Install on demand fails

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

When users try to install an advertised application by opening a document that is associated with the application, the installation fails. Document activation of a published application does not trigger an application installation.

Cause

This issue might occur if the administrator did not set autoinstall options for the software being deployed, or the file name extension for the application was not set correctly.

Solution

To troubleshoot this issue:

  • Ensure that the autoinstall option is set for the application being deployed.

Note

To complete these procedures, you must be logged on as a member of the Domain Administrators security group, the Enterprise Administrators security group, or the Group Policy Creator Owners security group.

To set the autoinstall option for an application

  1. In Group Policy Management console, right-click the GPO that contains the software installation settings for the application you are deploying, and click Edit.

  2. In Group Policy Object Editor console, expand Computer Configuration or User Configuration (depends on where you configured the software installation policy), click Software Settings, and click Software installation.

  3. In the details pane, right-click the application that you want to be installed automatically when the user tries to open a file with the associated extension.

  4. Click Properties, and then click the Deployment tab.

  5. Under Deployment options, select the Auto-install this application by file extension activation check box, and then click OK. This option is recommended, and it is selected by default.

  • Check the order of file name extensions specified for the GPO and ensure that the file name extension is associated with the application.

To specify automatic installation options based on file name extension

  1. In Group Policy Management console, right-click the GPO that contains the software installation settings for the application you are deploying, and click Edit.

  2. In Group Policy Object Editor console, expand Computer Configuration or User Configuration (depends on where you configured the software installation policy), click Software Settings, right-click Software installation, and click Properties.

  3. In the Software installation Properties dialog box, click the File Extensions tab.

  4. On the File Extensions tab, specify the following option:

    • Select file extension. Displays a list of all available file name extensions for the managed software. When an extension is selected, all applications in Active Directory that are associated with the selected file name extension are displayed in the Application precedence list box. For example, for an .htm extension, many applications can be associated, such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Communicator, and so on.
  • Check the client computer for applications that have been installed locally. If there is a conflict, the locally installed application is used instead of the deployed application.