Software Deployment

Not that it will give you much comfort, but the .xml creator is not working for me either. More annoying, a standard transform isn't working either. I have an open ticket with Aspen and will post if I get any helpful information.

On my side, I follow the AspenOne 2006 Deployment guide to create an .xml file and it work like a charm.

To record the XML file:
1 Click Start | Run…. Enter the following command in the Open: field:
msiexec /i \\myserver\myshare\mysuite.msi RECORDRESPONSE="1"

To Start the Installation (AtRunUnattended.exe)
\\myserver\myshare\AtRunUnattended.exe [/I | /S] \\myserver\myshare\ProcessExplorer.xml [/noreboot | /forcereboot]
\\myserver\myshare\AtRunUnattended.exe [/I | /S] \\myserver\myshare\ProcessExplorer.xml [/noreboot | /forcereboot]

/I = Interactive
/S = Silent

My .xml file was created for Aspen Manufacturing 2006

Got it.

I was trying to do this piecemeal (individual application .msi files) vs. using the suite's AspenEngineeringSuite2006.5.msi file. Thank you for the post Darkfang.

Hi TLCOX,

I have Aspen Engineering Suite 2006.5 for one of my client. i need to create a transform for the msi AspenEngineeringSuite2006.5.msi. As you mentioned in your post i am not able to create an mst for this msi. i tried created the xml file as per DARKFANG message. it gave me a xml file.

but i am not understanding how to incorporate this thing in the msi mst format. would you please help me.

Many Thanks.
Regards
Anitha_accen

Hi Darkfang,

I created the .xml file as per your command line. it creates a .xml file in the .msi folder in the msi name.

Can u please tell me wat is the exe(AtRunUnattended.exe) you are referring to. i have created .xml file for AspenEngineeringSuite2006.5.msi.

Many Thanks.
Regards,
Anitha

Disclaimer: You may do this install either from DVD, local source files or source files shared on a network. When I started this package I had not yet been given the specific list of applications I needed to install so keep in mind only copy from the DVD the application install directories with the names of the applications you wish to install + the Core directory containing prereq files/applications.

My overview describes this process with the installation residing upon a workstation.

1. Create an install directory on a clean workstation (i.e. "C:\Program Files\AspenOne20065source");

2. From the DVD disc, copy AspenEngineeringSuite2006.5.msi (required to build the xml), ATRunUnattended.exe (required to execute the xml), as well as the the AspenOne20065dvd1 directory into your new, local install directory (i.e. "C:\Program Files\AspenOne2006.5source") **Remember only copy the Core directory and the directories bearing the name(s) of application(s) you wish to install**;

3. Install SLM tools on the workstation and use the licensing tool to locate/associate the local key server;

4. Execute "C:\Program Files\AspenOne2006.5source\AspenEngineeringSuite2006.5.msi" RECORDRESPONSE="1" (which generates an .xml not a .mst);

5. Grab the .xml add it to "C:\Program Files\AspenOne2006.5source" **if you do not get a prompt stating an .xml was created but rather find the application actually installed it is likely you are not using AspenEngineeringSuite2006.5.msi**;

6. From Run/Batchfile/vbscript, etc., test your .xml using the command "atrununattended.exe /S "C:\Program Files\AspenOne2006.5source\Aspen Engineering Suite 2006.5 Install.xml" /noreboot";

7. Make a copy of "C:\Program Files\AspenOne2006.5source" ; and

8. A deployment package:
a. Script to install the SLM tools (if not already present);
b Add regkeys to associate the local server(s) names;
c. Copy the AspenOne2006.5source directory to C:\Program Files\AspenOne2006.5source; and from a Wise wrapper .exe
d. Execute atrununattended.exe /S "C:\Program Files\AspenOne2006.5source\Aspen Engineering Suite 2006.5 Install.xml" /noreboot

I am far from an expert on all this but perhaps looking at this from a different approach might help. For example, we could...

1. Copy the required installation files from the AspenOne DVD onto a server and create a share which we have read/excute access rights;
2. At install time, use a mapped network drive (say network drive "K:") to access the install files;
3. Copy the file "atrununattended.exe" (found on the DVD) into the same directory on K: as the suite installer file AspenEngineeringSuite2006.5.msi;
4. Launch the installer from a batch file placed in K: (preferrably in the same location as the AspenEngineeringSuite2006.5.msi);
5. Use a batch file will a single command which first calls the program "atrununatteneded.exe" (which tells the installer you intend to do a silent install), use the swtich /S (obviously to make it silent), provide a valid path to where atrununattened can find your .xml file as well as any additional parameters you wish to add like /noreboot.

If we used a mapped drive we should be able to launch this with a simple command atrununattended.exe /S "Aspen Engineering Suite 2006.5 Install.xml" /noreboot

In your case, if you created the .xml connecting to the install files by a UNC connection, I would imagine you would need to provide more information such as \\servername\sharename\atrununattended.exe /S "\\servername\sharename\Aspen Engineering Suite 2006.5 Install.xml" /noreboot to ensure the installer knew where to find those files.

Also, I do not know if this is helpful to you, but in my case I put most of my install files in one main dictory (Aspen Enginneering suite 2006.5. install.xml, Aspeen Enginneering suite 2006.5. msi, atrununattended.exe, isscript1150.msi, setup1.exe, setup.ini, 0x0409.ini) and in that directory I placed the AspenOne20065dvd1 directory. To get even more granular, if you open my AspenOne20065dvd1 directory you would find subdirectories such as "core", aspen acol 2006.5", "aspen hysys 2006.5", etc. which the .xml will need access in order to invoke each application's installer files.

I hope that helps.

Thanks for your replies, not been aroud for a while.

I have found that Wise Install Tailor can be used to create an MST for some of the ASPEN apps (to find out which ones, I double click on the individual MSI for each app, and if it installs, an MST can be created). However, this method doesn't work for most of the apps, for which I will be going down the xml creation path.

An example of one I've managed to get working by creating mst in WISE in HYSYS.

By the way, a new 'SeperateProdKit.Exe' has been released this week, so hopefully that will work better than the previous one.

Has anyone managed to get this working for non admin User accounts? I have MSI and MST working as Admin - but not as non Admin.

Your posts are somewhat light on information. Your very first one says "Aspen have a new "Product Installation Kit" for producing individual packages, however, it doesn't seem to work" and this last says "I have MSI and MST working as Admin - but not as non Admin". What doesn't work? What errors do you get? Have you run the installation with a verbose log to determine exactly where in the sequence the install is failing?

You can *generally* divide issues with non-admin users to one of two things: either the MSI has a property which gets set according to whether or not the installing user has administrator-level privileges, or the MSI needs to write files or registry entries to protected areas. For the former, look for a property like 'Privilege' or 'Admin'. For the latter, clearly only admin-level users should be installing software but occasionally, the apps themselves are poorly-written and need to write data to what are normally protected areas. For these you will need to add Custom Actions, using a permissioning tool like SetACL or SubInACL, to set appropriate permissions on those areas.

If you're planning on using the vendor's EXE, I wouldn't imagine you'd have a snowball's chance in Hell of having non-admin users successfully install using it.

Thanks VBScab.

For anyone who's packaging\deploying Aspen HYSYS 2006.5, I managed to deploy the MSI with an MST (created using WISE Insall Tailor). I did this by installing ISSCRIPT 1150 as dependency. The clients already have .Net Framework 2.0 so I didn't need to do this.

The issues I had was if I used '/qb' in the command line in my deployment tool it wouldn't install. I have changed it to '/q' - and this works. Our deployment tool (BMC Marimba) elevates users rights during install. Not looked into why '/qb' failed to work yet, will look into this again when I have the time.