Run - Windows Installer

[alishaprakash]

Hi Team,

I have a requirement where i need to install msi on my remote host via octopus.
I am using “Run - Windows Installer” module but i have to enter few parameters while installing and then click next and then again select radio button for environment parameter.
Could you please help me with this.
Right now deployment is getting stuck and we are not able to install.
Requirement is something like this:

Click next and then

Regards,
Alisha

[dane.falvo]

Hi Alisha,

We can certainly help you.

Any MSI has a some preconfigured arguments that can be used from the command line against the MSI package. There’s plenty of websites to find out these default available commands. For example: Msiexec.exe Command Line

The screenshots that you’ve provided, shows an example of an MSI with what’s known as Public Properties (Public Properties - Win32 apps | Microsoft Docs)

The best place to get the names and acceptable values for these public properties is from the official documentation of the product itself. Usually if you check the webpage of the product for “unattended install” or just “installation”, you should be able to get a list of the available public properties and the values that you can assign to them. If these commands are not on the webpage, email the support team and they should be able to point you in the right direction.

Once you have those msi properties, you can finish off your msi command line argument. The lower section of this page gives some examples of how to assign public properties from the command line. Command-Line Options - Win32 apps | Microsoft Docs

Jump over to the website of the software and see if you can track down some examples of commandline installation. If you get stuck, I am happy to have a look at the product page and see if I can get the installation arguments that you need.

Regards,

[alishaprakash]

Thanks for the response Dane. So this “Run-Windows Installer” module wont be of use to me?
I am still wondering about the parameters of radio button( the second screenshot), also how does it moves to the next page for installation.
Regards,
Alisha

[dane.falvo]

Hi Alisha,

When you run the MSI from the command line, the actual MSI Dialog boxes don’t appear however the command line arguments essentially do the same thing as physically clicking the buttons.

By “Run-Windows Installer” I believe you are refering to this community step Template: https://library.octopus.com/step-templates/f56647ac-7762-4986-bc98-c3fb74bb844f/actiontemplate-run-windows-installer

This is still useful for you as it will call the MSI and add some of the arguments for you, however you will still need to find the public parameters so you can work out what the correct arguments are to add.

If your looking for a way to manipulate the mouse on the screen to programmatically “click” on the options - you would have to look at a different solution, which I’m not completely familiar with.

If you were looking to run a command line argument for the MSI, based on what I can see, a hypothetical call would be:

TokenWebAPIWebSetup.msi /i /s SITE="TokenServiceWebApi" ApplicationPool="TokenServiceWebAPI" ENVIRONMENT="Development"

This is just a made up example, but I’m trying to illustrate that you wouldn’t need to porgrammatically move your mouse to click on Checkboxes or radioboxes, etc. as you would be setting the arguments within the command.

You could also achieve a similar result with a Powershell Script, as illustrated here: Powershell: Installing MSI files

Hopefully this answers your questions.

Regards,

Dane