Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 - silent install?

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caustic meatloaf

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  • #1
    Man, this one's been kinda frustrating me now for a few days.

    Microsoft Dynamics GP creates a "install package" so that you can deploy the GP application with all your configuration settings on multiple desktops easily. We are using it on a single endpoint, but we want to be able to automate completely destroying and re-creating this single server at will. However, it appears as though the GP install package doesn't have the ability to do a silent install. Which strikes me as supremely dumb.

    What you get is a setup.exe file that also references multiple different .MSI install files for the various 3rd party applications you integrated with GP as part of your "install package". Apparently, the setup.exe SAYS it will pass through to the MSI files any flags that it doesn't have programmed to use itself.

    However, this executable *itself* requires interactive UI so that you can hit an OK button. Literally, that's it. It does everything else and then you hit "finish" at the end.

    I've been trying to deploy the individual .msi files via ansible, and on a one-on-one basis that works. However, there's configurations of these applications that apparently are also injected with the install package .exe file, and there do not appear to be any custom transform values that I can supply in a CLI for these .MSI files.

    Has anyone, anywhere, been able to successfully deploy ANY version of GP silently? Ideally with ansible.
     
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    molo

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  • #2
    I have actually dealt with this. We used Dynamics GP at my last employer.

    What you want to do is not possible. Installing Dynamics GP is a nightmare, and you can't automate it in any real way. Get used to manually installing it.


    Dynamics GP in *general* is a nightmare. It works, obviously, but as you have probably noticed, it feels like it was created in 2000 or so and duct-taped together to keep it running on modern versions of Windows. Which I'm pretty sure is actually the case. Nothing in Dynamics GP works the way you would expect it to, it's fragile, and the whole "3rd-party add-on" system just makes it all worse, since *everybody* has a few add-ons that they want, all of which are...janky.

    Good luck! Stay away from sharp objects for a while so you don't feel tempted to stab people!
     
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    caustic meatloaf

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  • #3
    molo said:
    I have actually dealt with this. We used Dynamics GP at my last employer.

    What you want to do is not possible. Installing Dynamics GP is a nightmare, and you can't automate it in any real way. Get used to manually installing it.


    Dynamics GP in *general* is a nightmare. It works, obviously, but as you have probably noticed, it feels like it was created in 2000 or so and duct-taped together to keep it running on modern versions of Windows. Which I'm pretty sure is actually the case. Nothing in Dynamics GP works the way you would expect it to, it's fragile, and the whole "3rd-party add-on" system just makes it all worse, since *everybody* has a few add-ons that they want, all of which are...janky.

    Good luck! Stay away from sharp objects for a while so you don't feel tempted to stab people!
    Click to expand...

    *sigh* well, that's a bummer. I mean, I can get all the .MSI files installed via CLI, but you're right - I don't know how to automate anything beyond that. I was hoping that I could leverage the "deployment package executable" that apparently has some company-specific custom config in it to do an "automatic" install, using win_shell to execute it or something

    Unfortunately, that does not appear to be possible as you said.

    I did find this:
    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hel ... mmand-line

    So, right now I'm stuck at the GP .MSI installer which requires several options to be passed through the command line, but I don't know what they are because (as mentioned) they're wrapped up inside the setup.exe that is created when you make a "installation package" for GP.
     
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    caustic meatloaf

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  • #4
    SOME progress at least. I found the right order of operations for installing all the prerequisite packages via command line, and our GP devs provided some values for the GP MSI install command line, so I've been able to get it to install successfully silently. WOrking on modifying all those command line arguments into ansible and validating that ansible can in fact install them.
     
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    caustic meatloaf

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  • #6
    Well, I actually managed to bungle my way through it - the link I put in up above actually worked rather well in providng the correct flags, and in one case, with a Dexterity patch file, I had to use win_command. BUT, apparently in ansible 2.10 win_package will support .MSP installation, which is actually super handy.

    I swear I won't be that guy who says "nevermind, fixed it" :). I'll put up a playbook once I've got it fully validated.
     
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    cgonzo24

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  • #7
    caustic meatloaf said:
    Well, I actually managed to bungle my way through it - the link I put in up above actually worked rather well in providng the correct flags, and in one case, with a Dexterity patch file, I had to use win_command. BUT, apparently in ansible 2.10 win_package will support .MSP installation, which is actually super handy.

    I swear I won't be that guy who says "nevermind, fixed it" :). I'll put up a playbook once I've got it fully validated.
    Click to expand...
    I know this is an older thread but not much has changed that I have found with issues to building this out. I don't see a link or playbook, if you wouldnt mind sharing I would greatly appreciate it as I am going crazy not making much progress in attempting to do the same thing. Thank you in advance
     
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