Updating the source paths of Windows Installer applications

HOWTO93508
Last Updated October 24, 2013
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Updating the source paths of Windows Installer applications

You can update the source paths of Windows Installer applications with resilient source paths. The updated source paths point to the package servers that you designate. If an application needs modification or repair, Windows Installer can access the needed installation file from one of these servers.

You can use a policy or a task to perform resilient source path updates of Windows Installer applications on managed computers.

When a Windows Installer application is broken, Windows Installer can repair or modify it, but only if the original installation file is accessible. When Windows Installer tries to modify or repair an application, it uses the application's source path to access the installation file. This source path is based on the application's package code. Without resilient source paths, if the installation file is no longer available, the modification or repair fails. With resilient source paths, Windows Installer can look for the installation file on a set of package servers that you designate.

For example, the software delivery policies and tasks in Software Management Solution typically install packages from a package server. If that package server becomes unavailable, a Windows Installer application that was installed from that server cannot be repaired. To avoid this problem, update the application's source paths to point to additional servers from which the installation file can be accessed.

You can perform resilient source path updates of Windows Installer applications with a policy or a task as follows:

Policy

Use a policy as your primary means to update the source paths of Windows Installer applications. A policy can update the source paths of existing applications, but also the source paths of the applications that are installed in the future. To include the applications that are not yet installed, schedule the policy to run repeatedly.

A Source Path Update policy updates all the Windows Installer applications that are installed on the client computer.

Task

Use a task when you need to update the source path of a specific application and the update needs to be done immediately. For example, a Windows Installer repair might fail because the server that distributed the application is out of service. You can create a task to update the source path for that application.

A Source Path Update task can update a specific application or all the Windows Installer applications that are installed on the client computer.

The Software Management Solution plug-in must be installed on the client computers for you to update source paths.

See Installing or upgrading the Software Management Solution plug-in.

See About managing Windows Installer applications

Table: Process for updating source paths for Windows Installer applications

Step

Action

Description

Step 1

Configure a policy or create a task to update the source paths of Windows Installer applications.

A Source Path Update policy or task adds resilient source paths to Windows Installer applications on managed computers.

See Configuring a Source Path Update policy

See Creating a task in Software Management Solution.

You can also create a Source Path Update task from a software resource in the Software Catalog. If you create the task from a software resource, you select the computers that the task applies to and the task runs immediately.

Step 2

(Optional, task only) Configure the task settings.

Every task inherits the default settings that control how it runs. You can override the default settings for a particular task.

You cannot change the settings for a Source Path Update policy.

Step 3

(Task only) Schedule the task and select the delivery destinations.

The options for scheduling the task are as follows:

  • Run the task now.

    This option runs the task as soon as possible, unless it must wait for a maintenance window.

  • Schedule the task to run at a specific time.

See Scheduling a task and selecting computers in Software Management Solution.

This additional step is not necessary for the policy because you schedule it as part of its configuration.

Step 4

View the Software Resources - Inaccessible Source Paths report.

This report lists the computers that had Windows Installer applications with inaccessible source paths during the most recent scan. Use this report to identify the changes that you need to make to resolve inaccessible source path problems. This report is one of the Application Management reports listed under the Software reports.

See Running a Software Management Solution report.
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