Remote Installation of the Windows Components

Add/Remove Programs is the best place to install some of the optional Windows components, such as SNMP support. However, what if this component has to be installed on many servers? Microsoft provides the SYSOCMGR.exe utility to do that from the command line.

Therefore, any component can be installed remotely (with use of PSEXEC) and quietly. The article How to add or remove Windows Components by using Sysocmgr.exe (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=222444) describes the main idea, but does not give the comprehensive information. Below there is a way how to do that from the beginning to the end.

Let’s assume that we need to install SNMP service on a remote computer. The steps to do that will be as follow:

• Create an unattended file
• Set up the location of Windows installation files and Windows Service Pack files
• Run SYSOCMGR.exe remotely and silently
• Clean up the leftovers of the installation

Create an unattended file

As Microsoft says, SYSOCMGR.exe parses only two sections of the unattended file: [Components] and [NetOptionalComponents]. In order to find what to write into these sections, you need to take a look into the unattended.txt file (in \SUPPORT\TOOLS\deploy.cab on the installation CD). Also the list of [NetOptionalComponents] is available here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc755697%28WS.10%29.aspx

This is the table from that list:

Entry	Description
Beacon	Specifies whether to install the beacon client.
DHCPServer	Specifies whether to install the DHCP Server service and configure the computer as a DHCP server.
DNS	Specifies whether to install DNS Server service and configure the computer as a DNS server.
IAS	Specifies whether to install the Internet Authentication Services (IAS) and creates a shortcut to the IAS MMC snap-in under Administrative Tools on the Start menu.
ILS	Specifies whether to install the Internet Location Service (ILS).
LPDSVC	Specifies whether to install Print Services for UNIX.
MacPrint	Specifies whether to install Print Server Services for Macintosh.
MacSrv	Specifies whether to install Services for Macintosh.
NetCMAK	Specifies whether to install the Microsoft Connection Manager Administration Kit.
NetCPS	Specifies whether to install the Microsoft Connection Point Services.
NetMonTools	Specifies whether to install Network Monitor Tools.
SimpTcp	Specifies whether to install Simple TCP/IP Services.
SNMP	Specifies whether to install Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).
WBEMSNMP	Specifies whether to install the WMI SNMP Provider components.
WINS	Specifies whether to install WINS.

Not all of the listed components are available on Windows 2000, so check out the link for more information.

The list of possible entries for [Components] section is the following:

Entry	Description
Accessopt	??
Calc	Calculator
Cdplayer	CD player
Certsrv	Certificate services
certsrv_client	Certificate services client
certsrv_server	Certificate services server
charmap	Character map
chat	Chat
cluster	Cluster
deskpaper	Desktop wallpapers
dialer
fp
freecell	Freecell Game
hypertrm	HyperTerminal
iis_common	IIS Common files
iisdbg
iis_doc	IIS Documentation
iis_ftp	IIS FTP service
iis_htmla
iis_inetmgr
iis_nntp	IIS NTTP service
iis_nntp_docs	IIS NTTP service documentation
iis_pwmgr
iis_smtp	IIS SMTP service
iis_smtp_docs	IIS SMTP service documentation
iis_www	IIS WWW service
indexsrv_system	Indexing service
LicenseServer
media_clips
media_utopia
minesweeper	The Minesweeper game
mousepoint	Mouse pointers
mplay	Media player
msmq	Message Queuing
mswordpad	WordPad
netcis
netoc
objectpkg
paint	MS Paint
pinball	The Pinball game
rec
reminst	RIS (Deployment services)
rstorage
solitaire	The Solitaire game
templates	Document templates
TSClients
TSEnable	Terminal Server
vol

In order to enable or disable components in the [Components] section use on (to install) or off (to uninstall). For the [NetOptionalComponents] section you use 1 (to install) or 0 (to uninstall).

For the SNMP service installation the unattended file will contain these four lines:

[Components]

NetOC=ON

[NetOptionalComponents]

SNMP=1

Let’s save this file as C:\TEMP\SNMP.txt

Set up the location of Windows installation files and Windows Service Pack files

During the installation of the Windows components the SYSOCMGR.exe utility needs an access to the installation files. In order to avoid the message requesting for the installation CD, we can provide the path to the installation files.

Two registry values are responsible for this information:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Setup\ SourcePath

and

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Setup\ServicePackSourcePath

In the script we need to save the values, set them up with the proper locations and change them back after installation is complete.

Use of .REG file is the easiest way to apply these changes. This is the example of the Path.reg file

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup]

“SourcePath”=”C:\\Software\\Windows XP SP3”

“ServicePackSourcePath”=”C:\\Software\\Windows XP SP3”

Note: Do not forget to use double backslashes

Note: The I386 folder will be added to the path automatically, so that do not include it

Run SYSOCMGR.exe silently

The SYSOCMGR.exe syntax is

sysocmgr[.exe] /i:InfFile.inf [/u:AnswerFilePathAndName [/q][/w]] [/r][/z][/n][/f][/c][/x] [/l]

Parameter	Description
/i:InfFile.inf	Required. Designates the InfFile.inf that you specify as the master .inf file.
/u:AnswerFilePathAndName	Specifies the path and file name of an optional answer file that contains parameters for unattended installation.
/q	Runs the unattended installation without a user interface. You cannot use /q without /u.
/w	Prompts the user before rebooting, only if reboot is required. You cannot use /w without /u.
/r	Suppresses reboot. If reboot is not necessary, this command-line option has no effect.
/z	Indicates that the arguments that follow are not optional component arguments and they should be passed to the components.
/n	Forces the master .inf to be treated as new.
/f	Indicates that all component installation states should be initialized as if their installers had never been run.
/c	Disallows cancellation during the final installation phase.
/x	Suppresses the initializing banner.
/l	Multi-language aware installation.
[/?] [/h] [IncorrectSyntax]	Displays help in a separate window, not at the command prompt.

The command to install the SNMP service will now look like:

%windir%\system32\sysocmgr.exe /r /q /i:%windir%\inf\sysoc.inf /u:c:\TEMP\SNMP.txt

Automation

This script will do everything for you. This script should have PSEXEC.exe in its folder. The script asks for the folder name, which contains all the necessary files, copies all the files to C:\TEMP on the target server(s) and runs the batch file via PSEXEC.

NOTE: Well, as I have found, SYSOCMGR does not work via PSEXEC. I spent two days to find the reason and the solution. I still have no idea about the reason of such behaviour, but I have the solution. This is the SCHTASKS utility, which replaced AT.exe in Windows XP and Windows 2003. The updated script is here. You can find more information about SCHTASKS in this article

The batch file for this process can look like this:

REM Delete the previous copy of the saved reg file if any

del “c:\TEMP\SetupRegKey.reg” /q

REM Save the info from the registry

reg save “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup” “c:\TEMP\SetupRegKey.reg”

REM Merge the .REG file to change the installation source paths

reg import “c:\TEMP\Paths.reg”

REM Run the SNMP installation

“%windir%\system32\sysocmgr.exe” /r /i:”%windir%\inf\sysoc.inf” /u:”c:\TEMP\SNMP.txt”

REM Restore the installation source paths saved earlier

reg restore “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup” “c:\TEMP\SetupRegKey.reg”