Software Deployment

I have no clue what you're asking, lol :).

Well, that's a start! ;-)

I have a machine with the above mentioned product installed on it. I came to this site looking for information on the package. I found a close match, but not the exact package.

It seems like there should be a way to look up packages based on the install GUID - Is there?

In any case, if I wanted to contribute this information into the package knowledge base (the exact package name paired with the GUID), would I just add a note to "Office 2007 12.x"?

Thanks,
David

It seems there is

90120000-0011-0000-0000-0000000FF1CE turns up lots of hits.

and then the uninstall string can be found under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall and the target folder under it. The thing you need to look is UninstallString.

HTH

In any case, if I wanted to contribute this information into the package knowledge base (the exact package name paired with the GUID), would I just add a note to "Office 2007 12.x"?You could, yes, but I'm not sure of its value, unless EVERYONE could be persuaded to include that information in their posts. Still, I suppose there's no harm in trying to start a trend! :)

Can't say I would be happy with such information, if you got the package you know what the ProductCode is.

If everyone repackage an old legacy setup version of WinZip and posted the ProductCode to the PKB I wonder how many different we would get, thousands maybe?

Kim, I think the idea is that this would only apply to those packages which are already in MSI format, enabling searches for a specific product, rather than a generic one. This would rather neatly get round the problem of, for example, Office "2007" being actually "v12" - that sort of nomenclature would no longer matter.

Actually, I was thinking about the ID associated with ADD/Remove Programs. I guess there would need to be a clean way group information which applied to multiple packages. So, for instance, a way to connect information which applied to all of: "MS Office Pro", "MS Office Pro Plus", and "MS Office Pro Plus (Enterprise)."

David

Firstly, someone needs to point out that the word is "Noob", not nube, unless that is a nekid noob. Welcome to the Internets.

This idea seems rather pointless to me. The Product ID is not a constant and could be changed, and with regards to your last post, is unique.
A tool like msiinv would be of more use to you, I think.

Okay David, sorry I'm seeing this so late as I'm sure I could have avoided a lot of confusion.

To first frame the question for everyone else:

AppDeploy provides an integrated service for the KBOX (the systems management appliance from KACE) so that when you are looking at a software item, you get the details from the Package KB right in the web based console (saving you from having to look it up separately). The automatic search is done based on product name and version. It is called "AppDeploy Live". http://www.kace.com/products/overview/appdeploy-live.php

Long before the idea of AppDeploy Live was conceived, I decided the most intuitive way to globally address applications was by name and version using a reproducible format. Specifically: "Office 2007 12.x". This has worked pretty well and is good for visually browsing items. It is less than ideal, but still workable when doing so in an automated fashion.

So in response:

The KBOX gets details on the application in question based on its file version information. Different vendors choose to populate any number of the optional fields available, but unfortunately they are not consistent. Even one company may not be consistent-- for example you might see the Company field filled out as "Microsoft" or "Microsoft Corporation" or "Microsoft, Inc.". When an item is looked up automatically in AppDeploy Live, it tries to handle these inconsistencies as best possible. When unsure, you may see a list of applications available form the company associated with the software, or even multiple versions to choose from based on the name of an application. Hopefully, and most of the time, you see the correct item and don't need to specify the additional detail to choose the right item.

Not all software has a GUID in ARP, not all setups are MSI packages (and if it is a repackaged MSI the GUID won't match anyone else's). While there are cases where additional information from the registry may be listed (such as teh uninstall string). It is the details in ARP that I'm attempting to match up with the unique name and version listing found in the Package KB. These details (which may very greatly depending upon the setup authoring tool or technology) can be seen in the Software KB: http://www.appdeploy.com/software/detail.asp?id=76138 or by browsing you the Uninstall subkey of the registry. Long story short, there are no nice unique items on which to base a tight relationship. We will either need to generate a hash of the setup file and/or use some kind of weighting system to improve the solution as works today. For example, we might count how many people choose a certain item based on something like a hash of the setup file and try to build a solid linking between setups and Package KB entries. Unfortunately, such data is not in the Package KB today so it is no small exercise ;)

Bob;

Thanks for your re-frame - it's frustrating not knowing enough to ask a question! :-)

I don't quite understand all of the issues, but I do get that there is some ambiguity vis-a-vis product names, product ids, etc.

> These details (which may very greatly depending upon the setup authoring tool or
> technology) can be seen in the Software KB:
> http://www.appdeploy.com/software/detail.asp?id=76138 or by browsing
> the Uninstall subkey of the registry.

I think this reference, which sounds useful, has a typo in the URL, as it took me to a page describing some sort of Klingon add-on for Outlook: "K'Alert"

> For example, we might count how many people choose a certain item based on
> something like a hash of the setup file and try to build a solid linking between
> setups and Package KB entries.

This sort of distributed processing is working well for CAPTCHAs and interpretation of text - it might work for establishing these associations?

Thanks again!
David

Thanks for the pointer to msiinv.exe - I had not heard of that one before.

David

The link was just to a random entry in the software KB to show what kind of data is collected, there are tens of thousnands of entries there. There are certianly ways to weight things and identify what we are after, the trick is identifying the best way to make it either completely automated or so quick and easy it would not be considered any kind of burden. We'll get there!