This means you are installing the wrong edition, eg x86 version on an x64 OS.

All available version are listed on the MSDN Visual J# Redistributable Packages page.

Related: The case of the VMware vSphere Client

A while ago I created a script that I can run as embedded script in Altiris that creates a Server Manager Answer File (for Server 2008).

I could have simply done an echo >answer.xml but I wanted a well formed XML that could be read and displayed in an XML editor or Internet Explorer when needed.

I use the Microsoft.XMLDom object in the script the create the XML and I think the code is easy to understand so I will just show it here: Read the rest of this entry »

I did an unattended install of Java Jre1.6_0.22 using an mst file that puts all (auto)update properties to off.

However it seems that Java simply ignores this, so usually a script runs after the install to the delete some registry keys and perform some extra configuration.

With more recent Java versions it’s easier to simply uninstall the update component with the following commandline:

msiexec /x {4A03706F-666A-4037-7777-5F2748764D10} /qb-

I was playing around with the AxSched tool that comes with Altiris, in my case the version that comes with v6.9 build 453.

I could not make it connect to the Deployment Server from my test machine, it seemed like the /dsn parameter I used was totally ignored.

I also tried the /d and /db parameters but they didn’t have any effect at all, the message was always:

Error opening database connection:
SQL Server does not exist or access denied.
ConnectionOpen (Connect()).

So I opened AxSched in Ida Pro and set a Breakpoint to the place where the SQL Connection seems to be made:

Ida nicely hints us that the ConnectionString is in the ECX register so we only have to inspect it to see it’s value.

Actually AxSched does several attemps and the used Connection Strings are:

1. DRIVER={SQL Server};DSN=;SERVER=;Trusted_Connection=yes;
2. DRIVER={SQL Server};DSN=;SERVER=;UID=sa;PWD=;Trusted_Connection=no;
3. DSN=Altiris eXpress Database;
4. DSN=Altiris eXpress Database;Trusted_Connection=yes;
5. DSN=Altiris eXpress Database;UID=sa;PWD=;Trusted_Connection=no;

So I bypassed by adding a DSN with the name Altiris eXpress Database and then it works.

Earlier today I wrote about my Altiris Job Builder tool but when I tested the actual produced build job I noticed something weird: the job was scheduled but not executed.

I then tried to manually push a job to this server and that one executed fine.

When I clicked the Job I could see that it was scheduled:

But when I clicked the Server it wasn’t there:

Read the rest of this entry »

I have created a little tool for myself that I have call Altiris Job Builder, it retreives the Jobs from the Altiris database and shows them in a Treeview.

Then I can assemble a Master Build Job by dragging the needed Jobs to another Treeview on the right. Since it’s just for me it doesn’t have a fancy gui:

So why did I write it? Well I have divided my Jobs into Prerequisites and Packages, for instance IIS and Terminal Server and Java are prereqisuites for Citrix. But many prereqisuites are required for one or more other packages, eg Java is also used for certain applications. Read the rest of this entry »

If you have ever installed Citrix Presentation Server/XenApp or one of the management consoles then you have probably dealt with Java versions.

Citrix is very picky about the Java version so it’s usually best to initially install the Jre version that is delivered with the product.

In my case however I needed to install the CMC for Xenapp 5 on Windows 2003, it requires JRE 5.0 Update 9 but this version was undesirable.

So I tried to install the CMC with the current JRE version (1.6.0_22 at this time) but it makes the Installer exit immediately:

Read the rest of this entry »

I ran a VBScript that queries the Win32_Product WMI class on Windows 2003 but it returned error 0x80041010 instead of the expected results.

I looked up that errorcode and it means WBEM_E_INVALID_CLASS. This happened because the “WMI Windows Installer Provider” was not installed.

You can do this through Add/Remove Programs | Windows Components | Management and Monitoring Tools | WMI Windows Installer Provider.

Or if you want to do this with a script you can use SysocMgr:

When installing the Citrix Delivery Services Console with an unattended install (using CtxInstall.exe) the Citrix Password Manager gets automatically installed as well.

You can see this in the Console where you will get an additional node called “Single Sign On”.

I couldn’t find any information on how to make CtxInstall exclude it so I was left with 2 options:

1. Unregistering the .net assembly for the Single Sign On Node.
2. Unattended Uninstall of the Password Manager.

I went for option 2 since 1 might mean it comes back after an update, the commandline is:

msiexec /x {25F2D5CD-B428-4869-B32B-031A9D5CE0C1} /Qb

If it’s somehow possible to prevent installing it in the frist place, please let me know!

After having successfully tested the Unattended install jobs for my Citrix XenApp 5 environment I went on to testing the install.

The install itsself and the msi logs that my jobs created all indicated that the install was successfull.

So I went on and launched the install jop for the Delivery Services Console. This job succeeded nicely but when I opened the console the XenApp node was missing:

The resolution is described in CTX125827 but Resolution 2 is a lot of manual labour 🙁

So what do we do? We script it! Read the rest of this entry »