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Can I Use Windows Active Directory to Automate the Deployment of National Instruments Software?

Primary Software: NI Installers
Primary Software Version: N/A
Primary Software Fixed Version: N/A
Secondary Software: N/A

Problem:
Can I use Windows Active Directory to automate the deployment of National Instruments Software?

Solution:
The Active Directory method of deploying software is not the recommended method to distribute and automate the installation of NI Software. The recommend method to automate the deployment of software to your computer is to use enterprise software management tools (Microsoft SMS) which includes software to develop a batch file or generate a batch file yourself. For more information on SMS please refer to KnowledgeBase 4IH9QMH0: How Can I use Microsoft SMS to Deploy NI Software.

The Active Directory method adds the software to the Add Programs feature in the Windows Control Panel and can also perform full, silent installations of software too. This method should only be used by users who fully understand the process that is required. There are many disadvantages to this method:
  • To customize the installation of these MSI installers they require what were originally named transform files, but are now called MST files. MST is a new file type for the modification files. These files give you a way to customize the application installation without actually editing the MSIs. These .MST files ship with NI products, for example the DAQmx MST files are stored at a path similar to DAQ\NI-DAQmx 8.3\SupportFiles.
  • You should not invoke MSI components individually from an NI Installer.  The NI Installer framework, called from setup.exe handles dependencies and the installation order, to name a few. This would have to be handled when you considering using the Active Directory method. There are also a large number of MST files and NI doesn't have an MST file generater for customers to use. The deployment of NI Drivers would be significantly easier than if you had to deploy one of NI's development environments such as LabVIEW - which contains a large number of MSI installers.
The recommended method to deploy and install NI software is to use a batch file. In order to do this the software should be stored on a network drive. Each line in the batch file invokes the installer (setup.exe) of one software product from the network location.  You should create a separate batch file for each group of software you would like to install on a set of computers. For more information please refer to KnowledgeBase 4H3EE0XU: Large Scale Software Installation.

Then by using a Spec file you can customize an individual software product's installation without user interaction.  For more information refer to KnowledgeBase 4CJDP38M: Automating the Installation of a Single Installer.

The resulting batch file can then be run by the user clicking on the .bat file or you can run a script on the machine to run the batch file upon boot, for example.

Related Links:
KnowledgeBase 4IH9QMH0: How Can I use Microsoft SMS to Deploy NI Software
KnowledgeBase 4H3EE0XU: Large Scale Software Installation
KnowledgeBase 4CJDP38M: Automating the Installation of a Single Installer

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Report Date: 12/15/2008
Last Updated: 05/22/2009
Document ID: 4SEAP6CX

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