SolidWorks 2016-17

There are many different ways to install SolidWorks , I used to use he admin.xml file in the past however I have found creating an administrative imagine works best on the newest version which is currently 2016-17 edition. Sadly there is no documentation regarding a sccm install on the solid works website or installation instructions so i decided to create this guide

Firstly, install the license manager which is fairly simple if you follow this guide below from SolidWorks,

http://help.solidworks.com/2016/English/Installation/install_guide/t_installing_snl_lic_mgr.htm

Side note if you plan on upgrading SolidWorks you will also need to update the license manager to the same or newer version

Once the above is complete you can run the setup.exe from cd1 in my case and select create new image

select which modules of solidworks you wish to install and also you license number

next accept the license agreement and change the image location if you wish (this is just a temporary location while building this image)

if you need to change the port you can otherwise leave as the default 25734@youlicense server

next select customize image

in this section you can make any changes to the software you want to install, this can be done at a later stage if you ever need to make changes

if you kept the creation location as the default you should see SOLDWORKS Admin

once copied to a share you use for deployments you can go ahead and start to create the application in sccm

You could create a package and run from the DP as its fairly large however I prefer to create an application

Select create application and then select manually specify the application information

Next name the application and other relevant information

Add any information you see fit

Manually specify the deployment information

Name this solidworks setup

For the install program you can customize this as you wish

For example StartSWInstall.exe /install

/install Installs the administrative image on client machines

/uninstall Uninstalls the software from client machines

/removedata Available for uninstall only. Removes SolidWorks data files and folders during uninstall.

/removeregistry Available for uninstall only. Removes SolidWorks registry entries during uninstall.

/now Starts the install or uninstall immediately. The 5 minute warning dialog box does not appear

/showuiDisplays a progress window for the SolidWorks Installation Manager. Otherwise the SolidWorks Installation Manager is hidden from the user.

For the detection method I have use file type

The file I use is the SLDWORKS.exe and as an option I also use version number

Next install for system and minimized, as this is a fairly large application I have put 60 minutes as the maximum run time

If you have any requirements you can them now

Now dependencies depend on what extras you selected in your admin image, the admin image will add most dependencies but sql for example isn’t add if you select the full electrical module so I would advise testing before getting to this stage

Select next until the wizard has finished and that’s it you’re ready to deploy

 

Capita Sims

In order to install capital Sims in one application you first need to make sure your permissions on your sims shares are setup correctly and that Configmgr has read access

I will be creating one big application with multiple installs, some people may prefer to create individual applications its purely down to your environment

Firstly, right click create application and then Manually specify the application information

Next give the application a name

Add an icon for the application catalog if you wish, then select next

Now select Add

select Manually specify the application information

Name the application (this is one of the first individual applications install)

Now choose the location on your sims share where you install are located

The installation program for each application is listed below, the sims information may be different on your sims sever but most use the S:\sims location. I have also created an MSI that copies the connect.ini file to the C:\Program Files location. You could use an xcopy script for example or create an msi like I have done.

Sims Applcation setup

SIMSApplicationSetup.exe /S {QuietMode} [SIMSDirectory]=”S:\SIMS” [SIMSDotNetDirectory]=”C:\Program Files\SIMS\SIMS.Net”

Sims Manual setup

SIMSManualSetup.exe /S {QuietMode} [SIMSDirectory]=”S:\SIMS\” [SIMSDotNetDirectory]=”C:\Program Files\SIMS\SIMS.Net”

Sims AMPARK

SIMSAMPARKSetup.exe /S {QuietMode} [SIMSDirectory]=”S:\SIMS” [SIMSDotNetDirectory]=”C:\Program Files\SIMS\SIMS.Net”

SOLUS 3 Agent

AgentInstaller.js “agent_installer.log” “net.tcp://localhost:52966” “net.tcp://your-sims-server:52965” “Solus3.Keys.DeploymentService.Public.xml” “SOLUS3AgentInstaller_x86.msi” “SOLUS3AgentInstaller_x64.msi”

There is an order that these need to be installed in as you can see below

I have used the file system detection method for each program which is listed below, If you wish to run reinstallS after a sims update for example  you can use the date modified option to trigger this.

PATH %ProgramFiles%\SIMS\SIMS.Net

Sims Applcation setup FILE Pulsar.exe

Sims Manual  FILE SIMSLoad.ini

Sims AMPARK FILE SIMSAMPARKSetup.txt

PATH %Program Files%\Solus3\AgentService

Solus 3 FILE Heartbeat.config

Install for system, whether or not a user is logged on and change he maximum allow run time to 30 minutes

There are no requirements for the first install after that you can set the previous program as a requirement and so on until you have created installs for each application

Select next untill the wizard has finished and distribute the application then deploy as you wish

 

Create an unattened.xml

To create an unattened.xml you have a few options one is to use the windows system image manager.

Firstly, open the windows system image manager application

Open up your windows image and select the install wim (in my case windows 10)

Next select new answer file

Now you can make customizations, in this case I will change the language input to GB British

Expand components and find amd64_Microsoft-Windows-International-Core_6.3.9600.16384_neutral

Now change the settings to the following:

InputLocale: en-GB

SystemLocale: en-GB

UILanguage: en-GB

UILanguageFallback: en-US

UserLocale: en-GB

Next select tools and validate the changes, you should get no warnings or errors, if that’s the case you can now save the answer file and name it appropriately

Next copy the file to a share you use for configmgr deployments and create a package (with no program) and distribute

In your task sequence under apply operating system select the package you just created and type in the file name including the file extension

Change boot image on an existing task squance

To change the boot image on an already existing task sequence firstly right click properties on the task sequence.

Next select advanced

Now make sure us a boot image: in select and then browse to the boot image you want to use.

Creating a Boot Wim

Once you have installed the ADK and included windows preinstallation environment you can copy the wim from the location listed below. This is assuming you are using the windows 10 ADK and you want to create a x64 boot image

wim location :

C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Windows Preinstallation Environment\amd64\en-us\winpe.wim

Once located copy to your deployment share, in my case Sources\OS Deployment Share\Boot Images\Win10PEx64

Next open up software library > operating systems > boot images

Now select add boot image

Select the wim we just copied

Name the boot image as you wish and select next until the wizard has finished

You will need to distribute the boot image and then if you wish to make it available to pxe deployments. You can select this option in the properties of the boot image

Configuring High-Risk Deployment Settings

When deploying a high risk deployment (in most cases a required task sequence) you will find that this will only work in the collection has less than 100 members. This a great safety buffer as its stops you deploying to all desktop and server clients collection for example.  However, if you have a collection over 100 you will find that the collection is missing when trying to advertise the deployment. To resolve this you can make the following changes.

Firstly, navigate to Administration

Then site configuration> sites> your site> properties > Deployment verification

 

 

You should see the collection size limits, you can now change this to 200 for example or higher, but I advise only increasing it as need to and not say 15000.