Patching major versions
Hey,
With the forever dreaded issue we've had when it came to updating software like Adobe Flash and similar we've now come to a point where at least all the minor versions are patched and working, which is awesome.
However, we do still have quite a few machines still running older major versions of flash player / java and so on.
What would be the best way to get all those machines up to the latest of the latest versions?
Deploying Java 7.11 onto a machine running Java 6.3x creates two entries, one for the 6 and one for 7.
My thought so far would be to run updates each and every day to make sure all 6.x versions get to their latest and run a uninstall MI of Java 6 and then mash on Java 7, is this really the best way to approach it tho?
Is there any way I can force the regular patching to overwrite older major versions or would we have to do it through managed installs and uninstalls?
Answers (2)
The only way you can get an app to override a previous version is if the vendor allows it through a command or offer a command you can use like -remove to remove first and then install the latest version.
You could do it as a MI or as a script, both would work the same way, run the uninstall first and then run the installation.
You could also write a batch file that runs the command to remove the old software (check the software inventory to see if the agent reported back an uninstall string, java 6 update 33 uses MsiExec.exe /X{26A24AE4-039D-4CA4-87B4-2F86416033FF} )
You could have your batch run that first then in the script attach java 7 update 11 to the script and run that.
Adobe will acutally remove the old version before installing the new.
Patching Major Versions? .. I like to use Major Upgrades .. clean ...efficient and full control.
Do you use AdminStudio, in that case it is very easy and you can add any application to be uninstalled prior to the new application.
e.g. you can use a repackaged Winzip MSI to first uninstall any other known Compression Tool (if MSI installed) and even uninstall Office if you like ;-)
