Virtualization

I don't use it but there is some documentation on it. I'll have to dig through some documentation to find this.

Hi,

Thanks for the response.Can you share the document.It'll be a great help.

I am still looking for that documentation. I thought I knew where to find it but I still haven't found it.

Found it!!! I could only find the documentation in 3.2 release notes.

Release 3.2 now supports a command line version of the sequencer. For details of Command Line
Sequencer, refer to the section titled “Command Line Sequencer.”

Command Line Sequencer

The Sequencer now supports sequencing of applications from the command line prompt. This lets you sequence an application without using the Sequencer GUI. If the installer package has its own GUI, it is displayed during the sequencing process; otherwise the sequencing runs in a minimized state without prompting for input.
When the sequencing is complete, the Sequencer generates a message indicating whether or not the
sequencing was successful. Error messages are saved to the sequencer log file.

Syntax
SFTSequencer [/Help]
[/InstallPackage:installpackage]
[/InstallPath:installpath]
[/OutputFile:outputfile]
[/FullLoad]

Note: The command line prompt recognizes the abbreviated syntax, which follows each parameter name below, or the full parameter name.

• Help [/?] – Displays the usage information identified above.
• InstallPackage – [/I] The installer (.exe) or a batch file used to run the MSI package and any
necessary transform files or parameters.
• InstallPath – [/P] The path where the installer (or batch file) will install the program. The
Sequencer needs this information to determine the root directory for the SoftGrid mount point.
• OutputFile – [/O] The path and filename for the SPRJ file that will be generated. The OSD files
will be placed in the same location as the SPRJ file.

Note: The SFT file will have the same name as the SPRJ file.

• FullLoad – [/F] Specifies that FB1 will be loaded with all the files. Otherwise, FB1 will be
populated with only the required files like the osguard.cp file and fonts. When you use Command Line Sequencer to sequence MSI packages, create a batch file that includes all of the MSI parameters you wish to use during the sequencing (such as specifying the install location). The Sequencer recognizes all MSI parameters. Use the name of this batch file as the InstallPackage parameter.

The following example illustrates what the contents of a batch file might look like:

msiexec.exe /I “d:\MSO\msoffice.msi” /t “e:\MSO\Office.mst”
INSTALLPATH=”q:\MSOffice2K”

Description
If appropriate parameters are specified, the Sequencer starts minimized and runs with default
values for the suite name and all OSD settings. It then runs the program or batch file identified by InstallPackage. If the InstallPackage provides a GUI, it is displayed (for most MSI packages there will be no visible indication that the program is running except for the minimized icon in the taskbar). When the Sequencer completes the install, it scans InstallPath as the installation location. The Sequencer skips the execution phase and goes right to the sequencing phase and saves the SFT file as OutputPath and puts the associated OSDs in the same location. The OSD files are named based on the target associated with them. For instance, if the target of a shortcut published by the installer is winword.exe, the OSD file created will be winword.exe.osd. The version of each
shortcut is set to 1.0. The text on the taskbar icon changes as the sequencer advances through the sequencing stages. It displays: Installing…,
Sequencing… and Saving…

Known Limitations

• This feature works only for new sequencings. To upgrade or modify an existing package, you
must use the Sequencer GUI.
• If the sequencer executable is run from the command line without the .exe extension, the error
messages are displayed only in the command window and cannot be redirected to an output file.
To redirect the error messages to a file, use SFTSequencer.exe. In the following example, the
results will be redirected to the file named “output.txt.”
SFTSequencer.exe /? > c:\output.txt
• By default, packages created with the command line sequencer will have an empty Feature Block
1 (FB1). Optionally, you can use the FullLoad parameter to load all files into FB1. As a result of using this parameter, the initial launch times for many applications will be slower unless the
applications are preloaded into the cache. If the applications you are working on will not be preloaded and the initial launch times are important, you should use the Sequencer GUI.
• The Command Line Sequencer does not recognize boot tasks when sequencing an application that
requires you to reboot the system.

I should mention that I would not recommend using this to make quality sequences but the interface is there.