Setup Administrator Mode Readme

1. Introduction

Microsoft Visual FoxPro 7.0 offers an administrator mode setup, which facilitates deployment to field clients. The administrator initially runs setup to select which features will be deployed. An .INI file is created based on this selection, and is then deployed by running setup in unattend mode, pointing to the generated .INI file. When run in unattend mode, setup silently installs the designated options. If there are any errors, setup exits silently with failure. This allows deployment through Microsoft Systems Management Server.

2. Running Administrator Mode Setup

Before running this phase of administrator setup, you must first run Windows Component Update setup on your machine.  Some of the components installed by the update are required for the Visual FoxPro setup to function.

To create the deployment .INI file
  1. Insert the Visual FoxPro 7.0 CD and ignore the autorun startup page.
  2. From the Start menu, click Run.
  3. In the Run dialog box, type the following:

    n:\Setup\Setup.exe /createunattend <path to .INI file>

    For example:

    D:\Setup\Setup.exe /createunattend c:\vfp7_deployment.ini
To run setup with the generated file on a client
  1. Verify that Visual FoxPro is available on the network (see Creating a Network Image later in this readme).
  2. From the Start menu, click Run.
  3. In the Run dialog box, type the following:

    \\<computer>\<share>\...\Setup\Setup.exe /unattendfile <path to .INI file>

    For example:

    \\products\VisualFoxPro\Setup\Setup.exe /unattendfile \\computer\share\vfp7_deployment.ini

3. Creating a Network Image

Administrator setup is designed to run from a network image, rather than CDs.

To prepapre a network image of the Visual FoxPro CD
  1. Insert the Visual FoxPro 7.0 CD into your CD-ROM or DVD drive.
  2. Open the CD drive in Windows Explorer.
  3. Press CTRL+A to select all, and then copy the selection to a folder of your choice.
  4. When the copy is complete, remove the CD from your drive.

4. Installation Maintenance

Setup can be run again on a machine with an existing installation of Visual FoxPro. This should be done by the administrator running in createunattend mode on a master machine that had the same version installed as the client machines. Changes to the feature state can then be deployed to clients.

Clients should not run setup from Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel (or by any other means) on their own. This will cause a discontinuity in the feature state. All changes should come from setup being run with an unattendfile switch.

5. Required Baseline Components

The following is a list of components required for Visual FoxPro 7.0. Visual FoxPro 7.0 unattended setup will fail if any component is not installed.

6. Known Installation Issues

6.1. Data file cannot be created

When running setup in createunattend mode with a file that already exists, you will see an error "The data file <filename> cannot be created. Setup cannot continue." Either delete the existing file, or provide a unique file name.