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11 Posts
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7318
February 9th, 2020 22:00
DDM, automated installation, #2
We're also trying to automate the installation of DDM via Microsoft Intune app package definition.
On specifying the installation command of ddmsetup1995.exe /silent, we saw on the target computer running the processes ddmsetup1995.exe and ddmsetup1995.tmp just hung 0% CPU for a very long time, and still there long after Intune considered the installation attempt failed.
On trying out on my laptop the options /silent, /verysilent, /suppressmsgboxes, I found that no matter what it'd pop a UAC prompt for permission. Even if I approve that, it'll see show the regular installer wizard UI. Beyond UAC, I don't think those options work for the latest version installer?
And given the UAC prompts, can DDM truly be installed automatically in the background?
swamped207
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426 Posts
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February 10th, 2020 03:00
If you are installing the desktop version of DDM, you will be subject to Windows UAC. It is not DDM that requires permission to install itself, it is Windows that requires permission to install DDM. To circumvent that UAC permission prompt, install the program with admin privileges.
I'm not all that familiar with InTune, but I believe if you want to install a Win32 desktop app with it, you need to first prep it with InTuneWinAppUtil, and then add it to InTune specifying the command-line parameters (/verysilent).
One other possibility is to use the DDM package from the Windows Store, which doesn't require UAC since it is always already sandboxed. Note that you should uninstall the Win32 desktop version of DDM first if you go this route.
icelava
1 Rookie
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11 Posts
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February 10th, 2020 22:00
Yes it is necessary to package the raw installer with the Microsoft Win32 Content Prep Tool (IntuneWinAppUtil.exe) into the .intunewin format for Intune to handle it.
I have manually tried /silent /verysilent /suppressmsgboxes switches but they always proceed with the installer wizard UI; which makes me think the installer doesn't really have any silent/automated mode. Thus when Intune pushes the software package down to Windows 10 clients, the DDM installer still renders the UI, but since it's operating in System context (Install behaviour), the actual user never sees it on his own desktop, except for the idle processes listed in Task Manager, waiting for the Next button to be pressed.
When I adjusted the Intune app properties from System to User context for Install behaviour, the installer UI does appear on the desktop of the current user (without UAC prompt), allow interaction and successful installation, albeit in semi-automatic manner. Not ideal, but at least it gets through.
If there is an unattended/automated method to install this, perhaps it using a different installer framework and thus other types of argument switches.
UPDATE
What the heck, today the /verysilent switch works without rendering the installer wizard UI. Gotta re-test this with System context again.
icelava
1 Rookie
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11 Posts
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February 10th, 2020 22:00
Yes it is necessary to package the raw installer with the Microsoft Win32 Content Prep Tool (IntuneWinAppUtil.exe) into the .intunewin format for Intune to handle it.
I have manually tried /silent /verysilent /suppressmsgboxes switches but they always proceed with the installer wizard UI; which makes me think the installer doesn't really have any silent/automated mode. Thus when Intune pushes the software package down to Windows 10 clients, the DDM installer still renders the UI, but since it's operating in System context (Install behaviour), the actual user never sees it on his own desktop, except for the idle processes listed in Task Manager, waiting for the Next button to be pressed.
When I adjusted the Intune app properties from System to User context for Install behaviour, the installer UI does appear on the desktop of the current user (without UAC prompt), allow interaction and successful installation, albeit in semi-automatic manner. Not ideal, but at least it gets through.
If there is an unattended/automated method to install this, perhaps it using a different installer framework and thus other types of argument switches.
UPDATE
What the heck, today the /verysilent switch works without rendering the installer wizard UI. Gotta re-test this with System context again.
icelava
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11 Posts
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February 10th, 2020 22:00
Using the correct /verysilent flag, the app definition could be reverted back to System context for installation. But we also reduced DDM as an optional app featured in Company Portal, now that we have a better understanding of the Intune win32 app configuration properties.
icelava
1 Rookie
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11 Posts
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February 10th, 2020 22:00
Using the correct /verysilent flag, the app definition could be reverted back to System context for installation. But we also reduced DDM as an optional app featured in Company Portal, now that we have a better understanding of the Intune win32 app configuration properties.