Microsoft Visual SourceSafe offers an administrator mode setup, which facilitates deployment to field clients. The administrator initially runs setup to select which features will be deployed. An .ini file is created based on this selection, and is then deployed by running setup in unattended mode, pointing to the generated .ini file. When run in unattended mode, setup installs the designated options silently. If errors occur, setup exits silently with failure. This design allows deployment through Microsoft Systems Management Server.
For more information about deploying Visual SourceSafe using SMS, see KB article 327792 "HOW TO: Deploy Visual Studio .NET 2003 by Using Systems Management Server" at http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;Q327792.
Note: You cannot install Visual SourceSafe 2005 on a computer with the Intel Itanium processor. Attempting to deploy the Visual SourceSafe 2005 MSI to a computer with the Itanium processor will fail.
Before running this phase of administrator setup, you must first run Visual SourceSafe Prerequisites Setup on your computer. Some of the components installed by the update are required for Visual SourceSafe setup to function.
Windows Installer 3.1 is required to install Visual SourceSafe. Before deploying Visual SourceSafe, any of the prerequisites or optional components, Windows Installer 3.1 must be on the target machine.
Note: You must run the setup.exe found in the \setup subdirectory in order to create an .ini file. The setup.exe file found at the root of the CD or DVD does not support administrator setup.
To create the deployment .ini file |
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To run setup with the generated file on a client |
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To run MSDN Library setup |
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To install Windows Installer 3.1 unattended |
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WindowsInstaller-KB893803-v2-x86.exe /quiet |
To install the .NET Framework unattended |
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dotnetfx.exe /q:a /c:"install /q"
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To install the 64 bit .NET Framework unattended |
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NetFx64.exe /q:a /c:"install /q"
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To install Microsoft Document Explorer 2005 unattended |
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DExplore.exe /q:a /c:"install /q"
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Visual SourceSafe 2005 setup may be run from a network share as an alternative to
running setup from CDs or DVDs.
The following procedure illustrates how to prepare Visual SourceSafe 2005 for
installation from a network share.
Example procedure for sharing installation files from CDs |
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Setup can be run again on a computer with an existing installation to access setup maintenance features. Users or administrators should run setup from Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel. To use the maintenance mode of setup, users need to be logged on with administrative permissions on the local machine.
The following is a list of components required for Visual SourceSafe. Visual SourceSafe 2005 unattended setup will fail if the prerequisites are not met.
For 64 Bit Machines, the following components are required for Visual SourceSafe.
Client computers must have all the system components that Visual SourceSafe 2005 requires installed before you can install Visual SourceSafe 2005 on the computer. Network administrators must verify that all client computers have the required system components.
Note: It is recommended that you deploy the required components in the order that they are listed. For example, Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 requires that you install Microsoft Windows Installer 3.1 first, so Windows Installer is listed before the .NET Framework.
Prerequisites for deploying on Windows 2003 Server
Prerequisites for deploying on Windows 2000
Prerequisites for deploying on Windows XP
Installing required prerequisites
Each system component that Visual SourceSafe 2005 requires is located in the WCU folder of the Visual SourceSafe CD or DVD-ROM.
In Windows Installer terminology, a relational database contains information about components, features, and setup properties. A transform is based on a particular package and contains the modifications to apply to that package during installation. In this solution, we have created this file for you; you can use it for deployment.
This transform provides a full install at the default install location of Visual SourceSafe 2005.
To create the transform |
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You must create an administrative installation point for Visual SourceSafe 2005 and all related files. You can create the administrative installation point using the /a command line option.
Visual SourceSafe setup accepts many different command line options. The following table lists all of the command line options for setup:
Command line option | Description |
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[start] | Required only for Windows 98 systems where Msiexec is not directly in the path. |
Msiexec | Executable file name for Windows Installer. |
/p | Enables Windows Installer to apply an update to an existing installation. |
[path\name of update MSP file] | Path and file name of the MSP file for the update. |
/a | Enables Windows Installer to perform an administrative installation of a product on a network share. |
[path\name of MSI file] | Path and file name of the Windows Installer package for your original administrative image. |
/qb | Sets the user interface to the basic level (simple progress and error handling). |
/L*v | Turns on logging and sets a path for the log file. The *v flag causes the switch to log all information. |
[path\name of log file] | Path and file name of the Windows Installer log file. If none is given, look for MSI*.log in the temp folder of the computer where command was run. |
[path\name of target folder] | Path and name of the target folder where admin image will live. |
Use the following syntax for all setup commands:
[start] msiexec /p [path\name of update MSP file] /a [path\name of MSI file] /qb /L*v [path\name of log file] TRANSFORMS = VS2005Tran.mst PIDKEY = <25 character product key with no spaces or dashes> TARGETDIR= [path\name of target folder]
You must have write access to the administrative installation point on the server and the appropriate privileges to deploy Visual SourceSafe using Active Directory.
To create the administrative installation point |
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Once you have created the administrative installation point, you can add the Visual SourceSafe 2005 setup package to Group Policy.
To add the Visual SourceSafe 2005 setup package to Group Policy |
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To deploy Visual SourceSafe in one language to an operating system with a different default language |
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You will also need to set the "Ignore language when deploying this package" for the .NET Framework language pack and the J# language pack. |
Verifying that the package is ready to be deployed
The following instructions specify how administrators need to modify settings for the newly created package within Active Directory.
To verify that Visual SourceSafe is ready to be deployed |
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Setting elevated privileges via Group Policy
Because the Visual SourceSafe 2005 package, like most packages, allows only local administrators of the machine to install the package, IT administrators should use elevated privileges to advertise the package per-machine or per-user in Group Policy.
Administrators can create policies for one user, one computer, or a group of users. If administrators need to enforce a set of policies for one individual, they can create a policy for this user, and the policy will be applied when the user logs on. See the System Policy Editor Help for more information on creating special policy profiles. For more information on configuring policies, see the Group Policy snap-in Help.
To set elevated privileges |
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You can use the System Policy Editor and Windows Installer policy to set the Always install with elevated privileges policy. You must set the policy for the computer and for each user. If you choose not to use the Group Policy Editor or the System Policy Editor, you can specify the same setting on each computer by changing a value in the Windows registry.
Verifying that the recently created Active Directory package can be installed
To set elevated privileges |
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This section describes the specific procedures for using Active Directory to deploy the Windows Installer setup package for Dotnetfx.exe across a network. To deploy the .NET Framework redistributable package, Dotnetfx.exe, with administrator privileges, you must extract the Windows Installer file, netfx.msi, from the Dotnetfx.exe file. Netfx.msi is the file you will use to deploy the .NET Framework.
Before you can install a Windows Installer setup package on an Active Directory client computer, the client computer must have the Windows Installer installation service installed. The procedure described in this section assumes that Windows Installer 2.0 is installed on all client computers prior to the deployment of Dotnetfx.exe. Windows Installer 2.0 is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center. Note that these installer files are not designed for deployment using Active Directory. They must either be installed on each computer individually or electronically using Systems Management Server.
In addition, there are minimum configuration requirements that must be met in order to install the .NET Framework on a computer. For specific software and hardware requirements and recommendations, see "Redistributing the .NET Framework 1.1" at http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnnetdep/html/redistdeploy1_1.asp .
First, extract the Dotnetfx.exe file that you will use to deploy the .NET Framework.
To extract the Dotnetfx.exe file to deploy the .NET Framework |
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After you have moved the dotnetfx folder to the proper location for deployment, the next step is to create an Active Directory package for the .NET Framework.
To create a .NET Framework package in Active Directory |
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Note: User published deployment of the .NET Framework is not supported. |
Setting the Elevated Privileges via Group Policy
Since .NET Framework package (like most packages) only allows local administrators of the machine to install the package, you should use elevated privileges to advertise the package per-machine in Group Policy. As an administrator you can create policies for one user, one computer, or a group of users. See the System Policy Editor Help for more information on creating special policy profiles. Also, see the Group Policy snap-in Help for more information on configuring policies.
Follow these steps to set this policy for deploying .NET Framework:
To deploy the .NET Framework |
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Verification that package is ready to be assigned to machines
After you complete the setup of the .NET Framework package in Group Policy, the next step is to verify that package is available for installation. To follow are instructions on how administrators need to modify settings for the newly created package within Active Directory.
To verify that the .NET Framework is ready to be deployed |
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Note: SSE is not deployable via Active Directory.
Registry
You can configure how Visual SourceSafe Watson behaves on
individual computers using the following registry sub-key:
DW\VSSetup\Product Name Value\Product Version Number under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\PCHealth\ErrorReporting\
Replace Name Value\Product Version Number with the values
for VSSWProdName and VSSWProdVer flags specified in the file setup.sdb located
at n:\setup\ on the installation CD or DVD-ROM.
For example:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\PCHealth\ErrorReporting\DW\VSSetup\Visual
C# 2005 Express Edition Beta\8.0.xxxx]
"VSSWSectionEnabled"=dword:00000001
"VSSWUXEnabled"=dword:00000001
If you run setup in createunattend mode with a file that already exists, the following error appears: "The data file <filename > cannot be created. Setup cannot continue."
To correct this error, either delete the existing file, or provide a unique file name.
When you create an unattended install file, some user-specific data might appear in the file. Specifically, the name of the user who created the file and their organization name appear as two line items:
You can change the values of these variables before using the .ini file, but do not delete the lines completely
For information on downloading and deploying Visual SourceSafe Service Releases, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=10605.