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In continuing with the automation series, I wanted to add some of the items
that are not critical updates into our installation like the .NET Framework
and Journal Viewer. These packages are rather large and I would rather install
them here than have to download them at individual workstations.
Tools You Will Need:
Prep Work:
- It
is important that you read Part
1 and Part
2 of this series first before completing this article because Part 3
builds off the previous two.
- Create
a directory to place these Extras in. I created on my D:\
drive WinXP_Extras and
I will reference D:\WinXP_Extras as a directory to use. Remember
to substitute your directory for this one when completing this process.
- Download
all items to your Extras directory.
- Follow
these directions to install the IEAK. The Internet Explorer
Administration Kit is a collection of tools that make it easy to deploy
and manage custom browser software packages such as Internet Explorer custom
packages. To learn more see this link here.
After downloading the IEAK, run the ieak6.exe install file like the image
below suggests.
Select Yes to install it and Yes to the license agreement
in the following two windows. Next, leave the default settings and click OK and OK to
the following window. See the example below.
After that, IEAK will install and you will receive a confirmation that the
installation completed as in the image below.
The .NET Framework:
After downloading the .NET Framework we need to repackage it so that we
will not need user interaction. We will utilize the Iexpress.exe application
that came with the IEAK.
First, extract the dotnet.exe file. In this case I use WinZip (Download
shareware version at www.Winzip.com)
as in the image below.
The result of extraction will be the following files which I have highlighted
in the below image.
We are now going to utilize Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Administrator
Kit or IEAK. Open IExpress.exe by clicking on START à RUN à and
type IExpress.exe then click OK like in the image below.
You will see the IExpress open and start the process rolling. We want to
create a new self extraction directive file or SED. Then click NEXT as in
the image below.
Next we will want to leave the default value of Extract files and run an
installation command. Click NEXT as in the image below.
Next, you will want to name the package like NETFramework or something
to your liking.
Next, you will again want to leave the default value of No Prompt set for
the confirmation window. This way we will not need any user interaction.
See the image below.
Same thing goes for the next window. We do not want to see the license agreement,
so we leave the default value as in the image below.
Next, add the files we will need for the installation (only the .cab and
.msi files). See below image.
Using msiexec commands, we want to show a basic user interface so we use
the /qb switch and with the /i switch we tell the IExpress what package to
install. See image below.
The Show Window: Default will show you some install windows, Hidden will
hide all, Minimized will hide it in the corner of your screen, and Maximized,
well, it’s maximized! See image below.
Display no messages by selecting No Messages as in the image below.
Name the .NET Framework package. Below I named it NETFRMWK.exe
Select No Restart in the window below so Windows doesn’t reboot on you.
Click next and off it runs compiling the package.
Watch as IExpress builds the package.
Click finish and you are done! The last window below will show you some
statistics, which are not all that interesting, but inform you of the successful
completion of the creation of your IExpress package.
Lastly, copy the NETFRMWK.exe or whatever you named it to the i386/updates directory
of your Windows share. Remember, we are building off of the previous articles
so if you do not know what this is, read Part
1 and Part
2 of this series.
Also, edit your svcpack.inf file and add the NETFRMWK.exe under the SetupHotfixesToRun
section as seen in the below image. Notice qchain.exe is listed after all
the fixes. I also added April critical updates to the svcpack.inf file. See part
2 to learn more about adding critical updates.
If you are interested in the IExpress packaging system see
this link here.
Windows Journal Viewer:
The Windows Journal Viewer can be packaged the same way, but remember, you
first have to extract the Setup.exe. Below are some notes on packaging up
the Windows Journal Viewer. I only discuss the differences between creating
the Journal Viewer package because all the other options stay the same.
JVSetup.exe and Windows Journal Viewer.exe are the two files
that are packaged in the setup.exe. I would rename the Windows Journal Viewer.exe
to JournalViewer.exe or a one word file. Spaces are not always handled that
well by Windows when processing them from the command line. See the image
below.
Also, the command line is a little different. Notice how we reference the
JournalViewer.msi file which renamed this time in the image below.
That’s all for now, let me know what you think!
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