This version of the VPN client supports the silent install feature, which allows the installation to be completed without user input. If the Dial-Up option is selected, some user intervention may be required if the workstation does not have the Dial-Up Networking or RAS components
To use this feature, you run SETUP.EXE with a switch to create a response file that contains the answers to all the questions normally asked during installation. Because this includes selection of the dial-up client, the LAN client, or both, you may need to create multiple response files based on user needs.
After creating the response file, you can then run SETUP.EXE with a different switch to use the response file so that installation requires minimal user intervention. There is also a switch to generate a log file for the silent install. This can be used to verify that the install completed successfully, or to diagnose why the installation failed. Examples on how to use these switches are given below.
You may often need to do a "silent install" on workstations that have different versions of Windows. If Windows or the Novell Client was from CD, then the VPN client install will ask for those installation CDs. In this situation, since the responses to the install prompts will depend on the version of Windows that is installed, it is best to create a response file that will query the user for these installation CDs if needed.
To create this kind of a response file:
Perform a normal install of the VPN client without creating the response file. This installation may ask for the Windows and/or Novell Client CDs. Proceed normally through the installation.
After rebooting, run SETUP.EXE again, this time creating the response file. This re-install will not query for the Windows or Novell Client install CDs, so the generated response file will not know what to answer when the user installation asks for the Windows or Novell Client CD. Because there is no answer in the response file, the user will be queried for the Windows or Novell Client CDs if they are needed
To verify that the response file is working properly, run the installation in silent mode on a workstation that does not have VPN client installed. The install log file should show ResultCode=0.
The silent install feature only works with the SETUP.EXE under the disk1 directory. It does not work with the self-extracting exe.
The silent install feature is enabled by executing SETUP.EXE under the disk1 directory with certain command-line options. The available options for SETUP.EXE are:
Depending on which of the two options is being used, the -f1 and -f2 options may also be used to specify names files.
To use the silent install feature:
Create a response file by issuing the following command from disk1 of the VPN client disks:
setup.exe -r -f1"<RESPONSE_FILE>"
where <RESPONSE_FILE> contains the absolute path and name of the response file. The -f1"<RESPONSE_FILE>" option may be omitted, in which case a response file named SETUP.ISS is created in the Windows or WinNT directory. For example,
setup.exe -r -f1"c:\temp\setup.iss" executes the installation and saves the input to c:\temp\setup.iss
NOTE: When using the -f1 and -f2 switches, do not put a space before the quote sign. For example: -f1 "filename" won't work. -f1"filename" will work.
Execute the installation based on previously captured input by issuing the following command from disk1 of the VPN client disks.
setup.exe -s -f1"<RESPONSE_FILE>" -f2"<LOG_FILE>"
where <RESPONSE_FILE> contains the absolute path and name of response file, and <LOG_FILE> contains the absolute path and name of log file.
For example, setup.exe -s -f1"c:\temp\setup.iss" -f2".\setup.log" executes the installation, taking input from setup.iss in the c:\temp directory, and records the result in the file setup.log in the same directory as setup.exe.
Verify that the silent install was successful by checking the contents of setup.log. You should see a result section with the following:
[ResponseResult]
ResultCode=0
A value of 0 for ResultCode indicates that installation was successful. A nonzero value indicates failure. The possible ResultCode values are:
The most common installation error code seen is -12. An error condition usually displays an error message dialog box requiring user input, such as "Click OK" to acknowledge the error. Because the response would not be in the response file, the silent install process assumes that the response file has the dialog boxes out of order and hence reports error -12.
A batch file may be used to further automate the silent install process. For example, you could create the following INSTALL.BAT in the DISK1 subdirectory: setup.exe -s -f1"c:\vpninst\disk1\response.txt" -f2"c:\temp\vpninst.log" rem This assumes that the VPN client has been extracted to c:\vpninst. rem It could be on a network drive, or somewhere else. Don't put a space between -f1 and the quotation mark. If the VPN Login icon shows up on your desktop, reboot, and the VPN client installation will be over.