opsi Version 3.3.1 - opsi Download - uib

4. Localboot products: automatic software distribution with opsi
On Windows XP WinINSTALL LE basically does the same as sysdiff does on Windows
NT / 2000. A system snapshot before and after a test installation leads to building a MSI
package containing all the differences. This package should be valid for installation with
the Microsoft Installer.
Microsoft also provides the tool Orca to inspect MSI packages. Basically (if the job
wasn't too complex) Orca can edit and create MSI packages and also checks existing
MSI packages for integrity. Orca is part of the platform SDK for Windows Server 2003,
which can be obtained from:
http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/platformsdk/sdkupdate/
Another interesting free tool for creation of MSI packages is the program Installer2GO
from the company Dev4PC. Here comes the link:
http://dev4pc.com
In the following you will get some tips for working with WinINSTALL LE and Orca.
4.3.1.6.1. Hints for execution of WinINSTALL LE
At first WinINSTALL LE has to be installed on a server running the same operating
system as the target client, usually Windows XP.
For a test installation of the software to be analyzed, you need a recently installed target
client with only the required software components installed – usually just the system
software including updates.
During installation of WinINSTALL LE on the server, the setup programm asks for a file
share to save the installation packets to and creates the share if it doesn't already exist.
The procedure of analysis and creating the MSI package will be started from the target
client side. First connect to the server share and start the discover program
('disco32.exe'). It will guide you through the further steps.
The first step is to name the application, e.g. “program 1.0” and configure the path for
the package. Every package should have its own folder.
53