USB 3.0: Evolutionary Principles

IT Expert Voice has a great article detailing what's coming up with USB 3.0 and what to expect. It's very informative and answered a few questions I had (such as backward compatibility and the nature of the cables and connectors.) A good and quick read if you're interested in what's coming down the pike.

The final section talks about Intel's Light Peak as a competitor and whether USB 3.0 will have the juice to fight against it. It's certainly a compelling discussion and it brings to mind other classic technology battles. It most closely reminds me of USB 2.0 vs FireWire. FireWire had a lot going for it, and I was in its camp thinking that it would win dominance over USB 2.0. But, as things usually seem to go, I was way off. A lot of people were. 

Why is it so hard to predict the direction of technology? I think this question is really just a part of the larger questions of trying to predict markets generally. Markets and technology work like evolution, it's the strongest that survive and it's not always clear what attributes make them strongest. USB 2.0 won out over FireWire for a number of reasons, some of which are obvious, and some of which are not quite clear. Even in retrospect it's not always easy to see the factors that lead to one "species" surviving in the great marketplace of ideas while other seemingly stronger contenders fall by the wayside. 

The lesson for me is to never be too confident in backing a single horse in the race. It's prudent to hedge those bets a bit. I'd love to just focus on one programming language or platform, but it would be a problem if that platform is pulled out from under me. I've known programmers who put all their eggs in one basket and never spend any time learning anything else. That may work well for them in the present, but the future is too hazy to see how that will continue to work. 

In short, I'm scared to stop learning new and different things. I don't want to end up a dinosaur fossil in a programming museum.

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Follow me on Twitter @AdamRuth

Stick it to The Man... Remotely Deploy OpenOffice.org

It seems that more and more businesses are relying on OpenOffice.org (OOo) for their word processing, spreadsheet and presentation needs. I have no empirical data to back up this observation its just anecdotal. Anyway...

There are a few ways to perform a remote deployment of OOo with PDQ Deploy. First things first. You need to download the installation files. For this example I downloaded OOo 3.2.1. After downloading the file, Run it to "unpack" the Installation files. You will be asked where you want the files unpacked to. Choose a network share (I used "\\Scranton\Deploy\Open Office". Once the files are unpacked QUIT the installation. Yes, quit it. We just needed the files unpacked. We will get to the installation when we deploy the app.

To use PDQ Deploy to install to your organization you can perform a simple deploy by just passing a few extra parameters into your command line arguments.

As you can see we are just calling the MSI file and selecting the options to Not Reboot and run Quiet. We have passed some additional Windows Installer Properties respective to OpenOffice.org. The additional properties prevent OOo from performing an automatic update and prevents a desktop icon from being created on the target machines.

It is imperative that the "Include entire directory" check box is checked. If it is not checked then the deployment will fail (as the additional OOo deployment files will not be copied down to each target).

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New features in Admin Arsenal 1.5

We have added some sick features to Admin Arsenal in version 1.5.

My favorite is the ability to extend the Admin Arsenal Tools menu by adding your own Custom Tools. A Custom Tool is a command that exists on the Admin Arsenal console machine. When the Custom tool is selected (either from the Tools menu or a keyboard shortcut that you assign) the command is executed along with any respective command line arguments.

Want to be able to automatically go to the C$ of a target computer? Go to your Admin Arsenal Preferences and, in the Custom Tools pane, add the following line:

Open C$ Share=explorer.exe "\\%TARGET%\C$"

The syntax for a custom tool line is

Name [;keyboard shortcut]=command [ARGS]

Admin Arsenal will contain the computer name in the %TARGET% variable.

If you use DameWare Mini Remote Control, you can have initiate a Remote Control session from within Admin Arsenal by adding a custom tool entry like this:

DameWare Remote Control;CTRL+ALT+Z="C:\Program Files (x86)\DameWare Development\DameWare Mini Remote Control\dwrcc.exe" -m:%TARGET% -a:1

See additonal arguments that can be passed to DameWare Mini Remote Control.

Would you like to automatically connect to a network registry? Feel free to download one of our free utilities called StartReg.exe. Place this file on your Admin Arsenal console machine and add the following line to your custom tools:

Connect Remote Registry;CTRL+SHIFT+E="StartReg.exe" %TARGET%

In the above example I didn't pass the Path for StartReg.exe because I put it in my System32 directory which is, obviously, included in my PATH variable.

See a Video example on Admin Arsenal's YouTube Channel

Note: Any download from our Free Utilities is not supported and is provided without warranty of any kind.

PowerShell Tips for System Administrators: Format Views

In two recent posts I went over the PowerShell formatting cmdlets and calculated properties. Today I'm going to cover Views. You'll notice that when you display a normal object (such as the built-in FileInfo objects when you run dir) you don't see all of its properties. This is because PowerShell is using a View, which is selected based on the type of object you're outputting and which type of output is being used (table, list, or wide.)

The views are stored in XML files in the PowerShell directory which you can examine to see how the formatting is being performed. Not only that but you can add your own views and even override the default views used by PowerShell.

The standard views are stored in %systemroot%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0 in a files with the extension format.ps1xml. There are several files, but the one we'll be looking at is FileSystem.format.ps1xml. This file holds the formatting for the various file system objects, such as FileInfo and DirectoryInfo.  The section that defines the normal file system table output is this:

<View>
  <Name>children</Name>
  <ViewSelectedBy>
    <SelectionSetName>FileSystemTypes</SelectionSetName>
  </ViewSelectedBy>
  <GroupBy>
    <PropertyName>PSParentPath</PropertyName>
    <CustomControlName>FileSystemTypes-GroupingFormat</CustomControlName>
  </GroupBy>
  <TableControl>
    <TableHeaders>
      <TableColumnHeader>
        <Label>Mode</Label>
        <Width>7</Width>
        <Alignment>left</Alignment>
      </TableColumnHeader>
      <TableColumnHeader>
        <Label>LastWriteTime</Label>
        <Width>25</Width>
        <Alignment>right</Alignment>
      </TableColumnHeader>
      <TableColumnHeader>
        <Label>Length</Label>
        <Width>10</Width>
        <Alignment>right</Alignment>
      </TableColumnHeader>
      <TableColumnHeader/>
    </TableHeaders>
    <TableRowEntries>
      <TableRowEntry>
        <Wrap/>
        <TableColumnItems>
          <TableColumnItem>
            <PropertyName>Mode</PropertyName>
          </TableColumnItem>
          <TableColumnItem>
            <ScriptBlock>
              [String]::Format("{0,10}  {1,8}", $_.LastWriteTime.ToString("d"), $_.LastWriteTime.ToString("t"))
            </ScriptBlock>
          </TableColumnItem>
          <TableColumnItem>
            <PropertyName>Length</PropertyName>
          </TableColumnItem>
          <TableColumnItem>
            <PropertyName>Name</PropertyName>
          </TableColumnItem>
        </TableColumnItems>
      </TableRowEntry>
    </TableRowEntries>
  </TableControl>
</View>

If you're not used to XML this may appear a bit daunting, but you can get a quick sense of how it works. There are four main sections of the file.

1. <ViewSelectedBy> indicates which object types are used by this view. In this case, the name FileSystemTypes refers to another section in the file that lists the types. That section is <SelectionSets>. The individual type names can be listed instead, but this reference makes the code shorter.
2. <GroupBy> tells the table of files to be grouped by thier parent path. This also refers to another section of the file called <Controls>.
3. <TableHeaders> sets up not only the titles that appear on the table columns, but also their width and alignment.
4. <TableRowEntry> the actual values to show in the table. Three of the colums just pull out a property by name, but the LastModifiedTime uses PowerShell code to format the date in a particular way. Any PowerShell code can be used which gives a great deal of flexibility.

There are a lot of possibilities for how to create views and the documentation is a bit limited. To learn about formatting it's best to look at the included format files to see how things are done.

To make a custom view you will need to create your own format.ps1xml files since you can't edit the built in ones. If there is more than one view for an object then the first one found will be used. Otherwise they can be selected by name using the -View parameter of the format cmdlets. Once you have a file created you import the formats using the Format-UpdateData cmdlet. As an example of a new format, I've create a format file that adds a CreationTime column in addition to LastWriteTime. Download the file, save it with the extension .format.ps1xml and run the following command:

Format-UpdateData -PrependPath [filename]

Now when you list the contents of a directory you will see the new column. Alternately you could have used -AppendPath to put the file after the built in formats and then you would need to use the view by name:

dir | Format-Table -View MyFormat

To make the custom format persistent between sessions, add the Format-UpdateData command to your PowerShell profile. One of the principles of PowerShell is the ability for you to configure it to your tastes and Views are a very powerful, if somewhat complex, way to get just want you want.

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Need help using formats (or anything else) in PowerShell? Post a question in our PowerShell forum to ask one of our engineers.

Avoid the traffic jam - Remotely Deploy Windows Service Packs

We have a client that uses Microsoft SCCM to manage about 1,700 computers. The problem is that 130 of these computers needed to have the U.S. Government Configuration Baseline (USGCB) - formerly known as FDCC - version 2.4. These 130 computers had the 2.1 version of USGCB which still uses Vista Service Pack 1.

Performing the "USGCB Migration" to version 2.4 is a rather cumbersome exercise considering all of the updated applications and OS configuration changes it needs to make. The process (using SCCM) can take a few days even when the SCCM Service Windows are ignored. Many users were experiencing computers rebooting in the middle of the day as a result of the migration.

In an effort to minimize the reboots during the day (all the Migrations were started in the evening but due to SCCM polling and HW scan intervals the migration process always spilled into the work day) we used the new PDQ Deploy to quickly deploy applications that comprised the various parts of the Migration without having to wait for next Machine Policy or Advertisement. We started with the biggest reboot offender, Windows Vista SP2.

We simply ran a query in Admin Arsenal showing all machines that had Service Pack 1 of Vista and then, in the evening, deployed SP 2 with the following arguments:

/quiet /warnrestart:120

Within 3 hours almost all of the 130 computers had successfully installed Service Pack 2. We then deployed another "package" which was simply a CMD file which forced a hardware scan. (This client is not allowed to modify the set schedules that scans are run with SCCM). Using Roger Zander's suggestions the CMD file ran one command which utilizes WMI to initiate an SCCM hardware scan.

WMIC /namespace:\\root\ccm path sms_client CALL TriggerSchedule "{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001}" /NOINTERACTIVE

This was, to say the least, very painless.

Use PDQ Deploy. It is free and fully functional only from Admin Arsenal.

Administering Windows Virtual Disks

While reading my daily blog roll I ran across a posting at the always informative Train Signal Training blog about VHDs, or Virtual Hard Disks. This really caught my eye as I hadn't heard of this functionality before. Virtual disks have been a part OS X since the beginning (I believe they go back to the NeXT days) and I find them to be very useful. It's great to see this capability now in Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2. The steps to create and use a VHD are a bit more complicated than creating a DMG on the Mac, but that's a small price to pay for the capability.

As usual, I'm interested in the command line options and here Microsoft doesn't disappoint. The DiskPart.exe utility provides all the necessary functionality to create, partition, format, and use a virtual disk. Here's a session that creates a 32 GB disk and assigns it a drive letter.

PS C:\> diskpart
Microsoft DiskPart version 6.1.7600
Copyright (C) 1999-2008 Microsoft Corporation
On computer: AADEV
DISKPART> create vdisk file="c:\test.vhd" maximum=32000 type=expandable
  100 percent completed
DiskPart successfully created the virtual disk file.
DISKPART> select vdisk file="c:\test.vhd"
DiskPart successfully selected the virtual disk file.
DISKPART> attach vdisk
  100 perent completed
DiskPart successfully attached the virtual disk file.
DISKPART> create partition primary
DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.
DISKPART> list partition
  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
* Partition 1    Primary             31 GB  1024 KB
DISKPART> select partition=1
Partition 1 is now the selected partition.
DISKPART> format quick fs=ntfs
  100 percent completed
DiskPart successfully formatted the volume
DISKPART> list volume
  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  ----  -----------  -------  ---------  ------
  Volume 0     D                      CD-ROM           0 B  No Media
  Volume 1         System Rese  NTFS  Partition     100 MB  Healthy    System
  Volume 2     C                NTFS  Partition     127 GB  Healthy    Boot
  Volume 3                      NTFS  Partition      31 GB  Healthy
DISKPART> select volume=3
Volume 3 is the selected volume.
DISKPART> assign letter=V
DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point.
DISKPART> exit
Leaving DiskPart...
PS C:\> copy license.xml v:\
PS C:\> dir v:\
    Directory: v:\
Mode                LastWriteTime       Length  Name
----                -------------       ------  ----
-a---         9/08/2010   2:41 PM          418  license.xml

As you can see, it's pretty straightforward to create and use a VHD. You can even install Windows on a VHD and boot to it, which can be very useful for troubleshooting. I love finding a new features that I didn't know about and can explore.

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Looking for unattended installation software? Download a free copy of PDQ Deploy.

Customize and deploy Adobe Flash Player

A question came into us this week about customizing Adobe Flash Player installations. There certainly is a way to deploy customized Flash Players however it's not incredibily intuitive. Unlike other Windows Installer (.msi) applications Flash isn't modified via Transforms files or Windows Installer options.

Before you can deploy Adobe products, you need to enter a license agreement with Adobe. Shawn wrote an article outlining how this can be done. After entering the agreement with Adobe you will receive a link to download the deployable products requested.

http://www.adminarsenal.com/admin-arsenal-blog/bid/38437/Customizing-Deploying-Adobe-Reader-9-3

Adobe Flash Player looks in the %WINDIR%\System32\Macromed\Flash directory for the file mms.cfg. This file contains (or can contain) configuration settings which vary from disabling Auto Updates to disabling Flash access to the file system or network.

Adobe provides a great reference document detailing Flash Player Administration. The options for your mms.cfg file are located on Page 19.

I decided to disable both the Automatic Update and Flash access to webcams and microphones. Below are the values in my mms.cfg file:

#Disable AutoUpdate
AutoUpdateDisable=true

#Prevent SWF files from accessing Webcams or Microphones
AVHardwareDisable=true

As I need to perform a custom action AFTER the install I decided to wrap the installation up in a CMD file. Below are the contents of my InstallFlash.cmd file.

\\scranton\deploy\Adobe\FlashPlayer\install_flash_player_10_active_x.msi /quiet /norestart IF %ERRORLEVEL% == 0 goto MMS
exit %ERRORLEVEL%
:MMS
IF EXIST %WINDIR%\System32\Macromed\Flash (
    copy /Y \\scranton\deploy\Adobe\FlashPlayer\mms.cfg %WINDIR%\System32\Macromed\Flash
) ELSE (
    mkdir %windir%\System32\Macromed\Flash
    copy /Y \\scranton\deploy\Adobe\FlashPlayer\mms.cfg %WINDIR%\System32\Macromed\Flash
)
exit %ERRORLEVEL%

Here is a screenshot of the deployment summary in PDQ Deploy.

The deployment runs remarkably fast (less than 20 seconds in my different deployments).

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Use PDQ Deploy. It's free. It's fully functional. It kicks copious amounts of ass.

Follow me on twitter @ShaneCorellian

Product Review - Dropbox

Cloud computing is all the rage these days with online storage & backup being one of the most well-known aspects of it. Over the years I've played with a number of online file sync services and I always left a little less than impressed. Each service had advantages and disadvantages with the disadvantages outweighing the advantages (at least for me.)

I've been hearing about Dropbox for a long time and just assumed that it was like the others that I've tried and it was only recently that I decided to give it a go and I must say that I'm very impressed. Here's the scenario that got me started:

I am the current secretary for our local Lion's Club (Lions Club of Palm Beach-Currumbin) and the club recently decided to buy a laptop to be used by each new secretary, instead of passing CDs of files and big boxes of records around. I needed a way to keep the files on the new laptop backed-up in a way that I wouldn't need to maintain even after I leave the position and that would sync with my own computer so I don't have to keep switching back-and-forth between the two computers (I do most club work on my own laptop.) Back in my dusty memory I remembered hearing about Dropbox and that it had a free version, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. It worked perfectly right out of the gate, so well in-fact that I was stunned, I'm used to something going wrong at some point.

Here's the features about Dropbox that I really like, and work perfectly in my situation:

1. It's free for 2 GB of storage. That's big enough for all of our Club's records and with it tied to the Club's e-mail address it keeps me out of the loop when I pass on the secretary laptop.
2. The sync is seamless. And I really mean seamless. It's so simple to set up that practically anyone can do it and the sync just worked and kept working. At no point in the process was I wishing I could have some kind of manual control, the automated system worked great.
3. LAN sync. If you are syncing files between two computers in the same subnet then it will copy the files directly instead of going up to the cloud and back down. Particularly helpful for that first sync on a new computer.
4. Shared folders. I now have two Dropbox accounts, one for the Club and one for me. I share the files in the Club account with my account so that I can edit them on my own computer. It's also a very handy way to share some files with friends and co-workers. 
5. Web access. All files can be accessed on a web site that works very well, it's not slow and kludgey feeling like I've seen before.
6. Previous versions. Works great as a backup solution.
7. Cross-platform. Supports Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, iPad, Android and soon Blackberry. 

Now, there are some disadvantages, but they didn't affect me.  Your mileage may vary.

1. Size limit. You can pay to get more than 2 GB of storage, but they only go up to 50 GB. That may grow in the future, but for some people it won't be enough. There is a 250 MB bonus for referrals (which I got because I referred myself... shhhh...)
2. One Dropbox per computer. Each computer can only be tied to a single account. There are some workarounds, but they aren't perfect. Proper use of shared folders makes this much less of a problem than it seems at first.
3. Only one Dropbox folder. You only get one folder syncing up to your Dropbox account. It would be nice if you could map different folders to different locations and there may be some workarounds for this. It's not a concern for me now, but I could see me wanting it in the future.

All-in-all Dropbox is a perfect solution for most cloud storage problems. They've left some things out that I'm sure make it easier to perfect those few things they do, so I won't quibble.  It's free and so easy to install you really can't go wrong to take it for a spin.

4 Steps to Quickly Deploy the Adobe Reader 9.3.3 Patch

This is the last in a series of posts dedicated to Adobe Reader. The first post discussed how to customize Adobe Reader for your company, the second discussed how to deploy Adobe Reader to your entire company, and today we'll tackle the last portion - patching Adobe basebuild from 9.3.0 to 9.3.3.

If you don't already have the Adobe Reader 9.3.3, the patch must be obtained directly from Adobe.

Step 1: Open PDQ Deploy and select the Adobe Reader patch.

NOTE: If you are at the base build version of 9.3.0, you will need to install the 9.3.2 patch before applying 9.3.3.

Step 2: Select the target computers for the software deployment

There are three methods to select targerts:

1. Import (from a text file)
2. Active Directory
3. Admin Arsenal

Step 3: Select the account to initiate the installation

This can be an Active Directory or a local account.

Step 4: Verify your settings and deploy

Much like the instructions on a shampoo bottle, if you are deploying 9.3.2 first, then wash, rinse, repeat. This will get you to the latest secure version of 9.3.3.

If you haven't taken the time to join Adobe's mailing list for security patch notification, I suggest you do so. This is a different list than their marketing distros.

You can sign up for their patch notification when you enter into your EULA to distribute Adobe Reader. The same notifications are also available for Adobe Flash and other Adobe products.

Since Adobe Reader is such a widely used application we get many requests from users on how to remotely install the program. Here is a video that demonstrates deploying the Adobe Reader 9.3.3 patch.

Note: For optimal viewing select HD playback.

If you have a software application that you would like us to demonstrate deployments in a step-by-step blog and video, shoot us the request.

Install software, patches, and more using our free application deployment software PDQ Deploy.

Get your free copy today.

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Follow me on Twitter @ShawnAnderson

Follow Admin Arsenal on Twitter: @AdmArsenal

How do you deploy Adobe Reader to your entire company?

There are three methods that Adobe provides for deploying Adobe Reader to all of your computers:

1. EXE - (AdbeRdr933_en_US.exe)
2. MSI - (AcroRead.msi) 
3. MST - (AcroRead.mst)

The self contained version of Adobe Reader simply deploys the application as packaged by Adobe with no ability to customize. If you want to simply push Adobe Reader with all defaults, use this method. The /sAll and /rs switches make the install silent for all products and suppress required reboots, respectively.

The .MSI version of Adobe Reader is obtained by extracting it from the EXE. With the MSI you have a little more flexibility in certain aspects, like suppressing EULA acceptance.

The .MST (transform file) requires the AcroRead.msi and is created using the Adobe Customization Wizard. This method and its associated benefits were demonstrated in last weeks blog "Adobe Reader 9.3 - The Adobe Customization Wizard".

Here are the three examples of deploying Adobe Reader 9.3.

Example 1: The self contained Adobe Reader file.

Example 2: The .MSI installation.

Example 3: The .MST (transform) installation.

Simply open PDQ Deploy and select your .MSI in the "Installer File to Deploy" field. You call your .mst file in the Parameters field (TRANSFORMS="AcroRead.mst").

Complete the next three steps within PDQ Deploy (select targets, verify administrative account, and deploy). It's that simple.

Here's a video of deploying Adobe Reader 9.3 using PDQ Deploy.

Last of all - patching. We've noticed something decidedly odd about Adobe 9.3.3. If you install using the EXE you will install the latest security patches, up to 9.3.3. However, by extracting and using the MSI you will only be installing the base version of 9.3.0.

Be sure to patch your systems, and note that if you are at 9.3.0, you must first install 9.3.2 and then 9.3.3. The instructions for this will be posted on our next blog.

Free Deployment Tool: PDQ Deploy

Install applications, like Adobe Reader, quickly and without the fuss. PDQ Deploy is free to use and distribute. Get your copy today!

 

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Follow me on Twitter @ShawnAnderson

Follow Admin Arsenal on Twitter @AdmArsenal

Adobe Reader 9.3.3 - The Adobe Customization Wizard

Many organizations prefer to customize their installations of Adobe Reader. This is made possible by the Adobe Customization Wizard. While it is a somewhat involved process, it's actually pretty straight forward once you get the hang of it. (Watch video).

Here are some benefits of deploying a customized Adobe Reader vs. the out-of-the-box version.

• No Google toolbar
• Disable auto updates (and other phone-home options)
• Disable Acrobat purchase links
• Force installation in silent mode
• So much more I don't feel like listing them all

Let's begin.

Step 1: Download and install the customization wizard

The file is named CustWiz90_en_US.exe and is available from the Adobe website. Install the application accepting all defaults.

Step 2: Extract files for customization

Open a command window and cd to the location of AdbeRdr933_en_US.exe. Enter the following in the cmd window:

AdbeRdr933_en_US.exe -nos_ne

The necessary files are now extracted. It's here that you could start scratching your head. Adobe isn't very clear about where they stored your new extracted files. The location is:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Adobe\Reader 9.3\Setup Files\Reader9 

Step 3: Use Adobe Customization Wizard 

From Start > Programs open the newly installed Adobe Customization Wizard. Select open and navigate to the AcroRead.msi (path above).

You will see the following window.

It's time to make your modifications. There are too many to list here, but tip-toe around and see what jumps out at you.

Four sections to pay close attention to are:

• Personalization Options
• Shortcuts
• EULA
• Online and Acrobat.com

The EULA is nice to customize as it prevents a user from needing to accept it when Adobe Reader is first started. I like the shortcuts because it allows me to remove the desktop and start menu icons. (Those icons have always been clutter to me).

The most important of these four options (to your humble blogger, that is) would be the Online and Acrobat.com. This page allows you to remove Acrobat.com solicitations and also allows an IT adminsitrator to prevent each Reader installation from attempting to update itself. In larger organizations this is important. While security updates are critical, it's a mess to have hundreds of computers phoning home to Adobe every week to see if updates are available.

I also like to disable all of Acrobat.com access.

There's a bunch to see in this wizard so don't get lost in the weeds. We have a walk through video which shows the Adobe Customization Wizard in action.

 

You can deploy software for free using PDQ Deploy. The newest IT tool from Admin Arsenal.

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Follow me on Twitter @ShawnAnderson

Follow Admin Arsenal on Twitter @AdmArsenal

I just wanted to deploy QuickTime, not negotiate a hostage release!

You'd think that Apple would want to make QuickTime Player very easy to deploy. It is obvious that packaging the Windows QuickTime installation is an afterthought in Cupertino. Deploying QuickTimeInstaller.exe using the standard arguments, /quiet /norestart (let alone the custom arguments that I wanted to provide) showed a successful installation. However, when running QuickTime on the target system the following error popped up:

The issue here is that the QuickTimeInstaller.exe isn't installing Apple Application Support.

Using PDQ Deploy you can successfully install QuickTime 7.6.6.

Here are the steps I took to deploy...

1. Played Gogol Bordello on my iPod. Loud.


2. Downloaded QuickTime 7.6.6 for Windows and placed it on a file server.


3. Extracted the contents of the QuickTimeInstaller.exe file by running
   

   QuickTimeInstaller.exe /extract

     and deleting all extracted files except for AppleApplicationSupport.msi and QuickTime.msi.
4. Created a file called QuickTimeDeploy.cm with these two lines:

AppleApplicationSupport.msi /qn
QuickTime.msi ALLUSERS=1 DESKTOP_SHORTCUTS=0 QTTASKRUNFLAGS=0 REGSRCH_INSTALL_ASU=0 /qn

5. Deployed it with PDQ Deploy.

This is a good reminder to always test your installations on a few machines before you deploy to your entire organization.

If you already deployed QuickTime 7.6 to your organization and your users are now seeing this error, you can quickly deploy just the AppleApplicationSupport.msi file and the problem should be resolved.

Download PDQ Deploy. It's free, fully functional and basically kicks ass.

Software Deployment for Nothing - Introducing PDQ Deploy

We are pleased to announce the newest addition to our product line for Windows System Administrators – PDQ Deploy.

 PDQ Deploy provides a fast, and easy way to meet basic software deployment needs.  And it’s FREE!  With PDQ Deploy you can:

• Deploy MSI, MSP, MSU, EXE and Batch installers
• Use with or without Active Directory
• Remotely deploy to multiple computers at the same time
• Use different authentication for different deployments
• Save installations for future use
• Troubleshoot failed deployments

You can watch an introductory video of PDQ Deploy here.

Our goal is to get PDQ Deploy into as many Sys Admins’ hands, as possible.  So download a copy today and start to see all the things you can do with software deployment.  And did we mention that it’s FREE?!?

Please let us know what you think!  We are always open to your ideas for improving our products.

Follow me on Twitter @ShawnAnderson

PowerShell Tips for System Administrators: Profiles

A profile in PowerShell is nothing more than a script file that is run when the shell starts. This file is very handy to create variables, functions, or change settings that you find you use a lot. Instead of having to re-import a library of functions or change the shell's settings each time you start up PowerShell.

The variable $profile holds the name of the file that you are using for the current shell. PowerShell doesn't create this file, so it won't exist out of the box, but the variable will still hold the name. For example, on my box it is:

C:\Users\Adam> $profile
C:\Users\Adam\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1

You can put anything in this file that you can put into a script file, so feel free to create functions, set variables and run commands. Any changes made to the file won't be used by the current shell, so you'll need to restart to see any effect. And remember that if you are going to load any other script files in the profile you need to precede the script with a single dot (.) for the functions and variables in that script file to remain visible in your new shell:

. \libs\Functions.ps1

There is also a profile on the computer that applies to all users as well as profiles for other shells. Microsoft has all of the lowdown.

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Follow me on Twitter @AdamRuth