Technical Guide - Silent Deployment of Desktop Client Application and Brava Viewer

Silently deploying / mass installing FileHold Desktop Client 09 and Brava Viewer 2.X 

Some FileHold customers use Kaseya, Microsoft System Management Server (SMS), Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager, Active Directory Group Policy, or other deployment systems to install the FileHold application silently on client PCs that have the requisite .NET Framework (3.5 sp1 or 4.0). FileHold does not formally test this on any of these systems other than MS Active Directory, but instead works with leading customers to provide this functionality by advancing product functionality with each release.

The following information is to provide information for silently deploying applications. Please note, that this provided as-is, and the FileHold customer is required to test and verify what works for their environment and system. We are happy to get feedback from customers to improve this documentation and future versions of the FileHold product.

The FileHold Desktop Application (FDA) supports all parameters that can be passed to a .MSI, but you need to put /V switch in front of those parameters. In order for the FileHold Desktop Application to install on Windows XP Pro, Windows Vista and Windows 7 it is in the .EXE executable format, rather than the MSI package format like it used to.

2.       Since the FDA installer is now .exe it is not possible to directly use GPO based deployment.

To call silent installation of FDA with default options, simply call:

 <FDAinstaller.exe> /S /V/qn

To uninstall it, use one of:

 <FDAinstaller> /S /V/qn /x

Or

Msiexec /x {FDA uninstall GUID}

NOTE: this guid will be different for each installer of FDA. To discover it – install FDA, launch regedit, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall and then look for the folder with FDA details inside. This folder name is the guid you will need to use.

How would we make this work for Active Directory?

Create a command line script with content like:

IF NOT EXIST <path of verification file> (

; install FDA line

; create verification file i.e. through copy operation, inside user profile folder of the user that is logging on

)

This script could be called as logon script that could be assigned to particular users through GPO. IF clause would ensure that FDA installer is executed only once on selected machine (log on scrips are executed each time user logs on).

You can then install with default options

1.       FOC ( FileHold Office Client )
FOC gets deployed by default, to not install it use:

<FDAinstaller> /S /V"/qn FHINSTALLFOC=0"

You can also install the optional viewer application to user's that have the license set for their user account in Web Client > System Admin > Users > Assign viewer licenses.

<fdainstaller> /S /V"/qn FHINSTALLBRAVA=1 PATHTOFILE=C:\BravaDesktop.exe" 

Please note – path to Bravainstaller can be on the network, but should not contain spaces in this case

You can also merge the the above options.

If a user wants to place the FH Desktop shortcuts on the ALL Users start menu and desktop you need to add an additional switch to the installer below.

Examples

<FDAinstaller.exe> /S /V/qn /vALLUSERS=1 (hidden install that installs for All users on the workstation)

<FDAinstaller.exe> /S /V/qb /vALLUSERS=1 (this installer shows a progress bar that can be canceled if need be. Also installs for All Users on Workstation)

Please see below the various options in installing the FH Desktop Application silently through the command line:

Case 1: Option of installing both the Brava Viewer and the FH Office Client (FOC) for ALL users (FH Desktop Application shortcut icon appears on ALL Users' start menu and Desktop)

Syntax: FileHold09_Client-100917.2-100917.4.exe /S /V" /qn  FHINSTALLBRAVA=1 PATHTOFILE=<absolute_path_of_the_Brava_exe>\BravaDesktop.exe" /vALLUSERS=1

Case 2: Option of installing both the Brava Viewer and the FH Office Client (FOC) for the current user only:

Syntax: FileHold09_Client-100917.2-100917.4.exe /S /V" /qn  FHINSTALLBRAVA=1 PATHTOFILE=<absolute_path_of_the_Brava_exe>\BravaDesktop.exe"

Case 3: Option of installing the FH Office Client (FOC) but not the Brava Viewer for ALL Users:

Syntax: FileHold09_Client-100917.2-100917.4.exe /S /V" /qn FHINSTALLBRAVA=0” /vALLUSERS=1 

Case 4: Option of installing the FH Office Client (FOC) but not the Brava Viewer for the current user only:

Syntax: FileHold09_Client-100917.2-100917.4.exe /S /V" /qn FHINSTALLBRAVA=0” 

Case 5: Option of installing the Brava Viewer but not the FH Office Client (FOC) for ALL Users:

Syntax: FileHold09_Client-100917.2-100917.4.exe /S /V" /qn FHINSTALLFOC=0 FHINSTALLBRAVA=1 PATHTOFILE=<absolute_path_of_the_Brava_exe>\BravaDesktop.exe" /vALLUSERS=1 

Case 6: Option of installing the Brava Viewer but not the FH Office Client (FOC) for the current user only:

Syntax: FileHold09_Client-100917.2-100917.4.exe /S /V" /qn FHINSTALLFOC=0 FHINSTALLBRAVA=1 PATHTOFILE=<absolute_path_of_the_Brava_exe>\BravaDesktop.exe"

Case 7: Option of NOT installing both the FH Office Client (FOC) and the Brava Viewer for ALL Users:

Syntax: FileHold09_Client-100917.2-100917.4.exe /S /V" /qn FHINSTALLFOC=0 FHINSTALLBRAVA=0” /vALLUSERS=1

Case 8: Option of NOT installing both the FH Office Client (FOC) and the Brava Viewer for the current user only:

Syntax: FileHold09_Client-100917.2-100917.4.exe /S /V" /qn FHINSTALLFOC=0 FHINSTALLBRAVA=0”