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I have msi for TFS controls. When I release a new version of the controls, I want remotely to uninstall the old version and install the new one for all the computers in the department. How can I do it? and what will it require (all users will have to log out and log in?)

Thanks,

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As far as remotely uninstalling you can simply run a command on each; find the uninstall string for that program by doing the following:

  • Open up the registry (start->run->regedit)
    • Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SOFTWARE -> MICROSOFT -> WINDOWS -> CURRENTVERSION -> UNINSTALL
    • Find the program you want to uninstall and select it from the tree (It's name should be on the list, if it isn't check the programs listed there as {XXXXXX} (Will say it's installed name until "Display Name" String after clicking on {XXXXXX}
    • Locate the "Uninstall String" string value for that program after clicking on it and copy it, should be something like "MsiExec.exe /x{xxxxxxxxxxx}" or if that program has its own uninstaller exe something like "C:\WINNT\system32\xxx\xxx\uninstaller.exe" (If it has "QuietUninstallString" use that instead.
    • Depending on what the uninstall string looks like you have a couple options; if it looks like "MsiExec.exe /x{xxxxxxxxxxx}" simply put "/q" after it for a quiet uninstall EX: "MsiExec.exe /x{xxxxxxxxxxx} /q" If it has an uninstaller.exe you will need to find out what cmd options that uninstaller exe has, you should be able to do that by running that .exe from cmd with /? afterwards
    • Deploy that CMD to each machine with whatever method you prefer, I use a free remote deployment program called PDQ deploy that works great.

For installing the software to each you would need to also find a method to deploy it, again PDQ deploy is a great tool that you can use for free to do this. However if you decide to use another approach feel free, the command to silently install your MSI would be something like:

"msiexec.exe /i "xxx.MSI" ALLUSERS=1 /q /norestart" You should again be able to check the installation parameters for that MSI from running it with CMD /?

If you give more specifics about the program / msi I can help you some more, you were somewhat broad on it however.

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