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PowerShell App Deployment Toolkit

The PowerShell App Deployment Toolkit provides a set of functions for deploying applications through a consistent user interface. It simplifies complex scripting tasks and improves installation success rates. The toolkit features customizable dialog boxes for installation progress, application closure prompts, disk space checks, and restarts. It also supports logging, MSI installation handling, and integration with System Center Configuration Manager.

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Sunil Kumar
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979 views

PowerShell App Deployment Toolkit

The PowerShell App Deployment Toolkit provides a set of functions for deploying applications through a consistent user interface. It simplifies complex scripting tasks and improves installation success rates. The toolkit features customizable dialog boxes for installation progress, application closure prompts, disk space checks, and restarts. It also supports logging, MSI installation handling, and integration with System Center Configuration Manager.

Uploaded by

Sunil Kumar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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PowerShell App Deployment Toolkit

What is the PowerShell App Deployment Toolkit?


The PowerShell App Deployment Toolkit provides a set of functions to perform common
application deployment tasks and to interact with the user during a deployment. It simplifies the
complex scripting challenges of deploying applications in the enterprise, provides a consistent
deployment experience and improves installation success rates.
The PowerShell App Deployment Toolkit can be used to replace your WiseScript, VBScript and
Batch wrapper scripts with one versatile, re-usable and extensible tool.
Scroll down to see sample screen shots of the user interface.

What are the main features of the PowerShell App


Deployment Toolkit?
Easy To Use - Any PowerShell beginner can use the template and the functions provided
with the Toolkit to perform application deployments.
Consistent - Provides a consistent look and feel for all application deployments,
regardless of complexity.
Powerful - Provides a set of functions to perform common deployment tasks, such as
installing or uninstalling multiple applications, prompting users to close apps, setting registry
keys, copying files, etc.
User Interface - Provides user interaction through customizable user interface dialogs
boxes, progress dialogs and balloon tip notifications.
Localized - The UI is localized in several languages and more can easily be added using
the XML configuration file.
Integration - Integrates well with SCCM 2007/2012; provides installation and
uninstallation deployment types with options on how to handle exit codes, such as supressing
reboots or returning a fast retry code.
Updatable - The logic engine and functions are separated from per-application scripts, so
that you can update the toolkit when a new version is released and maintain backwards
compatibility with your deployment scripts.
Extensible - The Toolkit can be easily extended to add custom scripts and functions.

Helpful - The Toolkit provides detailed logging of all actions performed and even includes
a graphical console to browse the help documentation for the Toolkit functions.

What functionality does the PowerShell App Deployment


Toolkit provide?
User Interface
An interface to prompt the user to close specified applications that are open prior to
starting the application deployment. The user is prompted to save their documents and has the
option to close the programs themselves, have the toolkit close the programs, or optionally defer.
Optionally, a countdown can be displayed until the applications are automatically closed.
The ability to allow the user to defer an installation X number of times, X number of days
or until a deadline date is reached.
The ability to prevent the user from launching the applications that need to be closed
while the application installation is in progress.
An indeterminate progress dialog with customizable message text that can be updated
throughout the deployment.
A restart prompt with an option to restart later or restart now and a countdown to
automatic restart.
The ability to notify the user if disk space requirements are not met.
Custom dialog boxes with options to customize title, text, buttons & icon.
Balloon tip notifications to indicate the beginning and end of an installation and the
success or failure of an installation.
Branding of the above UI components using a custom logo icon and banner for your own
Organization.
The ability to run in interactive, silent (no dialogs) or non-interactive mode (default for
running SCCM task sequence or session 0).
The UI is localized in several languages and more can easily be added using the XML
configuration file.
Functions/Logic
Provides extensive logging of both the Toolkit functions and any MSI installation /
uninstallation.

Provides the ability to execute any type of setup (MSI or EXEs) and handle / translate the
return codes.
Mass remove MSI applications with a partial match (e.g. remove all versions of all MSI
applications which match "Office")
Check for in-progress MSI installations and wait for MSI Mutex to become available
Send a sequence of keys to an application window
Perform SCCM actions such as Machine and User Policy Refresh, Inventory Update and
Software Update
Supports installation of applications on Citrix XenApp/Remote Desktop Session Host
Servers
Update Group Policy
Copy / Delete Files
Get / Set / Remove Registry Keys and Values
Get / Set Ini File Keys and Values
Check File versions
Pin or Unpin applications to the Start Menu or Task Bar
Create Start Menu Shortcuts
Register / Unregister dll files
Refresh desktop icons
Test network connectivity
Test power connectivity
Check whether a PowerPoint slideshow is running
Integration with SCCM
Handles SCCM exit codes, including time sensitive dialogs supporting SCCM's Fast Retry
feature - providing more accurate SCCM Reporting (no more Failed due to timeout errors).
Ability to prevent reboot codes (3010) from being passed back to SCCM, which would
cause a reboot prompt.
Supports the CM12 application model by providing an install and uninstall deployment
type for every deployment script.
Bundle multiple application installations to overcome the supported limit of 5 applications
in the CM12 application dependency chain.

Compared to compiled deployment packages, e.g. WiseScript, the Toolkit utilises the
SCCM cache correctly and SCCM Distribution Point bandwidth more efficiently by using loose files.
Help Console
A graphical console for browsing the help documentation for the toolkit functions.

User Interface Screenshots


Installation Progress
The installation progress message displays an indeterminate progress ring to indicate an
installation is in progress and display status messages to the end user. This is invoked using the
Show-InstallationProgress function.

The progress message can be dynamically updated to indicate the stage of the installation or to
display custom messages to the user, using the Show-InstallationProgress function.

Installation Welcome Prompt

The application welcome prompt can be used to display applications that need to be closed, an
option to defer and a countdown to closing applications automatically. Use the ShowInstallationWelcome function to display the prompts shown below.

Welcome prompt with close programs option and defer option:

Welcome prompt with close programs options and countdown to automatic closing of
applications:

Welcome prompt with just a defer option:

Block Application Execution


If the block execution option is enabled (see Show-InstallationWelcome function), the user will be
prompted that they cannot launch the specified application(s) while the installation is in progress.
The application will be unblocked again once the installation has completed.

Disk Space Requirements


If the CheckDiskSpace parameter is used with the Show-InstallationWelcome function and the
disk space requirements are not met, the following prompt will be displayed and the installation
will not proceed.

Custom Installation Prompt


A custom prompt with the toolkit branding can be used to display messages and interact with the
user using the Show-InstallationPrompt function. The title and text is customizable and up to 3
customizable buttons can be included on the prompt as well as optional system icons, e.g.

Additionally, the prompt can be displayed asynchronously, e.g. to display a message at the end
of the installation but allow the installation to return the exit code to the parent process without
waiting for the user to respond to the message.

Installation Restart Prompt


A restart prompt can be displayed with or without a countdown to automatic restart using the
Show-InstallationRestartPrompt. Since the restart prompt is executed in a separate PowerShell
session, the toolkit will still return the appropriate exit code to the parent process.

Balloon tip notifi cations


Balloon tip notifications are displayed in the system tray automatically at the beginning and end
of the installation. These can be turned off in the XML configuration.

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