancel the silent install of the Autodesk deployment wizard.  It may not be worth the effort to setup, however. 



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Message 8 of 13
darkbrewer
in reply to: TravisNave

That's reassuring that the couple of changes I made should work, and I'll report that the installation has been continuing along just fine since doing so, but you're thinking outside of my corporate box! 😉  We are strictly avoiding the use of GP to deploy software because we have a proprietary deployment tool made by CA and the method of reporting software installations differs.  Any other thoughts on hiding the installation progress dialogues? 

Message 9 of 13
TravisNave
in reply to: darkbrewer

I found that slapping the hands of your users works well.   🙂 



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Message 10 of 13
darkbrewer
in reply to: TravisNave

If only the sites weren't so far away...I need a virtual slapping tool.   The installation did complete successfully after the previously mentioned changes to the ini's and shortcut thankfully.    My other curiosity is how I can prevent all these dependancies from installing.  We've already packaged a bunch of them and there is no sense in eating up extra disk space on our servers when I can call the installation seperately ahead of time.   Has anyone done this? 

Message 11 of 13
TravisNave
in reply to: darkbrewer

I definitely can't say I've ever tried that nor had anyone propose that question to me.  Since you're in the guess and check mode anyway, you could manually remove the prerequistes from the deployement and install to a machine that meets the requirements and see if the installation goes off without a hitch.  I'd imagine you'd have a deployment failure for any machine that doesn't have the proper files already though.  Interesting question for sure. 



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Message 12 of 13
TravisNave
in reply to: TravisNave

Other than creating a GPO install, it appears you can modify the SETUP.INI file to skip the prerequisite installs, either because those have already been preinstalled or that they cause unncessary 1603, 1406, 1708, 1935, or other common MSI errors.  This is especially useful for the old Flash installer program or even the new C++ 2008 failure. 

 

All you need to do is open the SETUP.INI and modify the PREREQUISITE line so that the programs that you do not wish to be checked or installed are ignored.  For example here is AutoCAD 2011:

 

[ACAD]
PLATFORM=NATIVE
PREREQUISITE=OS;IE;SSE2;DOTNET;DOTNETUPDATE;VCREDISTX86;VCREDISTX64;DIRECTX;FaroSDK;MSXML;WMF;CM;CMILL

 

You can remove the checks and be left with:

 

PREREQUISITE=OS;IE;SSE2; DIRECTX

 

The installer always checks for DIRECTX, so removing it is moot.  Leaving the OS check as well as the IE and CPU check should also remain. 

 

Each prerequiste has its own section right above this check, should any require additional modification. 

 

So changing the .ini file has more benefits than just repathing a deployment location afterall.  Hopefully this information will prove valuable to the board in the future.  Special thanks to those involved.  You know who you are.  😉 



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Message 13 of 13
darkbrewer
in reply to: TravisNave

I found this on the web yesterday afternoon and must say it was very insightfull. 

Why isn't this stuff in the normally provisioned "admin installation reference guide"?

 

 

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