The fastest way to distribute Laserfiche Connector and the Laserfiche Connector profiles you've created to multiple machines is to perform a command line or unattended installation and to copy the XML profiles to each machine.
Note: We recommend creating profiles on a machine with the same version of Windows as the machines you plan on distributing the profiles to. Creating a profile on a machine with one version of Windows and deploying to machines that run another version of Windows might produce different results when the profile runs. For example, if a profile is created on a Windows 7 machine but is deployed on a Windows 8 machine, Laserfiche Connector may or may not get the correct values from the third-party application controls.
Unattended Installation
To perform a command line or unattended installation of Laserfiche Connector, use the following syntax:
"InstallerPath\SetupLf.exe" SetupParameters INSTALLLEVEL=InstallLevel Properties CUSTOMPROFILELOCATION=path ALLUSERSAUTOSTART=1 or 0
Example: This string silently installs Laserfiche Connector, including the Profile Creator, at the path specified. It specifies that profiles will be loaded from the T drive (the company's shared network drive). It also enables the "Launch on startup" option for all users, and it points the installation to the appropriate license file and installation logs.
"C:\LaserficheConnector\setupLf.exe" -silent -log "C:\Logs\LFConnectorInstall" INSTALLLEVEL=100 CUSTOMPROFILELOCATION="T:\Laserfiche Connector\Profiles" ALLUSERSAUTOSTART=1 INSTALLDIR="C:\My Programs\Laserfiche Connector" LICENSEPATH="D:\My Licenses\lf.licx"
Note: If you are inputting a value (such as a path to a folder) that contains spaces or special characters, the value must be enclosed in quotes.
- InstallerPath is the path to the folder that contains the SetupLf.exe file for the installation you want to perform. For example, if the Laserfiche Connector installation SetupLf.exe file is currently in a "Laserfiche Connector " folder on the D drive, the full path would be D:\Laserfiche Connector\SetupLf.exe. (If you are running the installation from the command line, you can instead navigate to the folder that contains the SetupLf.exe file. In this case, only SetupLf.exe needs to be typed manually into the command line.)
- SetupParameters is the collection of parameters that should be passed directly to SetupLf.exe. The available parameters are listed in the Setup Command Line Parameters help topic. These parameters are not required, but most command-line or unattended installation will use at least one.
- The INSTALLLEVEL parameter is a special parameter that determines what components will be installed. To install the Laserfiche Connector with the Profile Creator, set the INSTALLLEVEL to 100. To just install Laserfiche Connector, set the INSTALLLEVEL to 1.
- The CUSTOMPROFILELOCATION parameter is a special parameter that lets you specify the local or network location where Laserfiche Connector will load profiles from. This option lets you store all your profiles in a central location, which lets you update the profiles once in this location instead of having to push updates out to all the individual machines running Laserfiche Connector.
- The ALLUSERSAUTOSTART parameter is a special parameter that enables the "Launch on startup" option for all users on a machine. Set this parameter to 1 enable this option. Set it to 0 to disable the option.
- Properties is the collection of MSI properties that will be used in the installation. The available properties are listed in the Properties help topic. To specify a path for the program files, use the INSTALLDIR property. If you are installing the Profile Creator, use the LICENSEPATH property to specify the location of the license file, including its extension.
Note: The arrangement of the installation package must remain the same for an installation to continue. Do not attempt to copy the Laserfiche Connector folder out of the main installation package or the installation will fail.
Run the command line on each computer that Laserfiche Connector should be installed on or use SMS to install on multiple computers remotely. SMS (System Management Server) is a Microsoft product that allows for software to be distributed across a network from a single computer. Unattended installations can be performed using SMS to save the network administrator the time and effort required to walk around to each individual workstation.
Note: Documentation on installing products using SMS can be found in the MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) Library (http://msdn.microsoft.com).
Distributing Profiles
- We recommend configuring the CUSTOMPROFILELOCATION parameter to specify a network location where Laserfiche Connector will load profiles from. Setting this parameter lets you make changes to profiles in this central location and have all Laserfiche Connector installations automatically be updated, without having to redistribute the updated profiles to each individual machine. You can also set a custom profile location in the Options dialog box opened from the Laserfiche Connector Configuration dialog box. Profiles will also be stored in the path below.
- Profiles accessible to a specific user on a machine are stored here: C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Laserfiche\Connector\Profiles. If you want the profile to be accessible to all users on the machine, copy it to C:\ProgramData\Laserfiche\Connector\Profiles.
Note: If credentials are required to access the network drive where the profiles are loaded from, ensure Laserfiche Connector can access that location using the credentials of the currently signed in user.
Backing up Profiles
We recommend that you periodically backup Connector profiles in case the machine hosting them fails. Profiles are stored as XML documents in the following locations:
Tip: To see where a specific profile is stored, check the Location column for the profile in the Laserfiche Connector Configuration dialog box.
- Current user: Profiles available to the current user are stored here: %APPDATA%\Laserfiche\Connector\Profiles. For example, C:\Users\John.Smith\AppData\Roaming\Laserfiche\Connector\Profiles. Note that editing a profile in this location will update the profile for that user only. To ensure updates are distributed to all Laserfiche Connector installations, configure a custom profile location.
- Custom: The custom profile location is specified in the Options dialog box opened from the Laserfiche Connector Configuration dialog box. If the custom profile location is a network or shared drive, then changes made to the profiles in this central location will automatically be available to all Laserfiche Connector installations that are pointed to this location. This configuration makes updating profiles easy as you do not have to redistribute the updated profiles to each individual machine