This document is provided as a courtesy to Netopia's customers. Be aware that there is no support from Netopia for this document. The use of InstallRite is not condoned by Netopia nor is it supported. Do not use this document unless you are willing to accept full responsibility, without recourse to Netopia, for any consequences incurred from its use. Do not contact Netopia Technical Support with any questions regarding InstallRite or this document.

This document also assumes that you have a high familiarity with netOctopus' Execute PC Installer command. If this is not the case take some time to review pages 157-159 of the netOctopus User's Guide or the following Execute PC Installer How-to Guide before proceeding.

Unlike the Mac version of netOctopus, the Windows version does not include a PC version of FileScripter. However, there are many third party applications from various software vendors that do provide this functionality, the ability to take "before" and "after" snapshots of your system. One of these repackaging applications is InstallRite from Epsilon Squared Inc. From these snapshots InstallRite is able to generate a software package installer in .EXE format that can be used in conjunction with netOctopus' Execute PC Installer to remotely deploy software to Agent machines. The best part about InstallRite is that is currently free (as of 2/8/01) from Epsilon Squared:

http://www.epsilonsquared.com/

1. Install InstallRite on a Windows 9X/ME/NT/2000 machine and launch it to bring up the InstallRite interface.
2. A wizard screen will appear asking if you want to 'Use the Install Wizard'. Uncheck the 'Show every time on startup' box and click 'No'.

   

3. From the InstallRite Control Panel select 'Install new software and create an InstallKit'.

   

4. Click the 'Next' button to continue.

   

5. Click the 'Next' button to take a "before" snapshot of your system.

   

6. After InstallRite is finished taking the "before" snapshot of your system it will prompt you to supply the name of the setup program for the application that you want to install.

   

7. Install your application as you normally would. After the application has finished installing, InstallRite will present you with the following screen. Click the 'Next' button for InstallRite to take the "after" snapshot and record the changes since the "before" snapshot.

   

8. After InstallRite is done recording the changes between the "before" and "after" snapshot, it will ask you for the name of the application that you just installed. In most cases you can accept the default that InstallRite provides and click 'OK'.

   

9. Click the 'Finish' button to get back to the InstallRite Control Panel.

   

10. Select 'Review Installations' from the InstallRite Control Panel.

    

11. In the InstallRite Review window, make any changes to the snapshot that you want. Remove any extraneous file, .INI, and registry changes that you know are not part of the installation for the application that you just installed. Often some files and registry changes occur as part of the normal functioning of the Windows OS and has nothing to do with the installation of your application.

    

12. Highlight the name of your application package in the left hand panel and click the 'Kit' button to generate an installation package in .EXE format.

    

13. Choose a path and file name for the resulting installation package.

    

14. A dialog box specifying options for the installation package will appear. Check the 'Quiet installation mode' checkbox and click the 'OK' button.

    

15. When the installation package has been successfully generated you will get the following message.

    

16. Place this installation package on a file server and grant the Everyone group Read access to this share. Be sure to also remove any spaces in the file name of the installation package. This will prevent any problems with UNC naming path conventions (Netscape Navigator 4.08.exe ==> netscape408.exe ).

17. Use netOctopus' Execute PC Installer command to remotely deploy this software installation package silently to Agent machines. By default the software installation package created with InstallRite using the procedure outlined in this document will run silently. As a result there is no need to use a /s or -s switch in the 'Options' field of the Execute PC Installer dialog box. If you are unfamiliar with the Execute PC Installer command take some time to review pages 157-159 of the netOctopus User's Guide or the following Execute PC Installer How to Guide.