Setup Administrator Mode Readme

1. Introduction

Microsoft Visual SourceSafe offers an administrator mode setup, which facilitates deployment to field clients. The administrator initially runs setup to select which features will be deployed. An .ini file is created based on this selection, and is then deployed by running setup in unattended mode, pointing to the generated .ini file. When run in unattended mode, setup installs the designated options silently. If errors occur, setup exits silently with failure. This design allows deployment through Microsoft Systems Management Server.

For more information about deploying Visual SourceSafe using SMS, see KB article 327792 "HOW TO: Deploy Visual Studio .NET 2003 by Using Systems Management Server" at http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;Q327792.

Note: You cannot install Visual SourceSafe 2005 on a computer with the Intel Itanium processor. Attempting to deploy the Visual SourceSafe 2005 MSI to a computer with the Itanium processor will fail.

2. Running Administrator Mode Setup

Before running this phase of administrator setup, you must first run Visual SourceSafe Prerequisites Setup on your computer.  Some of the components installed by the update are required for Visual SourceSafe setup to function.

Windows Installer 3.1 is required to install Visual SourceSafe.  Before deploying Visual SourceSafe, any of the prerequisites or optional components, Windows Installer 3.1 must be on the target machine.

Note: You must run the setup.exe found in the \setup subdirectory in order to create an .ini file. The setup.exe file found at the root of the CD or DVD does not support administrator setup.

To create the deployment .ini file
  1. Insert the Visual SourceSafe 2005 CD 1 or DVD and ignore the autorun message.
  2. From the Start menu, choose Run.
  3. Type the following:

    n:\setup\Setup.exe /createunattend <path to .ini file>

    For example:

    D:\setup\setup.exe /createunattend c:\VSS2005_deployment.ini

To run setup with the generated file on a client
  1. Verify that Visual SourceSafe 2005 is available on the network (see section 3 "Creating a Network Image").
  2. From the Start menu, choose Run.
  3. Type the following:

    \\<computer>\<share>\...\setup\Setup.exe /unattendfile <path to .ini file>

    For example:

    \\products\VisualSourceSafe\setup\setup.exe /unattendfile \\computer\share\VSS2005_deployment.ini

To run MSDN Library setup
  1. Verify that the MSDN Library is available on the network (see section 3 "Creating a Network Image").
  2. From the Start menu, choose Run.
  3. Type the following:

    Non-Quiet Install: msiexec /i <path to msdn.msi (at the root of the installation source)>

    Unattended Install: msiexec /qb /i <path to msdn.msi (at the root of the installation source)>

    For example:

    msiexec.exe /qb /i \\products\VisualStudio\MSDN

    For further details on MSDN setup options, please refer to the readme in the top-level MSDN folder.

To install Windows Installer 3.1 unattended
  1. From the Start menu, choose Run.
  2. Type "cmd" and then click OK.
  3. Navigate to the wcu\msi31 directory on the Visual SourceSafe CD and type the following:

WindowsInstaller-KB893803-v2-x86.exe /quiet

To install the .NET Framework unattended
  1. From the Start menu, choose Run.
  2. Type "cmd" and then click OK.
  3. Navigate to the wcu\dotnetFramework directory on the Visual SourceSafe CD and type the following:

dotnetfx.exe /q:a /c:"install /q"

 

To install the 64 bit .NET Framework unattended
  1. From the Start menu, choose Run.
  2. Type "cmd" and then click OK.
  3. Navigate to the wcu\dotnetFramework\x64 directory on the Visual SourceSafe CD and type the following:

NetFx64.exe /q:a /c:"install /q"

 

To install Microsoft Document Explorer 2005 unattended
  1. From the Start menu, choose Run.
  2. Type "cmd" and then click OK.
  3. Navigate to the wcu\DExplorer directory on the Visual SourceSafe CD and type the following:

DExplore.exe /q:a /c:"install /q"

 

3. Creating a Network Image

Visual SourceSafe 2005 setup may be run from a network share as an alternative to running setup from CDs or DVDs.

The following procedure illustrates how to prepare Visual SourceSafe 2005 for installation from a network share.

Example procedure for sharing installation files from CDs
  1. Create a folder on the server. For example, VSS2005.
  2. Create two subfolders, named VS and MSDN within the top-level folder. For example:

    VSS2005\VS
    VSS2005\MSDN
  3. Copy the contents of all CDs labeled Visual SourceSafe 2005 to the subfolder named VS. If prompted, overwrite existing files.

  4. Copy the contents of all CDs labeled MSDN Library for Visual Studio 2005 to the subfolder named MSDN. If prompted, overwrite existing files.
  5. Open setup.ini in the VS subfolder using a text editor, such as Notepad.
  6. In the [Documentation] section, change the line that starts with "DIR=" to "DIR=..\MSDN". For example:
    [Documentation]
    DIR=..\MSDN
  7. Save your changes and close the file.

    Note: Completing this step prevents disk-swapping requests during setup and informs setup of the correct path to the MSDN Library CD.

  8. In the VS subfolder, open the Setup folder.
  9. Open setup.sdb using a text editor, such as Notepad, and add the following lines to the end of the file:
    [Product Key]
    XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
    Note: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX is the 25 character product key found on the CD packaging. Do not enter the dashes in the product key.
  10. Save your changes and close the file.

    Note: Completing this step enables pre-populating the product key for the user.

  11. Share the VSS2005 folder on the network and set the appropriate security settings. The path to Visual SourceSafe 2005 setup from the network looks as follows: \\<servername>\VSS2005\VS\setup.exe.

    Note: When installing, setup fails if any path and file name combination exceeds 260 characters. The maximum length of a path in Visual Studio is 221 characters; accordingly, you should copy files to a path with less than 70 characters. If you create a network share for a network image, the UNC path to the root install location should contain fewer than 39 characters.

    Note: Setup may fail if the folder names in this path include embedded spaces, for example "\\<servername>\VS 2005\MSDN\" or "\\<servername>\VSS2005\Visual SourceSafe\".

4. Installation Maintenance

Setup can be run again on a computer with an existing installation to access setup maintenance features.  Users or administrators should run setup from Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel. To use the maintenance mode of setup, users need to be logged on with administrative permissions on the local machine. 

5. Required Prerequisite Components

The following is a list of components required for Visual SourceSafe. Visual SourceSafe 2005 unattended setup will fail if the prerequisites are not met.

For 64 Bit Machines, the following components are required for Visual SourceSafe.

6. Deploying Visual SourceSafe 2005 using Active Directory

6.1 Verifying prerequisites for deploying Visual SourceSafe 2005

Client computers must have all the system components that Visual SourceSafe 2005 requires installed before you can install Visual SourceSafe 2005 on the computer. Network administrators must verify that all client computers have the required system components.

Note: It is recommended that you deploy the required components in the order that they are listed. For example, Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 requires that you install Microsoft Windows Installer 3.1 first, so Windows Installer is listed before the .NET Framework.

Prerequisites for deploying on Windows 2003 Server

Prerequisites for deploying on Windows 2000

Prerequisites for deploying on Windows XP

Installing required prerequisites

Each system component that Visual SourceSafe 2005 requires is located in the WCU folder of the Visual SourceSafe CD or DVD-ROM.

6.2 Creating the transform

In Windows Installer terminology, a relational database contains information about components, features, and setup properties. A transform is based on a particular package and contains the modifications to apply to that package during installation. In this solution, we have created this file for you; you can use it for deployment.

This transform provides a full install at the default install location of Visual SourceSafe 2005.

To create the transform
  1. From the Start menu, choose Run.
  2. Type the following:
    <path to Visual SourceSafe 2005> setup.exe /CreateTransform <filepathname>

    For example:

    setup.exe /CreateTransform c:\mydeploymentfolder\myVSTransform.mst
  3. Follow the directions on the Start page of setup and then click Continue.
  4. On the Options page, select the features you intend to deploy, and then click Create Transform.

6.3 Using group policy object to create deployment

You must create an administrative installation point for Visual SourceSafe 2005 and all related files. You can create the administrative installation point using the /a command line option.

Visual SourceSafe setup accepts many different command line options. The following table lists all of the command line options for setup:

Command line option Description
[start] Required only for Windows 98 systems where Msiexec is not directly in the path.
Msiexec Executable file name for Windows Installer.
/p Enables Windows Installer to apply an update to an existing installation.
[path\name of update MSP file] Path and file name of the MSP file for the update.
/a Enables Windows Installer to perform an administrative installation of a product on a network share.
[path\name of MSI file] Path and file name of the Windows Installer package for your original administrative image.
/qb Sets the user interface to the basic level (simple progress and error handling).
/L*v Turns on logging and sets a path for the log file. The *v flag causes the switch to log all information.
[path\name of log file] Path and file name of the Windows Installer log file. If none is given, look for MSI*.log in the temp folder of the computer where command was run.
[path\name of target folder] Path and name of the target folder where admin image will live.

Use the following syntax for all setup commands:

[start] msiexec /p [path\name of update MSP file] /a [path\name of MSI file] /qb /L*v [path\name of log file] TRANSFORMS = VS2005Tran.mst PIDKEY = <25 character product key with no spaces or dashes> TARGETDIR= [path\name of target folder]

You must have write access to the administrative installation point on the server and the appropriate privileges to deploy Visual SourceSafe using Active Directory.

To create the administrative installation point
  1. From the Start menu, choose Run.
  2. Type the following:
    [start] msiexec /a [path\name of MSI file] TRANSFORMS= <name of transform file created in section 6.2> PIDKEY= <25 character product key with no spaces or dashes>

    Note: If you are deploying an edition of Visual SourceSafe that uses a product key pre-populated by setup, you need to locate the product key (PID) and enter the correct sequence as the value for PIDKEY .

    To locate the product key

    1. At the root of the Visual SourceSafe 2005 CD or DVD-ROM, open the file setup.sdb using a text editor such as Notepad.
    2. The product key is located below [Product Key].

Once you have created the administrative installation point, you can add the Visual SourceSafe 2005 setup package to Group Policy.

To add the Visual SourceSafe 2005 setup package to Group Policy
  1. From the Start menu, choose Programs and then choose Administrative Tools.
  2. Choose Component Services and then choose Active Directory Users and Computers.
  3. Right-click the Domain node and then click Properties.
  4. Select the Group Policy tab, and then click Edit. A window is displayed with the Default Domain Policy tree.
  5. Expand Computer Configuration and then right-click Software installation.
  6. Select New and then click Package.
  7. In the Open dialog box, browse to the location where you copied the Visual SourceSafe 2005 files and select VS_setup.msi. Click OK.
  8. In the Deploy Software dialog box, choose Advanced published or assigned and then click OK. The Visual SourceSafe 2005 - English Properties dialog box appears.
If you plan on deploying Visual SourceSafe in one language to a machine with a different default operating system language, please follow the following steps.

To deploy Visual SourceSafe in one language to an operating system with a different default language

  1. Open the Group Policy Object Editor for your domain & policy.
  2. Open the properties of the Visual SourceSafe 2005 <language> package.
  3. Click the Deployment tab.
  4. Click the Advanced... button.
  5. Check the box for Ignore language when deploying this package.
  6. Click OK.
  7. Click OK.

You will also need to set the "Ignore language when deploying this package" for the .NET Framework language pack and the J# language pack.   

Verifying that the package is ready to be deployed

The following instructions specify how administrators need to modify settings for the newly created package within Active Directory.

To verify that Visual SourceSafe is ready to be deployed
  1. Visual SourceSafe 2005 - English Properties dialog box, select the Deployment tab.
  2. Under Deployment type choose Assigned.
  3. Under Deployment options, select the correct options for when and how to deploy Visual SourceSafe.
  4. Select the Modifications tab, and then click Add.
  5. Select the transform file you created earlier, such as myVSTransform.mst, and then click Open to add the file.
  6. Browse the other available tabs and make choices as necessary.

Setting elevated privileges via Group Policy

Because the Visual SourceSafe 2005 package, like most packages, allows only local administrators of the machine to install the package, IT administrators should use elevated privileges to advertise the package per-machine or per-user in Group Policy.

Administrators can create policies for one user, one computer, or a group of users. If administrators need to enforce a set of policies for one individual, they can create a policy for this user, and the policy will be applied when the user logs on. See the System Policy Editor Help for more information on creating special policy profiles. For more information on configuring policies, see the Group Policy snap-in Help.

To set elevated privileges
  1. From the Start menu, choose Programs and then choose Administrative Tools.
  2. Choose Component Services and then expand Active Directory Users and Computers.
  3. Right-click the Domain node, click Properties, and then choose the Group Policy tab.
  4. In the Group Policy Objects Links box, select a Group Policy Object (GPO) and then click Edit.
  5. Open the Local Computer Policy\Administrative Templates\Windows Component\Windows Installer folder.
  6. In the details pane, double-click install with elevated privileges policy.
  7. In the Group Policy Property dialog box, select the policy and then choose the check box to turn the setting on, and then click OK.
  8. Open the User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Component\Windows Installer folder and repeat Steps 7 and 8.

You can use the System Policy Editor and Windows Installer policy to set the Always install with elevated privileges policy. You must set the policy for the computer and for each user. If you choose not to use the Group Policy Editor or the System Policy Editor, you can specify the same setting on each computer by changing a value in the Windows registry.

Verifying that the recently created Active Directory package can be installed

To set elevated privileges
  1. Restart one of the client computers where Visual SourceSafe 2005 was deployed.
  2. Log on to the restarted computer and verify that Visual SourceSafe 2005 has been installed.

    Note: Do not choose Cancel on the Windows Installer dialog box that appears when the product starts.

6.4 Deploying the .NET Framework using Active Directory

This section describes the specific procedures for using Active Directory to deploy the Windows Installer setup package for Dotnetfx.exe across a network. To deploy the .NET Framework redistributable package, Dotnetfx.exe, with administrator privileges, you must extract the Windows Installer file, netfx.msi, from the Dotnetfx.exe file. Netfx.msi is the file you will use to deploy the .NET Framework.

Before you can install a Windows Installer setup package on an Active Directory client computer, the client computer must have the Windows Installer installation service installed. The procedure described in this section assumes that Windows Installer 2.0 is installed on all client computers prior to the deployment of Dotnetfx.exe. Windows Installer 2.0 is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center. Note that these installer files are not designed for deployment using Active Directory. They must either be installed on each computer individually or electronically using Systems Management Server.

In addition, there are minimum configuration requirements that must be met in order to install the .NET Framework on a computer. For specific software and hardware requirements and recommendations, see "Redistributing the .NET Framework 1.1" at http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnnetdep/html/redistdeploy1_1.asp .

First, extract the Dotnetfx.exe file that you will use to deploy the .NET Framework.

To extract the Dotnetfx.exe file to deploy the .NET Framework
  1. Download Dotnetfx.exe to the root directory of the C:\ drive on your local computer.
  2. From the Start menu, choose Run.
  3. Change the directory to the root of the C:\ drive.
  4. At the command prompt, type the following to create a directory in which to copy Dotnetfx.exe:
    mkdir dotnetfx
  5. Type the following to extract the files to the dotnetfx directory:
    dotnetfx.exe /q /c:"msiexec /qb /a netfx.msi TARGETDIR=c:\dotnetfx"
  6. Close the command prompt window.
  7. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to c:\dotnetfx to verify that the files were extracted.
  8. Move the dotnetfx folder and all its contents to the network share you intend to use for deployment.

After you have moved the dotnetfx folder to the proper location for deployment, the next step is to create an Active Directory package for the .NET Framework.

To create a .NET Framework package in Active Directory
  1. From the Start menu, choose Programs and then choose Administrative Tools.
  2. Choose Component Services and then expand Active Directory Users and Computers. The Active Directory Users and Computers tree is displayed.
  3. Right-click the Domain node and then choose Properties.
  4. In the Properties dialog box, choose the Group Policy tab and then click Edit.
  5. If you intend to set policies that apply to computers regardless of who logs on to them, expand Computer Configuration.

    Note: Ensure that you map to the shared location on the Active Directory server; otherwise, it will not let you create a package for installation.

  6. Right-click Software installation, choose New and then choose Package.
  7. In the Open dialog box, browse to the location where you copied the dotnetfx folder, and select netfx.msi.
  8. In the Deploy Software dialog box, choose Advanced Published or Assigned and then click OK.
  9. Choose Auto Install to install the software automatically on every computer in the domain.
  10. Click OK and then exit the Active Directory Users and Computers console.

Note: User published deployment of the .NET Framework is not supported.

Setting the Elevated Privileges via Group Policy

Since .NET Framework package (like most packages) only allows local administrators of the machine to install the package, you should use elevated privileges to advertise the package per-machine in Group Policy. As an administrator you can create policies for one user, one computer, or a group of users. See the System Policy Editor Help for more information on creating special policy profiles. Also, see the Group Policy snap-in Help for more information on configuring policies.

Follow these steps to set this policy for deploying .NET Framework:

To deploy the .NET Framework
  1. From the Start menu, choose Programs and then choose Administrative Tools.
  2. Choose Component Services and then expand Active Directory Users and Computers. The Active Directory Users and Computers tree is displayed.
  3. Right-click the Domain node and then choose Properties.
  4. Select the Group Policy tab.
  5. In the Group Policy Objects Links box, select a Group Policy Object and then click Edit.
  6. Open the Local Computer Policy\Administrative Templates\Windows Component\Windows Installer folder.
  7. In the details pane, double-click the Always install with elevated privileges policy.
  8. In the Group Policy Property dialog box, enable the policy, select the check box to turn the setting on, and then click OK.
  9. Open the User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Component\Windows Installer folder and repeat Steps 8 and 9.

Verification that package is ready to be assigned to machines

After you complete the setup of the .NET Framework package in Group Policy, the next step is to verify that package is available for installation. To follow are instructions on how administrators need to modify settings for the newly created package within Active Directory.

To verify that the .NET Framework is ready to be deployed
  1. .NET Framework 2.0 - English Properties dialog box, select the Deployment tab.
  2. Under Deployment type choose Assigned or Published.
  3. Under Deployment options, select the correct options for when and how to deploy the .NET Framework.
  4. Browse the other available tabs and make choices as necessary. For details, see Group Policy Help available in the dialog box.

6.5 Deploying SSE using Active Directory

Note: SSE is not deployable via Active Directory.

7. Specifying Watson Settings

Registry

You can configure how Visual SourceSafe Watson behaves on individual computers using the following registry sub-key:

DW\VSSetup\Product Name Value\Product Version Number under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\PCHealth\ErrorReporting\

Replace Name Value\Product Version Number with the values for VSSWProdName and VSSWProdVer flags specified in the file setup.sdb located at n:\setup\ on the installation CD or DVD-ROM.

For example:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\PCHealth\ErrorReporting\DW\VSSetup\Visual C# 2005 Express Edition Beta\8.0.xxxx]

"VSSWSectionEnabled"=dword:00000001

"VSSWUXEnabled"=dword:00000001

8. Known Installation Issues

8.1. Data file cannot be created

If you run setup in createunattend mode with a file that already exists, the following error appears: "The data file <filename > cannot be created. Setup cannot continue."

To correct this error, either delete the existing file, or provide a unique file name.

 8.2. Visibility of user-specific data

When you create an unattended install file, some user-specific data might appear in the file. Specifically, the name of the user who created the file and their organization name appear as two line items:

You can change the values of these variables before using the .ini file, but do not delete the lines completely

9. Deployment of Visual SourceSafe Service Releases

For information on downloading and deploying Visual SourceSafe Service Releases, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=10605.