Scripted silent installation of EasyMorph Desktop

#1

In organizations with many EasyMorph users (tens and hundreds) it might be necessary to perform EasyMorph Desktop installation and configuration in an automated (scripted) way. Here is how you can do it.

  1. Make a clean install of EasyMorph Desktop (e.g. under a temporary Windows user account). The free edition would suffice.
  2. Configure Server Link as follows:
    • Connect to EasyMorph Server
    • Add one or more spaces (the ones that users will need to access). Make sure that in the space settings on the Server the option for accessing the space’s repository from Desktops is enabled (it’s disabled by default).
    • Configure it to use the Server-hosted repository of that space
    • Configure it to use a license from Server
  3. Make a copy of EasyMorph.config.xml located in the installation folder (C:\Users\<account name>\AppData\Local\EasyMorph) and then uninstall the temporary EasyMorph copy as it’s no longer needed.
  4. Create a script to silently install and configure EasyMorph as follows:
    • Run the EasyMorph Desktop installer from the command line with option /SILENT or /VERYSILENT (more command line options are explained here)
    • After installation, replace in the installation folder the file EasyMorph.config.xml with the one configured above
  5. On EasyMorph Server, add Windows user accounts in the tab Licensing (you need to have a license key with Dynamic licensing).

Now, when you run the script on a user’s machine, it will silently install EasyMorph with configured Server Link, and on the first launch, it will automatically lease a license from EasyMorph Server.

#2

Could you just post a minimal script that installs EM ?
I think in our setup, the license key is a file that sits on a shared drive, we do not use server links.
So I am only interested to have a script that runs the installer.
Is this via command prompt, or powershell?
Could you post an example please?

What is also odd in our setup is the fact that Easymorph has been installed under C:\EasyMorph and not in AppData. Is this normal?

Thanks !

#3

Found it, something like this ? It seems to work but for some reason the shortcut on the desktop is pointing to the old version. Any idea why?
I ran cmd in admin mode and there are 2 USERS with their own appdata folder.
Despite the choice for “/ALLUSERS”, it only installed the software for the admin user it seems.

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#4

No idea.

We don’t have full control over the installer utility. It’s 3rd party software called InnoSetup. They should have a support forum.

Also, their documentation is quite detailed. It may be worth checking out.

#5

@dgudkov

I discovered today that windows has a package manager “winget” to install programs.
Maybe EasyMorph could be added to that database so that we can use winget in the future.

#6

@dgudkov

Our repository file sits on a shared drive. If we install EasyMorph manually via the installer or via the command below, does it overwrite the repository file ? Does EasyMorph makes a backup automatically of the repository file in case an issue occurs?

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Thanks
Nikolaas

#7

The EasyMorph installer never overwrites a repository.

#8

Ok so when installing EasyMorph the connector repository file does not get overwritten ?
Is this also the case when installing EasyMorph server ? Release notes of EasyMorph say:

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#9

Neither EasyMorph installer overwrites an existing repository.

Although, rarely, some versions can migrate repositories to another repository version (repositories) have their own versions. In such cases, a backup version is created.

Always read Release Notes. We write in Release Notes when a repository version is changed. The last time it was in version 5.0.

Also, if you don’t backup your projects and repositories (regardless of EasyMorph installations), you should do it in any case.