bentleyuser.org - Installing XM

Installing XM
by bentleyuser - 10 September 2006

Again from the larger network’s viewpoint, installing via Group Policy is desirable. A default installation can be run using the delivered MicroStation MSI, however some minor tweaking might be desirable.

I don’t want to have the workspaces put in the default location of C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Bentley or have all of the workspace and example files installed.

With V8.5 and earlier I have installed to a separate folder for each version, V8, V85, V852. The way that the installation now runs makes this approach fiddly, but more importantly, rolling out new versions with Group Policy makes this approach redundant.
I have now decided to accept the default installation location to make future installations of Triforma and Bentley Architecture more straightforward. Note that current versions of both applications are not MSI Packaged yet, I assume this will follow soon.

I may also take the approach of running the default installation and simply ignoring the workspace components that are not needed. These will be ignored by the networked configuration in any case.

Stephen Holmes of Cadventure came up with a solution for me to tweak the MicroStation installation:

Stage 1
Run the downloaded .exe file and unpack the.msi to a chosen location

Stage 2
Run msiexec with admin switch.
e.g. msiexec /a “C:\software\bentley\XMMicrostation\microstation.msi
This will then unpack the application files into a folder structure and create a cut down .msi file.

Stage 3
Go into the unpacked files(in the same folder structure as they would be on your c: drive.
Edit the mslocal.cfg to add in your network configuration settings.

Stage 4
Get hold of a copy of Atris Wise InstallTailor 6.0 Wizard.
(It used to be free to download from Altris, but may not be anymore as I could not find the link on their site. It is a little utility that comes with Altris Admin Package Studio)

Stage 5
Run the InstallTailor and point it at the cut down .msi file it will then run the msi and you just select the options as if installing it manually.
(Ignore the warning message about hiding pages, you don’t need to)
e.g. choose to not install the workspace…
Then just before it starts to copy files the InstallTailor stops the msi and makes your .mst file along with a shortcut to run msiexec with all the correct settings.
If you want to test it you can run the shortcut….just add the /passive option after MSIEXEC in the properties of the shortcut…

Stage 6
The msi/mst can then be run in passive mode using group policy…