Silent deployment of desktop client (FDA)

FileHold provides an option for customers that would like to automate the deployment of the FileHold Desktop Application (FDA) without requiring user intervention. This mode of installation is intended to support the use of tools like Microsoft System Management Server (SMS), Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager, Active Directory Group Policy, or similar deployment systems to install the FileHold application silently on client PCs that have the requisite .NET Framework 4.8.

Please note that configuration of these deployment solutions requires expert IT knowledge and is not included in FileCare.

Silent install and uninstall

Install or Upgrade

<FDAinstaller.exe> /S /V"/qn [FHINSTALLFOC=<0|1>] [FHINSTALLBRAVACHOICE=<0|1>] [ALLUSERS=1]"

Where information in between [ ] is optional, between < > is mandatory, and the pipe ( | ) character separates multiple choice values.

<FDAinstaller.exe>This is the name of the actual installer file. The following is an example installer filename: 
FileHold17.1_Client-240717.2-240717.2.exe
FHINSTALLFOC0 - Do not install FileHold Office Client (FOC)
1 - Install FOC.
By default FOC is installed.
FHINSTALLBRAVACHOICE

0 - Do not install Brava viewer
1 - Install Brava viewer.
By default Brava is not installed.

This option is not available starting with FileHold 17.0 as the Brava viewer installation is no longer a part of the FDA installation.

ALLUSERS1 - FDA should be installed for all users.
By default the FDA is only installed for the current Windows user.

The upgrade of a minor version of an existing FDA (ie. 17.0.3 to 17.1) using the Silent Install works fine without doing the process of Silent Uninstall followed by Silent Install. A hotfix installer does not support upgrades from the base version of the hotfix. For example, if version 17.0 is installed version 17.0.3 cannot perform an upgrade. In this case the existing version must be fully uninstalled before installing the hotfix.

Silent uninstallation

<FDAinstaller.exe> /S /V/qn /x

Silent uninstallation optional method

Msiexec /x <FDA_uninstall_GUID>

Where the value for <FDA_uninstall_GUID> will be different for each FDA install. The actual value can be found in the registry in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall. Look for the folder with FDA details inside. This folder name is the value you will need to use for <FDA_uninstall_GUID>.

You can provide users with progress messages during installation or uninstallation by replacing the /qn parameter with /qb.

The /V switch is used to pass parameters to the MSI installer. Typical options for the MSI installer are available in Microsoft support article Q227091. Do not leave a space following the /V before the options for the MSI installer. Enclose the options in quotations if they contain spaces.