About creating Managed Installations
You can create Managed Installations for items that appear on the Software page.
See:
To create packages with special settings, such as parameters, labels, or deployment definitions, you can create multiple distribution packages for a single inventory item. However, the Managed Installation cannot be verified against more than one inventory item because it checks for the existence of only one inventory item.
For each of these examples, you must have already uploaded the file to the appliance before creating the Managed Installation package. Quest recommends installing the application on a test device, waiting for the KACE Agent to connect to the appliance and create an inventory item for the application, and then creating the Managed Installation package from the application.
About installation parameters
You can add installation parameters to the package definitions used to distribute and install applications on managed devices.
Packaged definitions can contain MSI, EXE, ZIP, and other file types for application deployment. If an administrator installs the file on a local device, either by running a single file, BAT file, or VBScript, the package can be installed remotely by the appliance.
To simplify the distribution and installation process, the package definition can also contain parameters that are passed to the installer at run time on the local device. For example, you could use parameters as custom installation settings to bypass an automatic restart.
Identify parameters that are supported by installer files
You can display the parameters that are supported by installer files from the Windows command line.
For more information, see the application vendor’s documentation.
Create Managed Installations for Windows devices
You can create Managed Installations to deploy software to Agent-managed Windows devices.
When you create Managed Installations for the Windows platform, you can specify whether you want to display messages to users before and after the installation. You can also indicate whether to deploy the package when the user is logged in or not and limit deployment to a specific label.
For specific details on creating a Managed Installation for an MSI, EXE, or a ZIP file, see Examples of common deployments on Windows.
To distribute applications to managed devices, you must attach the digital assets, which are the files required for installation, to applications. In addition, you must select the supported operating systems for applications. See Attach digital assets to applications and select supported operating systems.
a. |
Log in to the appliance Administrator Console, https://appliance_hostname/admin. Or, if the Show organization menu in admin header option is enabled in the appliance General Settings, select an organization in the drop-down list in the top-right corner of the page next to the login information. |
2. |
In the Configure tab, provide the following information: |
Option |
Description |
Name |
A name that identifies the Managed Installation. This name appears on the Managed Installations page. |
Execution |
The package deployment setting. Options include:
• |
Anytime: Deploy the package at the next opportunity, such as the next time the KACE Agent reports inventory information to the appliance. |
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At bootup: Deploy the package the next time the device starts up. |
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After login: Deploy the package after the user logs in but before the desktop loads. |
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With user logged off: Deploy the package only when the device is running and the user is logged off. | |
Inventory |
Indicate if you want to deploy the software title from Cataloged Software or all Software by selecting one of these options.
|
Associated File |
A Software and Cataloged Software title can have one or more files attached to them, as needed. Indicate if you want to select a specific file associated with the selected software title.
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Choose associated file: Select this option if you want to associate a file. You can select a file in the list. If you know the file name, start typing it in the box, and select it from the available entries in the list. |
|
Alternate Location |
Specify a location from which files can be downloaded for a specific Managed Installation.
Path: Enter the location where the KACE Agent can retrieve digital installation files.
Checksum: Enter an alternate checksum (MD5) that matches the MD5 checksum on the remote file share. If no checksum is entered, the digital asset on the file share must match the digital asset associated with the deployment package on the appliance. Also, the target path must include the complete filename (for example, \\fileserver_one\software\adobe.exe). You can create the checksum using any tool, including KDeploy.exe, which is installed with the KACE Agent.
To create the checksum using KDeploy.exe:
Windows 32-bit devices: C:\Program Files\Quest\KACE
Windows 64-bit devices: C:\Program Files (x86)\Quest\KACE
Mac OS X devices: /Library/Application Support/Quest/KACE/bin
Where filename is the UNC path to the file. If the path contains spaces, enclose the entire path in double quotation marks.
4. |
Press Ctrl C or Command C to copy the MD5 checksum. You can then paste it into other files, such as Notepad. |
Credential: The details of the service account required to connect to the device and run commands. Select existing credentials from the drop-down list, or select Add credential to add credentials not already listed. See Add and edit User/Password credentials.
See Distributing packages from alternate download locations and Replication Shares and Add or edit manual labels. |
Default Installation |
Use the default commands during installation.
Additional Parameters: Specify the installation behavior as follows:
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Override Default Installation |
Specify the full command-line parameters. See the MSI Command Line documentation for available runtime options.
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Uninstall: Uninstall the application from the command line. |
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Delete Downloaded Files |
Delete the files when the deployment is complete. |
ITNinja |
Deployment tips from ITNinja. These tips are available only if you share usage data. See Configure data sharing preferences. |
Option |
Description |
Alert user before run |
Display a message on managed devices before installation. When you select this option, the following fields appear:
• |
Message: The message that appears on managed devices before installation begins. It starts with snooze options that allow the user to run the managed install at a later time. |
• |
Timeout: The length of time, in minutes, during which the message appears. |
• |
Action: The action that takes place at the end of the Initial Message Timeout period. Options include Install later or Install now. Select Install now to install the application immediately, or select Install later to postpone the installation until a user responds. Install later is useful when you want to notify users of an installation or reboot before it occurs. | |
Initial Message |
Display a message on managed devices before installation. When you select this option, the following fields appear:
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Message: The message that appears on managed devices before installation begins. |
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Timeout: The length of time, in minutes, during which the message appears. |
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Action: The action that takes place at the end of the Initial Message Timeout period. Options include Install later or Install now. Select Install now to install the application immediately, or select Install later to postpone the installation until a user responds. Install later is useful when you want to notify users of an installation or reboot before it occurs. | |
Completion Message |
Display a message on managed devices after the installation is complete. When you select this option, the following fields appear:
• |
Message: The message that appears on managed devices when the installation is complete. |
• |
Timeout: The length of time, in minutes, during which the message appears. | |