The bootstrapper installers are not designed to be deployed through a deployment tool or in silent mode. Each prerequisite that the bootstrapper installs can be downloaded from Microsoft's website and deployed/installed silently. The MailExpressOutlookAddinInstaller.msi can be deployed/installed silently. (Refer to Outlook Add-In prerequisites based on Microsoft Office Version for prerequisite details and download links.)
Instructions for creating the silent install script are provided below. Deployment details are not provided here; it is assumed that a Windows administrator already knows how to install and deploy applications in silent mode.
The following are the installation arguments that can be provided to the installer when it is running in non-full user interface mode. This provides a way for the Add-In installation to be configured and run without requiring any user interaction (for instance, if the Add-In is deployed in silent install mode). The Add-In Installer page of the web administration site assists administrators in generating a script with the appropriate arguments.
|
Argument Name |
Description |
|
SERVERHOST |
The IP Address or Host Name of the Mail Express Server |
|
SERVERPORT |
Optional; allows you to specify a port other than 443. |
|
LOGINTYPE |
The type of authentication that the Outlook Add-In will use to authenticate with the Mail Express Server. MANUAL – for Manual Authentication WINDOWS – for Windows Authentication The default value is WINDOWS. |
|
SERVICEPRINCIPALNAME |
The service principal name defined for the Mail Express Server, if the login type is Windows authentication. (Refer to "To create the SPN" in the topic "Installing the Outlook Add-In.") |
|
MEUSERNAME |
The Mail Express username that the Add-In will use to authenticate with the Mail Express Server if the LOGINTYPE is MANUAL. |
|
MEPASSWORD |
The Mail Express password that the Add-In will use to authenticate with the Mail Express Server if the LOGINTYPE is MANUAL. |
|
INSTALLLOCATION |
The path to the folder where the Outlook Add-In will be installed. This defaults to "%userprofile%\Application Data\Globalscape\Mail Express Outlook Addin". |
|
FILESTORELOCATION |
The path to the folder where the Outlook Add-In will temporarily store attachments for emails that it is processing. This defaults to "%userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Globalscape\Mail Express Outlook Addin". |
It is possible to install the Add-In silently without providing any installation arguments. In that case, the default values mentioned in the table above are used. In this case, end users will need to provide their connection information manually in Outlook so that the Add-In knows how to connect and authenticate with the Mail Express Server. Alternatively, an administrator can deploy the registry settings that the Add-In uses. (Refer to Connecting to Mail Express Server for more information about manual configuration in Outlook.)
Use the Mail Express Server Administration Site’s Add-In Installer page to generate the Add-In installation batch file script with the appropriate installation parameters. Under the Outlook Add-In Installation Script section, specify the Installation Type of either New/Upgrade or Modify/Repair existing.
New/Upgrade—The script will run on workstations that do not have the Outlook Add-In already installed, or the Add-In is already installed on these workstations but a newer version of the Add-In is being installed.
Modify/Repair—The script will run on workstations that already have the Add-In installed, but the version of the Add-In being installed has not changed. This method is useful when you want to change some of the Add-In’s settings like SERVERHOST or LOGINTYPE on workstations that already have this version of the Add-In installed.
The Outlook Add-In installer is a MSI to help ease deployment to workstations. The Add-In installer will deploy all files and settings to user-specific locations like HKCU and the user’s Windows profile area, so that the installer does not need to be run with administrative privileges. This further eases the deployment for organizations that have users with less privileged accounts. Thus, the installer could be launched directly from a Windows logon script without any problem. The installer (.msi) can be run in various UI modes: No UI, Basic UI, Reduced UI, or Full UI.
The bootstrapper installers that install the Add-In’s prerequisites are not designed to be installed through a deployment tool and do not support installation in quiet/silent mode. They are intended to be run manually by users who have administrative rights on their computer to set up the Add-In quickly without using a corporate deployment tool. However, each prerequisite item that the Add-In requires can be downloaded from Microsoft’s website, and each can be deployed and installed silently. This is the preferred method for deploying the Add-In’s prerequisites.