BytePro MSI Instructions

A .msi file can be launched by msiexec.exe from the command line, with a third party tool such as psexec, with a logon script for users using runonce or with other deployment strategies. You can also use a group policy object with software installation to deploy setup.msi - see the end of the page for more on that.

On the 'Run' line, enter msiexec /i <source path to the setup.msi file> Users must have access to the source path, and read rights.

With this command line, the user would see the entire installation dialog, with user options and 'Cancel'. User options selected by the user are with the user's permission level. Usually, you will want to control the installation by limiting or eliminating user options. Command line switches and properties can accomplish that by entering user options on the command line.

Here are the most common switches for passive mode:

/qn switch (ex. msiexec /i <source path to the setup.msi file> /qn) The user sees no signs of installation at all - no progress bar, nothing.

/qb (ex. msiexec /i <source path to the setup.msi file> /qb) The user sees only an installation progress bar and has a Cancel button.

/qb! (ex. msiexec /i <source path to the setup.msi file> /qb!) The exclamation point after the qb suppresses the Cancel button. The progress bar is still there.

There are a number of other modifiers for the /q switch. For a quick and easy way to see available msiexec.exe switches, open the 'Run' dialog and enter msiexec (by itself). Click 'OK' and examine the list that pops up.

More Switches and Properties

Use the /x switch with the current version setup.msi to uninstall the current version or an older version.

A full exposition of the msiexec switches is available here at the Windows Installer website. The same website has a list of public properties, which are installation parameters within the MSI file. You can override some properties on the command line (as needed) with the following syntax:

PROPERTY=value

The property name on the command line must be upper case. If the value has spaces, it must be surrounded by quotes. An example property pair for the installation directory looks like this:

INSTALLDIR="C:\Program Files\BytePro"

BytePro Specific Installation User Options

If you want to replace BytePro wizard user options with command line options, you need to know what the user options are.

The BytePro installation wizard has four screens:

• The first is a welcome screen, requiring no user input.
• The second screen includes the user license.  The user must accept the license to continue.
• The third screen is the option of installing for the current user only, or all users.  This determines if shortcuts will go into the All Users profile.
• The last screen lets the user choose the installation destination folder.  The default folder is C:\Program Files\BytePro.

It is pretty simple to set these parameters on the command line. 

The user license does not require an explicit acceptance.
For the current or all users setting, enter:
APPLICATIONUSERS=AllUsers    or
APPLICATIONUSERS=OnlyCurrentUser  The default (with no entry) is current user only for desktop and program files shortcuts.    

The new example command line will look like this:
msiexec /i \\server\apps\bytepro /qb! APPLICATIONUSERS=AllUsers

You can enter a destination folder other than the default with the INSTALLDIR property:
INSTALLDIR="C:\Local Apps\BytePro"   The default folder is C:\Program Files\BytePro.

Here is the expanded command line with options selected.
msiexec /i \\server\apps\bytepro /qb! APPLICATIONUSERS=AllUsers INSTALLDIR="C:\Local Apps\BytePro"

Logging

If you need it, use the /log switch to create an installation log.  Put a path to the log file after, including the log file name.  The log is also a good way to see what the installer is doing and what its properties are set to.
The last command line:
msiexec /i \\server\apps\bytepro /qb! APPLICATIONUSERS=AllUsers INSTALLDIR="C:\Local Apps\BytePro" /log "C:\apps\byteerror.log"

Updating With MSI

To upgrade to a newer version of BytePro, you will need to uninstall any existing versions first.  

Each version of BytePro has different Product IDs.  You will need to know the correct Product ID for the version of BytePro you will be uninstalling.  The syntax for an uninstall is MsiExec.exe /X<ProductID>, where <ProductID> is replaced with the appropriate Product ID for the version of BytePro that you will be uninstalling.

BytePro Standard 4.1 Update 1 = {353F01FE-55BE-4D36-95C2-7B8D4F256E5C}
BytePro Standard 4.1 = {45810DD0-DDED-49AA-9CC5-0E0CC6B97540}
BytePro Standard 4.0 Update 1 = {9AD2A512-5BD0-4FE9-9511-A98EE837856B}
BytePro Standard 4.0 = {3B6D00F7-6D91-4A45-9483-268E6012B1BF}
BytePro Standard 3.1 Update 3 = {AECA63F5-87BE-43B2-BE4A-24E6F545B1D9}
BytePro Standard 3.1 Update 2 = {1976CA68-E396-4732-898A-4CC1D99206D9}
BytePro Standard 3.1 Update 1 = {5A13F811-985A-4953-B712-43D929B8E296}
BytePro Standard 3.1 = {B817231C-2FAA-4803-8BB2-AE5F5477DD4A}
BytePro Standard 3.0 = {D3DF4FEE-7B60-4EFF-81B1-CD89210E68A1}
BytePro Standard 2.2 = {506EE46A-5F2D-4846-80E3-C3890E5BADE5}
BytePro Standard 2.1 = {A05EFB71-330F-4983-92E9-71910ECDCCC9}
BytePro Standard 2.0 = {68B05021-6DC7-45DC-A951-4113B6893EA6}
BytePro Standard 1.4 = {45048256-85F2-4DDF-B5AB-5C8237A8B60E}
BytePro Standard 1.3 = {36493B00-34EC-40ED-9131-3D1BE6EED7B0}
BytePro Standard 1.2 = {AF65DCE1-5034-4942-96C3-2126AFF92D67}
BytePro Standard 1.1 = {BAB75AE5-5BDE-49B3-9018-5D228C1167C8}
BytePro Standard 1.0 = {45ECABDD-1AFA-4A6F-8350-52D1C20B1F93}

For example, to uninstall BytePro Standard 2.2, you would use the following command line:

MsiExec.exe /X{506EE46A-5F2D-4846-80E3-C3890E5BADE5}

Installing With Group Policy Object

See the Microsoft website for information on installing software with group policy objects, if needed.

Setup.msi installs with no user interaction from a group policy object with 'Basic' selected for minimal user interface in properties.
We do not support it, but you may use Orca, the free Microsoft .msi edit tool, to modify properties within setup.msi.  This can come in handy if you want to deploy with a group policy object and the default properties need to be changed.

See the 'BytePro Specific Installation User Options' section above for a few of the default properties.  For a full list of properties, download Orca (part of the free Windows Installer SDK for your operating system) or some other editor to examine setup.msi.

Adding the Network Data Folder

Last thing to consider. BytePro stores the locations of its data folders in the client computer registry at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\Byte Mortgage Software\datafolder<0 through 7>. The value (a string) is the network path to the shared data folder. Data folder0 is the default folder. The higher numbered folders are in the available folders list.

You can use your favorite registry edit tool in a logon script (or however you choose) to add the network data folder to the user's settings.