Re: [Unattended] unattended Installation WinXP
Dipl.-Ing. Abbas Sheikh Farshi wrote: Hi, i have test Windows deployment system http://unattended.sourceforge.net/step-by-step.php; 1) boot, mount and start install.pl 2) window setup starts und copies files to harddisk 3) reboot After step 3, your system should automatically do an unattended Windows installation. Having finished this, you should see the login dialog of Windows XP. When step 2 is in progress, you *must* remove the boot disk from your CD-ROM drive, otherwise steps 1, 2 and 3 will be started again and again. HTH Gerhard --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595alloc_id=14396op=click ___ unattended-info mailing list unattended-info@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unattended-info
[Unattended] Linux boot disk
Hello Folks, where do i get the sources of the linux boot disk from? I read there should be a makefile that'll regenerate the ISO if I had to do any changes. Couldn't find it so far regards, stefan. --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595alloc_id=14396op=click ___ unattended-info mailing list unattended-info@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unattended-info
[Unattended] Unattended GUI
Hi, after a lot of work it is done. I have rewrite the complete stuff to php. And you can download the first release on unattended.technikz.de. The project is hosted on sourceforge: https://sourceforge.net/projects/unattended-gui/ The website is: http://unattended.technikz.de Please use the forums to report problems. Please read the FAQ on unattended.technikz.de befor installing. You can check a DEMO on http://unattended-gui.technikz.de/index.php (testuser, unattended (this user has only read permissions)) At this time, the GUI is available in english and german language. For questions you can also contact me directly via EMail, ICQ or AIM. ICQ: 238216439 AIM: zukithe1 I will try to help you with installation and all other things. And with questions you help me to write a documentation Well this is still missing: a good docu. So have fun! greetings mario gzuk --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595alloc_id=14396op=click ___ unattended-info mailing list unattended-info@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unattended-info
[Unattended] Package management using unattended
Hi all,
I've been using Unattended to help install Windoze machines around our
research group for a year or so now. I think now I need something to help
with package management as well as initial installation, so I would like
to open a discussion about this.
Some questions for starters:
a) Is this something which other people would find useful if it were part
of Unattended?
b) Are there any suggestions or ideas about good ways to go about it?
I've got a 'pre-alpha' rig working for me - more detailed description
below for anyone interested - but before I spend too much time on it, I'd
appreciate being told if I'm trying to re-invent the wheel.
Thanks,
Frank
Description of my 'pre-alpha' application management add-on:
Background - I'd looked at WPKG and decided against it. It's a good idea,
but it seems to un-necessarily duplicate a fair amount of work - entries
in the XML file for installation, upgrade etc.
Adjustment to unattended - Each package we wish to manage needs a method
of being installed, upgraded and removed. It would also be useful to have
a method of deciding whether an application is installed already or not. I
have implemented this by having the well-known names of 'install.bat',
'upgrade.bat', 'remove.bat' and 'test.bat' exist in each directory. Thus
package Foo is installed by calling %Z%\scripts\Foo\install.bat. (This
could also be done by having each batch file react properly to a
command-line argument - Foo.bat INSTALL, for example - but that would
mean that I couldn't just use the Foo.bat from Unattended and copy it to
Foo/install.bat. )
I've added some code to todo.pl which accepts a '--sync' option. This
option queries a MySQL server which contains some tables to tell me which
licences are installed on which machines and which pieces of software
those licences are linked to. The results of this query are compared with
the pieces of software known (by data saved under an 'unattended' registry
key) to be installed. Any piece of software which is not installed
('test.bat' files are used here to detect if a piece of software has been
installed by some other method) is added to c:\netinst\todo.txt . To help
with removal, the %Z%\scripts\Foo\remove.bat file is copied across to
c:\netinst\uninstallers\Foo.bat so if the scripts are removed from the
server for some reason we can still un-install sensibly.
I propose to arrange a service to run at boot-up to do the following:
- Detect whether c:\netinst\todo.txt already exists
- If it does, just do a normal boot and assume that things are set
up to log in the admin user and start things installing.
- Lock the console using a marquee screen saver (I want to use the
screensaver to keep anyone watching informed and to act as watchdog)
- Connect to the application server
- Run todo.pl --sync from the application server
- Determine whether there are applications to be added, upgraded or
removed
- If not, turn off the screen saver and enable the 'net logon' service
to let our domain users use the workstation
- If there are things to be done, create the appropriate todo.txt, make
the autologon magic work and reboot.
I also suggest that the 'screensaver' interface is used to keep users
informed when applications are being installed - and to (optionally)
reboot the computer if the installation has taken longer than expected to
complete.
I'm aware that what I'm suggesting might require some changes to
the part of unattended which deals with initial installation -
specifically the movement of Foo.bat - Foo/install.bat scripts. My
opinion is that it's worth the hassle in the long run but I'd like to hear
views of other people.
Yours,
Frank
--
Frank Lee
Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. http://www.sid.cam.ac.uk/
Semiconductor Physics, Cavendish Laboratory http://www.sp.phy.cam.ac.uk/
CRL, Toshiba Research Europe http://www.toshiba-europe.com/research/
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Re: [Unattended] Package management using unattended
Dr. F. Lee wrote: Some questions for starters: a) Is this something which other people would find useful if it were part of Unattended? b) Are there any suggestions or ideas about good ways to go about it? My dream software upgrader/installer/remover for Windows: a) installable silently when doing unattended install (preferably in windows_installer.bat file to hide username and password when doing unattended install): windows_installer --silent --server 192.168.1.1 --user john --pass password b) runs on Windows in the background, connects to the server using SSL (to secure username and password) when booting, and fetches the instructions, sends software installed etc. c) server part as a dameon (on Linux, as most of use run Samba I think): - configurable via https web interface - can configure what clients should have which software - report which software which client has installed (and what is to be installed) - install button to install/uninstall/upgrade the missing software now - configure to install software on Winodws boot - configurable to install software from a password protected file server / ftp / http etc. So far there is nothing like it I think, WPKG would be the closest to it (bat very far from what I described, too) - so I decided to develop a web interface for it (should be available in a month or two). I too don't want to re-invent the wheel, so if anyone has something better, let me know! Background - I'd looked at WPKG and decided against it. It's a good idea, but it seems to un-necessarily duplicate a fair amount of work - entries in the XML file for installation, upgrade etc. These XML entries are quite OK - it's relatively easy to make a web backend for it, which I think would attract far more people than when they had to rely only on editing text files. WPKG lacks a lot, too - checking for installed software against Windows Add/Remove Software is one example. I propose to arrange a service to run at boot-up to do the following: (...) - Determine whether there are applications to be added, upgraded or removed - If not, turn off the screen saver and enable the 'net logon' service to let our domain users use the workstation - If there are things to be done, create the appropriate todo.txt, make the autologon magic work and reboot. How do we determine what should be installed/removed etc.? I also suggest that the 'screensaver' interface is used to keep users informed when applications are being installed - and to (optionally) reboot the computer if the installation has taken longer than expected to complete. It would mean a loop then if we misconfigure something :) I think it's better if software is installed in a background (like WPKG does) - if something fails, user doesn't see it and can work normally - it's crucial if you manage a bunch of servers and clients remotely and have no physical access to them. Tomek --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595alloc_id=14396op=click ___ unattended-info mailing list unattended-info@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unattended-info
Re: [Unattended] Sugestion or Request...
Would it be possible to remove all software from the root of the unattended/install/packages directory and instead move them to a folder within the packages directory? Seconded. I have 134 subdirectories in packages which makes it already complicated enough. I suspect that most of the scripts we (read users of unattended) write download stuff to subdirectories of packages rather than into that directory directly. Yours, Frank --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595alloc_id=14396op=click ___ unattended-info mailing list unattended-info@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unattended-info
Re: [Unattended] Package management using unattended
Tomasz Chmielewski [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
My dream software upgrader/installer/remover for Windows:
a) installable silently when doing unattended install (preferably
in windows_installer.bat file to hide username and password when
doing unattended install):
windows_installer --silent --server 192.168.1.1 --user john
--pass password
Currently I'm storing the values in the registry and changing the access
rights so that only System can read them (Might need to add Administrator
to that too).
b) runs on Windows in the background, connects to the server
using SSL (to secure username and password) when booting, and
fetches the instructions, sends software installed etc.
I've not considered the need to use SSL at this stage. (And I'm not sure
that I've configured MySQL to use that correctly yet either - but I will,
one day.)
c) server part as a dameon (on Linux, as most of use run Samba I
think):
- configurable via https web interface
Time to confess - I've never done anything using https. My inclination
would be to 'get it working' using http and then hope that someone else
would be inclined to help me convert to https. (Although as I write this I
realise that there's someone thinking 'but it's sooo easy! You just do
foo and there it is.')
- can configure what clients should have which software
This I like.
- report which software which client has installed (and what is
to be installed)
I think I'm coming at it from the other (wrong?) way - the client finds out
what it has and what it *should* have and then tries to make the lists the
same. I like the idea of the server being able to do the same calculation
and predict what the client should be doing, though.
- install button to install/uninstall/upgrade the missing
software now
For users? Sounds attractive. I've been thinking about having a web
interface which would allow users to select applications for which we have
a site license or are freeware and allowing them to choose which of those
packages are installed on their desktop. Or to remove packages they don't
like. (I have one user who swears by virtual desktops. I have others who
swear *at* virtual desktops...)
- configure to install software on Winodws boot
I'd been thinking of installing software on the next boot always, but I can
see that this would cause problems when, for example, a user has to reboot
in the middle of work because Windows Update has just installed lots of
stuff and only then remembers that he asked for foo to be installed on
his machine at the next boot. And foo takes ages to install...
- configurable to install software from a password protected file
server / ftp / http etc.
Don't immediately see how easy it would be to implement installations from
ftp / http servers. Password protected samba servers would probably cover a
high-enough percentage of uses for the time being, I hope.
So far there is nothing like it I think, WPKG would be the
closest to it (but very far from what I described, too) - so I
decided to develop a web interface for it (should be available in
a month or two).
Sounds good - my initial attempts with WPKG were disappointing. I tried to
perform an AutoIt install, which persisted in hanging when run from WPKG
but worked fine when running on the desktop. A quick mail to the wpkg list
didn't produce any examples of 'known good' autoit scripts, alas, so I
don't know whether WPKG and AutoIt are compatible. (I know AutoIt is the
last resort for many of us and in my opinion should Be Avoided if possible,
but it's not always possible and I'd hate to implement a solution which
only worked for those installers which play by *our* rules.)
These XML entries are quite OK - it's relatively easy to make a
web backend for it, which I think would attract far more people
than when they had to rely only on editing text files.
I think that's a very sensible point. Maybe I should add the ability to
store 'simple' {install/remove/upgrade/test} commands in a database, using
batch files as a last resort. I think it's important to have batch files
(or perl / JScript / VBScript scripts, perhaps) available because they
allow us to perform conditional processing which would get rather difficult
in an XML entry. Well, so I think, but I'm speaking from a position of
ignorance... anyone care to enlighten me?
WPKG lacks a lot, too - checking for installed software against
Windows Add/Remove Software is one example.
That's more or less where I've been populating my 'test.bat' scripts from.
(-:
Snip - I'd outlined how a service might work at bootup
How do we determine what should be installed/removed etc.?
Make a query to the SQL server with the work stations MAC address. Now, in
my case (and I might or might not be representative of others) I'd like
that query to lookup which licences I (as sys admin) have allocated to that
hardware address, and then tell me the directories containing the
install/remove/test scripts. I can see that might not
Re: [Unattended] Package management using unattended
Dr. F. Lee wrote: Hi all, I've been using Unattended to help install Windoze machines around our research group for a year or so now. I think now I need something to help with package management as well as initial installation, so I would like to open a discussion about this. I've been playing with Unattended for about the same time. Have never made a good sell to the service desk folks here. Ghost always wins for the initial install. Some questions for starters: a) Is this something which other people would find useful if it were part of Unattended? Yes. What has been semi-successful is collecting pre-packaged packages that the service desk can push to PCs. So that part is of interest to me. Unattended is still of interest too, I guess I am just not a good salesman :(. b) Are there any suggestions or ideas about good ways to go about it? We have been using a combination of tools to try to meet our needs. It's not pretty at this point. Made up of the following: . Aida32 run on login daily if possible. It E-mails a .csv to a script that sticks in into a directory structure. It gives an abundance of PC information and allows you to view it as a spreadsheet or, input it into Aida32 and let it sort things out. Aida32 was a freeware/closed source application that was (as I understand it) sold out to a company and now it is under a new name and has costs. . All installs are wrapped up using ISTool/Inno and saved in a directory structure so that they _all_ install with the same command line. Service Desk does not need to know how we want WordPerfect installed, just that every install is called the same way. This competes with the unattended way of having .bat files for everything, adds complexity in that all applications have to be wrapped up this way, but makes it much easier to have newbies start doing installs. . PCs run a homemade server. It spawns and receives command via stunnel. An MD5 password hash is used to make sure legitimate techs are requesting commands. This service runs as system, so, for example, you can send a cmd.exe and start up a system level command window. One of the requests is for it to do an install. It takes this install requests, finds it on a web server because of the directory structure, and runs it. Again, since all installs run the same way... :). There is no interface for the user to see in the systray like vnc, although that would be nice. . Techs actually requests installs via the Linux server that holds all the installs. Once requested, the server poles to see if a client is available for an install. If so, sends the request to it. The PC will announce when it _thinks_ it has completed the install back to the server so that more packages can be sent :). E-mails the initiating tech when all installs are done. . This hack of a web interface the techs use will tell them if the PC is up, let them search for PCs on different criteria, and show some of the info from Aida32. It also lists all the packages so that they can be requested. . Started to make Wake-On-LAN into the mix, but with so many different machines and no time to test it did not get very far. . The aida32 script also checks to see if anything needs to be installed using a simple CSV file and if so, requests the updates. . Status information is forwarded to Jabber just like the old mainframe dazs :). . Much of the setup is within the Unattended directory structure as that was the goal I had from the start. Benefits: - Techs can push out software at will, check the up-status and config of machines, and vnc to remote machines from the one interface - System level access gets around just about anything that stops installs - Aida32 gives a great level of detail on what a PC has in it. - Appears less intrusive to the users than other options like ZEN. Problems: - Being a different user on the system, you must remember that you do not have the same drive-mappings, etc... and must expect to start from scratch. Can you say HKCU? - Some packages are huge and the install probably occurs from a network drive. The web install piece just starts the ball rolling. More complexity when you have multiple sites. - Aida32 is not being updated anymore without paying for it's successor. It's not much, but it was a small project that got really ugly and now needs an overhaul :(. JES --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595alloc_id=14396op=click ___ unattended-info mailing list unattended-info@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unattended-info
