Use a script to install a desktop app in provisioning packages

This walkthrough describes how to include scripts in a Windows client provisioning package to install Win32 applications. Scripted operations other than installing apps can also be performed. However, some care is needed to avoid unintended behavior during script execution (see Remarks below).

Assemble the application assets

1. On the device where you're authoring the package, place all of your assets in a known location. Each asset must have a unique filename, because all files will be copied to the same temp directory on the device. It's common for many apps to have an installer called 'install.exe' or similar, and there may be name overlap because of that. To fix this, you can use the technique described in the next step to include a complete directory structure that is then expanded into the temp directory on the device. The most common use for this would be to include a subdirectory for each application.

2. If you need to include a directory structure of files, you'll need to cab the assets for easy inclusion in the provisioning packages.

Cab the application assets

1. Create a .DDF file as below, replacing file1 and file2 with the files you want to package, and adding the name of file/directory.

   ;*** MSDN Sample Source Code MakeCAB Directive file example
   ;
   .OPTION EXPLICIT  ; Generate errors on variable typos
   .set DiskDirectoryTemplate=CDROM  ; All cabinets go in a single directory
   .Set MaxDiskFileCount=1000; Limit file count per cabinet, so that
   ; scanning is not too slow
   .Set FolderSizeThreshold=200000   ; Aim for ~200K per folder
   .Set CompressionType=MSZIP
   ;** All files are compressed in cabinet files
   .Set Cabinet=on
   .Set Compress=on
   ;-------------------------------------------------------------------
   ;** CabinetNameTemplate = name of cab
   ;** DiskDirectory1 = output directory where cab will be created
   ;-------------------------------------------------------------------
   .Set CabinetNameTemplate=tt.cab
   .Set DiskDirectory1=.
   ;-------------------------------------------------------------------
   ; Replace <file> with actual files you want to package
   ;-------------------------------------------------------------------
   <file1>
   <file2>
   ;*** <the end>
   

2. Use makecab to create the cab files.

   Makecab -f <path to DDF file>
   

Create the script to install the application

Create a script to perform whatever work is needed to install the application(s). The following examples are provided to help get started authoring the orchestrator script that will execute the required installers. In practice, the orchestrator script may reference many more assets than those in these examples.

You don't need to create an orchestrator script. You can have one command line per app. If necessary, you can create a script that logs the output per app, as mentioned below (rather than one orchestrator script for the entire provisioning package).

Debugging example

Granular logging isn't built in, so the logging must be built into the script itself. Here's an example script that logs 'Hello World' to a logfile. When run on the device, the logfile will be available after provisioning is completed. As you'll see in the following examples, it's recommended that you log each action that your script performs.

set LOGFILE=%SystemDrive%\HelloWorld.log
echo Hello, World >> %LOGFILE%

.exe example

This example script shows how to create a log output file on the system drive, install an app from an .exe installer, and echo the results to the log file.

set LOGFILE=%SystemDrive%\Fiddler_install.log
echo Installing Fiddler.exe >> %LOGFILE%
fiddler4setup.exe /S >> %LOGFILE%
echo result: %ERRORLEVEL% >> %LOGFILE%

.msi example

This is the same as the previous installer, but installs the app from an MSI installer. Notice that msiexec is called with the /quiet flag in order to meet the silent requirement of scripts run from within a provisioning package.

set LOGFILE=%SystemDrive%\IPOverUsb_install.log
echo Installing IpOverUsbInstaller.msi >> %LOGFILE%
msiexec /i IpOverUsbInstaller.msi /quiet >> %LOGFILE%
echo result: %ERRORLEVEL% >> %LOGFILE%

PowerShell example

This is an example script with logging that shows how to run a PowerShell script from the provisioning commands setting. The PowerShell script referenced from this example must also be included in the package, and obey the same requirements as all scripts run from within the provisioning package: it must execute silently, with no user interaction.

set LOGFILE=%SystemDrive%\my_powershell_script.log
echo Running my_powershell_script.ps1 in system context >> %LOGFILE%
echo Executing "PsExec.exe -accepteula -i -s cmd.exe /c powershell.exe my_powershell_script.ps1" >> %LOGFILE%
PsExec.exe -accepteula -i -s cmd.exe /c 'powershell.exe my_powershell_script.ps1' >> %LOGFILE%
echo result: %ERRORLEVEL% >> %LOGFILE%

set LOGFILE=%SystemDrive%\install_my_app.log
echo Expanding installer_assets.cab >> %LOGFILE%
expand -r installer_assets.cab -F:* . >> %LOGFILE%
echo result: %ERRORLEVEL% >> %LOGFILE%
echo Installing MyApp >> %LOGFILE%
setup.exe >> %LOGFILE%
echo result: %ERRORLEVEL% >> %LOGFILE%

cmd /c InstallMyApp.bat