One of the first issues that administrators
encounter when performing an application installation is that the
AutoRun feature no longer works. You can't simply stick the CD or DVD
into the drive and expect it to do anything, because it won't. It stays
there until you tell it to do something. Fortunately, Microsoft has
helped vendors standardize their setups over the years. You can
normally set the drive to the drive with the setup program on it by
typing something like D: and pressing Enter, and then typing Setup and pressing Enter. The only problem is that this method doesn't always work.
When
the setup program starts but doesn't complete, it may mean that the
setup program relies on graphical features not found in Server Core.
You don't have to worry too much in many cases. The vendor may very
well provide a command line interface where you can configure the
application setup using command line switches. The command line
switches may actually appear as part of a README or other file provided
on the installation media. Use these steps to learn more about the
potential setup options provided on the media:
Select the drive that contains the installation media by typing C: or D: or whatever drive the media is using and pressing Enter.
If necessary, change directories to the installation media directory by typing CD
SetupDirectory
(where SetupDirectory is the setup directory) and pressing Enter.
Often, the installation program is in a directory named Setup.
Type Setup /?
and press Enter to determine whether the vendor provides localized
help. If none of these options work, contact the vendor or search
online for the command line instruction when you can't find help
locally.
Assuming that the application uses Setup.EXE
isn't always going to work—some vendors use another setup application
name or might not provide the required setup interface as part of Setup.EXE. The most common alternative is Install.EXE, but the number of application variants is limitless. Fortunately, you can open the AutoRun.INF file and examine it by typing Notepad AutoRun.INF
and pressing Enter. (As with the setup program, make sure you select
the proper drive for accessing the AutoRun.INF file.) What you'll see
is an INI file that contains all of the commands the application
commonly used to start the setup. You can simply use these commands as
a starting point for your own setup. Of course, you'll want to use
command line switches to configure the application, rather than allow
it to run in GUI mode (since that option has already failed).
Some vendors don't provide an AutoRun.INF file. In this case, you can type Dir*.EXE
and press Enter. The setup disk usually contains only a few executable
files and the filenames normally tell you what tasks the executable
performs. If this fails, then you can type Dir /AD
and press Enter. This command displays a listing of the subdirectories
on the disk. One of the subdirectories normally has a name that
indicates that it has something to do with installation or setup. You
can type CDDirectoryName
and press Enter to look though the files found in the installation
directory—one of them generally provides the setup functionality you
require.
After
you get a product installed, you can use WMIC to manage it. For
example, you can choose to change the application configuration if
necessary by typing WMIC Product Where Name="ProductName" Call Configure and pressing Enter. Likewise, you can remove a product that you no longer need by typing WMIC Product Where Name="ProductName" Call Uninstall
and pressing Enter. Only the methods that the setup program supports
will work. You can also use the WMIC Install method when you want to
install an advertised product—one that was previously advertised using
the Advertise method.
Some
applications you attempt to install are doomed from the outset. Any
application that lacks a command line interface is likely a poor
candidate for Server Core. If the application also relies on the common
dialog boxes and you need to save settings or perform other
file-related tasks, you shouldn't consider using the application with
Server Core because it's unlikely to work. The whole point of using
Server Core is to cut down on the potential sources of contamination
and to reduce the Windows bulk in a measurable way. In attaining these
goals, Microsoft has made it impossible to use certain classes of
applications with Server Core and you should never consider Server Core
as a candidate for an application server (at least, not in an
environment where you must interact directly with the application
within a GUI environment).
Working with ZIP Files in Server Core
Many
administrators maintain downloaded applications in ZIP files because
the ZIP file is common and it does compress the application setup
files. More importantly, the ZIP file keeps all of the setup files
together, making it less likely that you'll lose one or more required
setup files. Unfortunately, Server Core doesn't come with the ZIPFldr.DLL
file that makes it possible to view ZIP files as folders in Windows
Explorer. Of course, Server Core doesn't have Windows Explorer either,
so the omission makes sense. Even so, you now have a problem with those
ZIP files you've used for so long.
Fortunately, WinZIP (http://www.winzip.com/index.htm) has a command line interface, and you can purchase an add-on (http://www.winzip.com/prodpagecl.htm) that makes it a lot easier to use WinZIP at the command line. Of course, you can simply use the documentation at http://www.memecode.com/docs/winzip.html
if desired. It's a little hard to follow, but the command line switches
listed on the Web site all work fine. For example, if you wanted to
extract the files from MyZIP.ZIP\MyFiles folder, you'd type WinZIP32 –min –e MyZIP.ZIP \MyFiles
and press Enter. Make sure you provide the command line switches in the
order shown or WinZIP may not work correctly. This command line works
fine with versions of WinZIP 8.0 and above (it may work for older
versions as well, but 8.0 was the earliest version tested for this
book). to the
The
command prompt won't have a path to the WinZIP folder, so you must add
the application to the path. To perform this task, type Path=C:\Program Files\WinZIP;%path% and press Enter. Make sure you substitute the correct drive letter for the WinZIP installation.
You
may also want to consider other alternatives for Server Core. Over the
years, many vendors have made their command line interface optional or
not included one at all because they assumed the GUI was here to stay.
However, a few vendors have continued providing command line interfaces
with their products. For example, 7-Zip provides a good command line
interface and you can download it free. You can learn more about 7-Zip
at http://www.7-zip.org/.
