Software Deployment

>I guess what you're saying is
Not really, no. What I'm saying is, creating transforms against the vendor's MSIs allows you to fine tune the installation and log each part of the installation separately.

Here's a heavily edited version of an Autodesk command file that I use for NavisWorks Freedom. It looks complicated but it's pretty straightforward, really. Basically, you pass a set of up to 4 parameters to the DoInstall "function": Path_to_and_Name_of_MSI, Path_to_and_name_of_MST, Path_to_and_Name_of_Logfile and optionally, Path_to_and_name_of_secondary_transform.

set logfilepath=%windir%\TEMP
:// MSXML 6.0 Parser
:// This product is installed by a separate process
:// Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable (x64)
:// This product is installed by a separate process
:// Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redistributable (x64)
:// This product is installed by a separate process
:// Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable (x86)
:// This product is installed by a separate process
:// Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable (x64)
:// This product is installed by a separate process
:// Universal C Runtime (KB3118401)
:// This product is installed by a separate process
:// Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable (x86)
:// This product is installed by a separate process
:// Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable (x64)
:// This product is installed by a separate process
:// DirectX® Runtime
:// This product is installed by a separate process
:// .NET Framework Runtime 4.6
:// This product is installed by a separate process
:// .NET Framework Runtime 4.6 Language pack
:// This product is installed by a separate process
:// Below, the log file names "proper" are prefixed with a sequence number, 
:// simply so that they appear in the log file folder in the order in which they were installed
:// Autodesk Material Library 2017
call :DoInstall Img\Content\ADSKMaterials\2017\CM\MaterialLibrary2017, Img\Content\ADSKMaterials\2017\CM\Autodesk_MaterialLibrary2017_15.11.3.0_x64_1.00_DE, 01Autodesk_MaterialLibrary2017_15.11.3.0_x64_1.00_DE
:// Autodesk Material Library Base Resolution Image Library 2017
call :DoInstall Img\Content\ADSKMaterials\2017\ILB\BaseImageLibrary2017, Img\Content\ADSKMaterials\2017\ILB\Autodesk_BaseImageLibrary2017_15.11.3.0_x64_1.00_DE, 02Autodesk_BaseImageLibrary2017_15.11.3.0_x64_1.00_DE
:// Autodesk Advanced Material Library 2017
call :DoInstall Img\Content\ADSKMaterials\2017\CM_Advanced\AdvancedMaterialLibrary2017, Img\Content\ADSKMaterials\2017\CM_Advanced\Autodesk_AdvancedMaterialLibrary2017_15.11.3.0_x64_1.00_DE, 03Autodesk_AdvancedMaterialLibrary2017_15.11.3.0_x64_1.00_DE
:// Autodesk Advanced Material Library Image Library 2017
call :DoInstall Img\Content\ADSKMaterials\2017\AIL\AdvancedImageLibrary2017, Img\Content\ADSKMaterials\2017\AIL\Autodesk_AdvancedImageLibrary2017_15.11.3.0_x64_1.00_DE, 04Autodesk_AdvancedImageLibrary2017_15.11.3.0_x64_1.00_DE
:// Autodesk Navisworks Freedom 2017
call :DoInstall Img\x64\NAVFREE\freedom, Img\x64\NAVFREE\Autodesk_NavisworksFreedom2017_14.0.1298.75_x64_1.00_DE, 05Autodesk_NavisworksFreedom2017_14.0.1298.75_x64_1.00_DE, Img\x64\de-de\NAVFREE\freedom
:// Autodesk Navisworks Freedom 2017 - Deutsch (German) Language Pack
call :DoInstall Img\x64\de-de\NAVFREE\NAVFREE_LP, Img\x64\NAVFREE\Autodesk_NavisworksFreedom2017_14.0.1298.75_x64_1.00_DE, 06Autodesk_NavisWorksFreedom2017_GermanLanguagePack_14.0.1298.75_x64_1.00_DE
if %errorlevel%==0 goto End
echo Installation failed - error %errorlevel% occured
:End
exit /b %errorlevel%
:// Functions
:// 
 :// DoInstall
 :DoInstall
  setlocal
  set MSI=%~1
  set MST=%~2
  set logfilename=%~3
  set MST2=%~4
  set logfile=%LOGFILEPATH%\Install_%LOGFILENAME%.LOG
  call :StrLen MST2 StringLength
  if %StringLength%==0 goto SingleTransform
  
  msiexec /i "%~dp0%MSI%.MSI" TRANSFORMS="%~dp0%MST%.MST;%~dp0%MST2%.MST" /qn /l*v "%LOGFILE%"
  goto TestErrorLevel
  
  :SingleTransform
  msiexec /i "%~dp0%MSI%.MSI" TRANSFORMS="%~dp0%MST%.MST" /qn /l*v "%LOGFILE%"
  :TestErrorLevel
  if %errorlevel%==0 goto function_Success
  :function_Failed
   echo Installation failed - error %errorlevel% occured
   goto function_Done
  :function_Success
   echo Installation was successful
  :function_Done
  endlocal
  exit /b
 :// DoInstall end
 :// StrLen
 :StrLen <stringVar> <resultVar> 
  setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
  set "s=#!%~1!"
  set "len=0"
  for %%N in (4096 2048 1024 512 256 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1) do (
    if "!s:~%%N,1!" neq "" (
      set /a "len+=%%N"
      set "s=!s:~%%N!"
    )
  )
  endlocal&if "%~2" neq "" (set %~2=%len%) else echo %len%
 exit /b
 :// StrLen end
:// 
:// Functions end
:Done