[chef] RE: Re: RE: Re: Re: Re: not so quiet installers

[Florian Hehlen < >]

Kevin,

Thanks for the detailed response. I have asked them if they can update their 
packaging... I am still waiting for an answer.

The install requires no interaction at all(no clicking, no typing)... it's 
just a bloody old installer that thinks the whole world wants to look at it 
installing a few files!

Cheers,
Florian

-----Original Message-----
From: Moser, Kevin 
[mailto:
 
Sent: 16 July 2013 17:50
To: 

 
Subject: [chef] Re: RE: Re: Re: Re: not so quiet installers

If this is win7/2008/2012 over WinRM and the installer is opening windows 
into an interactive shell then I think unfortunately from what I can 
tell/know you are not going to like the answer.  The WinRM service is running 
without the ability to interact with the desktop meaning no GUI windows...  I 
suppose you could probably change the WinRM service to let it interact with 
the desktop but that sounds pretty wonky/dangerous and would require you to 
log in to the box to fix.  Boo, no knife winrm.

The other issue you would run in to even if you could get the interactive 
desktop is when/how/what pops up, how do you respond, is it the same windows, 
same order, etc every time?  Sounds like it would be a pretty fragile 
implementation.

I'm not sure I have a good answer for you, I have all sorts of ideas/theories 
running in my head but not sure if any of them would work and they'd all be 
ridiculously complicated.

Any leverage to be able to go back to the vendor and push on them a little to 
make it right?  Perhaps find a competitor that has a good installer and 
suggest that they do it like them.  :-)

Kevin

On 7/16/13 1:27 AM, "Florian Hehlen" 
<
 >
 wrote:

>All,
>
>I think I didn't explain my problem very well. My fault.
>
>I do not need to be able to automate user key strokes. The install runs
>without user input but still wants to take over the screen and display
>all sorts of dialogs. My belief is that this requirement for an
>interactive session is the problem.
>
>I believe that what Kevin outlines below is exactly our problem,
>although we are not running our chef client with the Local System
>account. We are running it through knife winrm (remote invocation).
>
>Cheers,
>Florian
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Moser, Kevin 
>[mailto:
 
>Sent: 15 July 2013 19:23
>To: 
>
 
>Subject: [chef] Re: Re: Re: not so quiet installers
>
>Does "SendKeys" require an interactive logon?  If so then you need to
>be careful how you set up your scheduled task or service.  We run our
>chef-client as Local System so interactive logon becomes difficult to
>nonexistent.
>
>On 7/15/13 8:56 AM, "Adam Edwards" 
><
 >
> wrote:
>
>>Nathaniel, I've heard about a product that allows you to send
>>customizable window messages to installers as a way to "fix" this. I
>>can't remember the product name though.
>>
>>You could probably implement such a solution by hand if needed -- just
>>launch the installer from a vbscript / jscript using wshell and then
>>use "sendkeys" from wscript/wshell to send input to the installer.
>>
>>It's very sad, but if you can't control the quality of the installers
>>you get, this is the best solution that I can think of.
>>
>>-Adam
>>
>>On 7/15/13 6:34 AM, "Nathaniel Eliot" 
>><
 >
>> wrote:
>>
>>>http://www.autohotkey.com/ might fit your need.
>>>
>>>Cheers,
>>>
>>>--
>>>Nathaniel Eliot
>>>T9 Productions
>>>
>>>
>>>On Mon, Jul 15, 2013 at 7:19 AM, Florian Hehlen
>>><
 >
>>> wrote:
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Has anyone struggled with windows based installers that cannot run
>>>>in a  truly quiet mode. I have one old vb6 installer that just hangs
>>>>because it  can¹t run without user input but it needs a GUI based
>>>>session! I have looked  at some tools that can convert old
>>>>installers to MSIs but with little  success. If it was just the
>>>>question of manually converting one installer I  would just bite the
>>>>bullet and do it. But we still have a vendor that  delivers such crap!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Cheers,
>>>>
>>>> Flo.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>
>
>
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LEGAL DISCLAIMER
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