Introduction
To create a deployment package in InTune you first have to create a custom installation for a specific product in the AutoDesk portal.
This will generate a self extracting download package that will download the application from AutoDesk, and once that's complete it will install the chosen product.
This functionality is great for an InTune package as it means we do not have to create a large package to store on our servers which the users would then download from. This method eliminates performance issues in our organisation by having the product downloaded directly from AutoDesk which improves speed and reliability.
Creating a custom installation package
Start off by going to the Custom Install library page and click the "Create new" button
You will be presented with a licence type option as well as a list of available products that you can use.
Make sure that you select Autodesk ID and then select your required product. For this example will select AutoCad
Once you select a product you will have the option to customise it on the right hand side.
We are deploying version 2022 of AutoDesk applications as agreed by the business users and IT. To set this up, select "Specific version", select the 2022 tab and select the latest revision from the list.
Unless explicitly requested by the users, do not customise any other settings of the application at this stage.
After you have select the specific version click "Next" under the list of applications
Enter a name for this deployment package so that it can easily be identified in the "Custom Install" library
Select the "Deploy" option for the package and enter the deployment image path.
The deployment image path will be a temporary location where the self extracting tool that is being created will download all the required installation files to.
It is important to enter the location here and make a note of what you are entering as the script uses the exact file path to check the extraction process is complete.
The naming convention for the path is "{$deploymentCacheFolder}\{$productFolderName}"
Replace {$deploymentCacheFolder} and {$productFolderName} with the name of temporary cache location and the application that you creating a package for. You will also need this later for lines 9 and 10 of the script.
Agree with the terms and conditions and download the package.
Creating the InTune package
Now that you have the custom package downloaded you can create the InTune package
Run the downloaded package with your admin account to get the extracted contents for the installation. It may take some time depending on the size of the package.
While this is happening proceed through the next steps until you get to the installation command
Create an AutoDesk Products folder in your Intune Apps directory. This is where the AutoDesk packages will be stored.
Create a directory specific to your package and create a "Source" and "Output" folder which will be used by the InTune packaging utility.
Copy your downloaded custom package to the source folder.
You can download a copy of the example powershell script to edit to follow this guide.
Creating the deployment script
On line 8 of the script enter the name of the file
On line 9 of the script enter the name of your temporary cache location
On line 10 of the script enter the name of the folder used by the product which will be the sub folder within the cache location.
For example line 8 would have the name of the installer creater file.
Line 9 would be equal to the yellow highlight in the image above.
Line 10 would be equal to the blue highlight in the image above.
$extractorFile = "Autocad 2022 deployment.exe"
$deploymentCacheFolder = "C:\temp\Autodesk_Deployments"
$productFolderName = "Autocad"
On line 49 you need to enter the silent installation command that can be found in the batch file in the deployment image path folder that you specified.You can "edit" the batch file so you can see the contents then copy and paste the install command into the powershell script.You will need to split the command up into two sectionsOne section will be for the filepath argumentSecond section will be for the argumentList argumentYou can create a copy of the line below and change the values from the silent installation command in the batch file found the temp folderIf you do not use the silent command then the package will fail to install the applicationStart-Process -FilePath '{Part 1}' -ArgumentList '{Part2}' -WaitExample part 1: "C:\temp\Autodesk_Deployments\AutoCad\image\Installer.exe"Example part 2: '-i deploy --offline_mode -q -o "C:\temp\Autodesk_Deployments\AutoCad\image\Collection.xml" --installer_version "1.39.0.165"'
The updated script now checks the install.bat file that is generated as part of the installation image creation.
You do not need to manually split the install string into the script it should all do it for you.
if you have issues with deploying or removing the software and already used the old version, it may be because the script you created will have hard coded installer version as a parameter and it doesn't seem to like this.
As the installer is always downloads the latest version the install command changes, so the new version of the script tries to automate this also.
The zip file containing the template scripts has been updated for ease.
Once you have completed editing the script make sure you save it.
Creating the removal script
To create the removal script, follow the same steps as previously for the deployment script.Copy the uninstall command into the script in the same manner as you did for the deployment script
Once you have completed that step, make sure to save the script
Package creation
Make sure that you have saved both scripts and that the self extracting package is in the source folder.
Once you are happy the source contents, proceed to package the application as standard.
Configuring the package on InTune
Once your package has been created you can proceed to InTune and create a Win32 app as standard
Enter all the relevant data into the required/optional fields as you needed.
For the detection method you are free to specify any rule you like.
It is recommended to use the MSI product code as this would avoid conflicts between deployments such as AutoCad and AutoCad Map3D
To find the MSI product code you can navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\ in the registry and look for the relevant product code based on the Display Name value which can be matched against the name that is listed in Programs and Features.
If you are unsure, install the product on your own device and check the Autodesk Folder in Program Files. If you can navigate your way through the folder structure you should be able to see the main executable for the application. You can then use the path to that executable as the detection rule.
Alternatively you can use the main application shortcut to determine the path required by the application and use the main executable portion of the shortcut as your detection method.
Once you are happy with everything, complete the package.
While you are waiting for everything to finalise on InTune, you can uninstall the application from your device using the uninstall script you created earlier.
Once that has completed, delete the deployment image path folder from C:\Temp
Test the deployment before deploying to live devices.
Hopefully you have great results.
