Software Deployment

The '/c' argument copies the file to the target machine.

Yes, I know about /c what I am struggling with is the syntax of the whole command since I need to copy a file (which is a .msp file) but not run that copied file. Once it is copied I need to run c:\windows\system32\msiexec /i "TheFileICopied.MSP" and I have not gotten the correct snytax yet.

D'oh! Of course! Sorry! PSExec won't do that for you. You'll need to wrap it all up into a script which copies the file to a know location and then executes MSIEXEC with full pathing to the MSI and MSP. And no, I don't have such a script. There are a quadzillion examples of file-copying scripts around. You could do worse than start at http://www.computerperformance.co.uk (no affiliation, etc., etc.)

Or, of course, you could use a proper deployment system. Or you could have used an AIP in the first place, which you would then patch and re-install the package to your client machines.

EDIT:
I guess you could use a UNC to the MSP and then just ensure you use a domain account to execute the PSExec command line, with the UNC as the path to the MSP...as in PSEXEC \\whatever_machine MSIEXEC /I [path to MSI] /P [UNC path to MSP] [other arguments] /U [domain account name] /P [password for domain account]

VBScab, thanks for the info, I will give your command line a try and if I still can't get it working I will wrap it all up in a Wise script and do it that way. And i'd love to use SMS/SCCM but we have some remote offices that don't have SMS installed......yet.

VBScab, I tried your command line but it never seemed to work. so I wrote a WinBatch script that has this code:

CopyFrom = "\\AppServ3\Source$\Microsoft\Communicator\Office Communicator MSP File"
FileCopy("%CopyFrom%\Communicator.msp", "c:\windows", @FALSE)
DirMake("c:\windows\build")
if AppExist("communicator.exe") == @True then IntControl(56,"communicator.exe", 1,0,0) ;this will auto-close the .exe if it's running
Run("c:\windows\system32\msiexec.exe", "/p c:\windows\Communicator.msp REBOOT=R /qb! /L*V c:\windows\build\OC225.log")

So this is compiled into an .EXE. I then use psexec to push this .EXE to a target machine. The .EXE starts and it shows up in the TaskMan but it never does anything and it never exits TaskMan. I have pushed this to a VM and to a physical machine and the result is the same on both, it pops up in TaskMan but does nothing and never exits.

My psexec command line has varied and no matter what switches I pick it fails to work. I've used -u Domain\MyAdminID and I've used -s for the system account. I've used -i and no -i etc..... and nothing works. What gives?

Run("c:\windows\system32\msiexec.exe", "/p c:\windows\Communicator.msp REBOOT=R /qb! /L*V c:\windows\build\OC225.log") This doesn't reference the original MSI or the ProductCode so it's hardly surprising that it doesn't work.

Hi. the target machine already has Office Communicator installed so the original .MSI is there. And this .EXE I call works fine if I run it manually on a machine. It only dies when run using psexec.

Hey mhsl808,
I had a similar requirement that I was working on, running psexec from an sfx exe wrapper to a known location:

http://itninja.com/question/fonts-installed-by-msi-not-available-until-next-logon&mpage=1&key=&#77954

Perhaps the psexec elements I used will help.

Cheers
Rich