SWIFT Crest NSL v3.2

Crest NSL is a java app that installs from a non-MSI installation executable and appears to provide a Network Security Layer (NSL) in someway.  It is easily captured. During the installation it installs MS VC++ 2005 x86 and MS VC++ 2008 x86 redistributables.  You may want to split these out as dependencies.  The latter is straightforward to retrieve from the temp folders during an interactive installation.  The former appears only fleetingly in the temp folder while it is being called during the installation.  Make a quick copy of the temp folder during the interactive installation run so that you can turn the MS VC++ 2005 x86 redistributable into a dependency package.

The shortcut is a link to an HTML file and launches in IE.  The target HTML file has ActiveX components which the browser will most likely require the user to authorise for security reasons.  It is unlikely you will be able to work around this because the browser settings are probably (should be) controlled by group policy.

The NSL Manager link on this page will launch a java applet which will also require the user to authorise.  They should select the "Always trust" tick box.  Again it unlikely this can be handled by the package due to the nature of the command line keystore management utilities in java.

Axiom Automated Regulatory Reporting

This application uses it own Java Runtime Environment (JRE).  The installation includes a session setup routine where the various connections are configured, including server name and port.  For each entry two All User shortcuts are created which point to generated vbs files reponsible for the launching.  During launch updated java application files are downloaded.  The is also a client config shortcut for users to create further connections. 

All works fine if you are an admin but clearly users can't create All Users shortcuts so that part could be a problem.  Also the program files\axiom etc would proabably need permissioning.  The installer is a non-MSI extract \ install executable.

Articulate Quizmaker '09 etc

Articulate Quizmaker/Engage/Presenter/Video Encoder has needed a special approach to the package creation due to the design of the vendor’s installer and the licensing \ activation system this software uses.


The vendor’s installation is an Installshield non-MSI executable file. While the installation is non-MSI the executable does extract out MSIs from within itself and call these during the installation routine.

App-V sequencing was not possible and resulted in the launch error shown below. Capture techniques too, resulted in the launch error. These approaches do not support the 30 day trial mode that the vendors installation sets up when it runs.

In order to produce a silent installation package for this application it was necessary to resort to the vendors\installshield limited options. This involves creating a response file which is passed to the installation executable at runtime to achieve a silent installation. This provides limited control over the installation as it essentially just automated the responses that an interactive user would supply to the installation dialog boxes.

Addtional scripting may be required to control the shortcuts that are created on the desktop and in All Users programs menu.


Each user needs to activate at first launch.

http://www.articulate.com/blog/articulate-studio-09-silent-installation/

Below is the launch error encountered when standard packaging techniques are attempted with this installation:

Installshield Command Line reference

http://www.appdeploy.com/articles/InstallShield%20Setup%20Parameters.pdf

ASCII codes

ASCII codes

http://www.asciitable.com/

App-V Merge with local key

Merge with local key in the Virtual Registry causes the values in the bubble to override those that may exist on the machine.  Values not specified in the bubble are visible from inside the bubble.

Override local key I would expect would completely override any existing key on the machine.  To the point where values in the key on the machine would not be visible from inside the bubble. (not tested)

General Applications - Brief Notes

BMC Bladelogic v8.1SP3

• Does not correctly install with a Q: redirect - problem with the jre folder it expects to find - it does not get created. VFS is ok.

Dynamic Suiting Example

Example of Text entry in a suited OSD.

<VIRTUALENV TERMINATECHILDREN="FALSE">
      <DEPENDENCIES>
        <CODEBASE HREF="HTTP://servername/W7_ORACLE_CLIENT/112010/000_V/ORACLE_ORACLE_CLIENT_112010_085034.000_2.sft" GUID="B29E6F4A-5FFA-4430-A1B3-2DB8C88A3737" PARAMETERS="" FILENAME="C:\app\Oracle\product\11.2.0\client_32\sqldeveloper\sqldeveloper\bin\sqldeveloperW.exe" SYSGUARDFILE="085034.000_ORACLE_ORACLE_CLIENT_112010\osguard.cp" SIZE="2076996893" MANDATORY="TRUE" />
      </DEPENDENCIES>
      <POLICIES>
        <LOCAL_INTERACTION_ALLOWED>FALSE</LOCAL_INTERACTION_ALLOWED>
      </POLICIES>
      <ENVLIST />
    </VIRTUALENV>

Paths

Correct Environment Table entries for paths

Name Field
*    System Environment Variable
=-    Set variable on install and remove on uninstall

Value Field
[~];<path to be added>
[~]  represents the existing path

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa368369(v=vs.85).aspx

Active Setup

Active Setup is the option available to expose a user profile to a one time code run.  This is used where machine installs need to apply something to the user environment the first time a user logs into a machine.  It is useful if there are no other entry points for the MSI to trigger a repair or it needs to be automated.

[HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\<unique key name maybe a GUID>]
"StubPath"=<command to execute>

An example command to trigger a repair would be
msiexec /fup {MSI ProductCode GUID} /qb-!

After the first exposure of a user to the machine the associated key is created in the user profile, preventing further runs at login.

[HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\<unique key name maybe a GUID>]

OSD version field has a 16 character limit

The version field of the OSD configuration dialog box which can be used to uniquize OSDs is limited to 16 characters.