Creating an MSI Package and making it available

To do this example you need to have an MSI file for an application available for distribution. If this is not yet the case, you can for example download an application from the Internet.

1. Click the Wizards > Package Creation menu item to call the Package Creation Wizard .
   The Package Creation Wizard displays on the screen and guides you through the individual steps required to create a new custom package.
2. Make the following changes in the Package Factory window:
   1. Select the Packager to use if you have more than one defined.
   2. Click the MSI Package option in the panel Package Type .
   3. Click Next to continue.
3. Make the following changes in the MSI Package window:
   1. Click Select to the right of the Name field.
      The MSI Packages from [IP Address] displays on the screen and provides you with a list of all available drives from which you can select the MSI package .
   2. Browse down into the directory tree and select the package to distribute
   3. If your antivirus heavily attacks .zip files, select the PKG Archive Type .
   4. If the MSI package requires further files check the Additional Files box in the Options panel.
   5. Leave all other options as they are.
   6. Click Next to continue.
4. Make the following changes in the Installation Options window:
   1. In the User interface field, select the None option instead of the preselected value.
   2. Leave all other options as they are.
   3. Click Next to continue.
5. Make the following changes in the Additional Files window:
   1. Click the Add File  on top of the table.
      A dialog box with the name of the package appears, providing the list of all available drives.
   2. Leave all other options as they are.

   3. Find the storing location either on your hard drives or on the CD/DVD drive and select the additional files required for installation. Such files can be, for example the sku026.cab and sku0a4.cab files, located on the same level as the .mis file.

      Be aware that here you can only add files that are required by the MSI package, not any that you would like to also have distributed.

   4. Click OK to confirm.
   5. Click Next to continue.
6. Make the following changes in the Publication window.
   1. No operation is required in this window as for this example the package will be published to the master.
   2. Click Finish to confirm all settings and finish this wizard.
   3. In the Confirmation dialog box, check the Deploy the Package radio button and click Yes to continue directly with the distribution of the new package.
7. Make the following changes in the Package window:
   1. If you want to schedule the distribution at a specific later time, clear the Default Schedule option.
   2. To distribute the package to a device, a user or a user group, select the desired value from the Target Type field.
   3. To make a default distribution to a device group leave all selections as they are.
   4. Click Next to continue.
8. In this window you need to define the targets of the package distribution. Depending on the choice in the preceding window you must add either devices, device groups, users or user groups as follows:
   1. Click Install the package on the assigned devices .
      The respective assignment dialog appears.
   2. Click All  on the left bar.
   3. Select the object(s) from the list box.
   4. Click OK to confirm.
   5. If you are using the default schedule, click Finish now to confirm all settings and finish this wizard. In the Confirmation dialog box, check the Go to Package radio button to change the focus of the console window to the package distribution view. Click Yes to confirm the activation and the proceed with step Check Status in this guided task.
   6. If you are using the default schedule click Finish now to confirm all settings and finish this wizard. In the Confirmation dialog box, check the Go to Package radio button to change the focus of the console window to the package distribution view. Click Yes to confirm the activation.
   7. To use a different schedule click Next to continue with the wizard.
9. Make the following changes in the Schedule window:
   1. Check the Deferred to radio button in the Assignment Date box and select the desired date and time in the list boxes to the right.
   2. Check the box Wake-up Devices , if you want to use the Wake-On-LAN option.
   3. To schedule the actual distribution at a specific date select the Validity and select the desired moment for the provided options.
   4. Click Finish now to confirm all settings and finish this wizard.
   5. In the Confirmation dialog box, check the Go to Package radio button to change the focus of the console window to the package distribution view. Click Yes to confirm the activation.
10. If you did not check the Go to Package box at the end of the wizard select the newly created package (for example, Firefox Installation ) in the left tree hierarchy under the Packages node and then its Assigned Objects -> Devices subnode.
11. In the table to the right you can see the entry for each of the assigned devices and you can follow the patching process in the view's schedule Status column. The initial status is Assignment Sent and the final stage should be Executed.