Print Audit 4
IMPORTANT: READ THIS BEFORE PERFORMING A PRINT AUDIT 4 INSTALLATION
Print Audit is a desktop application that you must install on every computer where you want to track printing. Users installing Print Audit must have Administrator rights, or you must use third-party tools that can install software in a locked down environment. Installing Print Audit across a network requires knowledge of the network design, user rights and technologies available in your organization. Print Audit supplies various tools to aid in the network rollout of Print Audit software but these tools are meant to complement your organization's current desktop software rollout procedures. If you do not have an established way to rollout software in your organization then we strongly advise that you develop a software rollout plan for all desktop software before attempting to roll out Print Audit software.
Overview
Print Audit 4 allows you to install its components quickly and easily across your entire network of computers. This document outlines the basic steps needed to mass install Print Audit and what mass installation technologies Print Audit supports.
Step 1: Administrator Install
We highly recommend doing your first installation manually on the person’s computer who is going to be administering Print Audit. This will allow you to create your database and configure Print Audit for operation. This also allows you the opportunity to familiarize yourself with Print Audit’s features and gain access to the help files for general reference.
If you do not do this step, you may not be able to successfully do your network install.
Step 2: Creating the Network Installation
1. Selecting a Network Install Path
2. Selecting the Install Directory
Please note: If you downloaded to Access Only version of Print Audit 4, you will not have to select a database type.
3. Selecting the Database Type
In this step, you are asked to select what type of database backend you are using with Print Audit. You should already have this information from doing the Administrator Install
4. Enter your Database Settings
In this step, you set your database information. This is either the path to your MS Access
database or the connection information for SQL Server. Please ensure this information is correct! If not, users will not be able to successfully connect to the database and no job information will be tracked. For MS Access installs, it is critical to ensure that the path you select is correct for all users, which usually means using a UNC path instead of a mapped drive.
If you chose SQL:
5. Select the Components to Install
6. Advanced Install Options
In these steps you need to select some advanced options as to how you want the install to behave. If you are not one hundred percent sure what an option does, we highly recommend leaving the default. Here are the available options:
• Create the Uninstall Information – If checked, the installer creates the necessary entries on the computer so that the software can be easily uninstalled. If unchecked you cannot uninstall the software through scripts or on the desktop. You will have to manually delete files and registry entries to remove it. Uncheck this option at your own risk.
7. Create the Network Install
After filling in all steps, the installation program will create your network install. It copies all required files for the install into the directory you selected for the network install. The next step is to customize the silent network installation files.
Step 3: Customizing the Silent Network Installation Files
When you create your custom network install, Print Audit copies several critical files into the custom network install directory you chose. Here is a list of the files created.1. Configuration File (pa4inst.cfg)
This file (pa4inst.cfg) contains the settings you chose while answering questions during the creation of your network install. This is a text file arranged as a standard INI file. You can edit this file with Notepad and make changes directly to it. Please be careful making changes to this file. For detailed documentation on each setting in these files as well as optional settings you can add in manually, look for the “silent install” topic in your Print Audit help files index.
2. Silent Install Batch File (pasilent.bat)
This file (pasilent.bat) is the file responsible for running the Print Audit installation in silent mode. When running in silent mode the installer reads the settings you entered in the configuration file and installs Print Audit with no interaction necessary from the user. There is detailed
documentation in the pasilent.bat file, please read this information carefully before altering this file.
The key to the pasilent.bat file is to ensure the following line is set properly: SET PAINSTPATH=[Your net install path directory]
You need to set this line to the path of the Print Audit network install directory. If you do not have this path set properly Print Audit will not read your configuration file and the install will not work as you have anticipated.
3. Silent Uninstall Batch File (pauninst.bat)
This file allows you to silently uninstall Print Audit from your users’ computers. Just like the silent install batch file you must ensure the following line is set properly: SET PAINSTPATH=[Print Audit install directory]
The directory you set should be the SHORT path version of your end user’s Print Audit installation directory. For example, if you keep the default install paths this should be: C:\PROGRA~1\PRINTA~1
If Print Audit cannot find this directory then Print Audit will not uninstall. Keep in mind that if you chose not to create un-installation information when you created your install, this file will not uninstall Print Audit.
4. Sleep Command File (sleep.exe)
This file is a simple DOS utility to cause the computer to pause for a few seconds. The batch files call this command; you do not need to do anything with it.
5. Print Audit Silent MSI Wrappers (PAInstallWrap.msi, PAUninstallWrap.msi)
These files are Windows Installer MSI wrappers that call the “pasilent.bat” and “pauninst.bat” files respectively. Print Audit provides this file so you can distribute Print Audit using Active Directory. Please see the section Distributing the Silent Network Install in this document for more information.
Step 4: Testing and Troubleshooting the Silent Network Install
The next step is to test to ensure the pasilent.bat file successfully installs Print Audit the way you want on an individual’s workstation. We recommend going to a user’s computer who does not have Print Audit installed, navigating to the network install directory and manually running the “pasilent.bat” file by double-clicking on it. If everything works the way you expect you can then distribute Print Audit across your network.Common Problems and Their Solutions
1. Database settings are incorrect
If the database settings are wrong, IE: Print Audit asks for a database when you run it or says it cannot connect, check your database settings in the configuration file (pa4inst.cfg or painst.cfg), and double-check the “SET PAINSTPATH” line in your pasilent.bat to ensure it is correct.
2. The wrong components are installed
This is caused by an incorrect configuration file or the “SET PAINSTPATH” line is incorrect. Please double-check these settings in the “pa4inst.cfg” file. For more information on the contents of this file please see the silent installation topic in your Print Audit help files.
3. The computer reboots more often than expected
The installer needs to reboot the computer to replace in-use files, or after the installation of the MDAC components. Print Audit only needs to update the MDAC on some Win95 and Win98 machines.
4. Database settings are correct, but I still get database connection errors
For Microsoft Access databases, make sure the permissions are correct on the shared database directory.
For SQL Server databases you may need to set the optional Network Provider option in the pa4inst.cfg to tell Print Audit how it needs to connect to the SQL Server. See the silent installation topics in the main Print Audit help files for more information.
Step 5: Distributing the Silent Network Install
Once the silent installation is working properly you need to decide how you want to distribute it across your network. This is entirely dependent on your network and the tools you have available but here are the most common ways along with their advantages and pitfalls.
1. Login Scripts
The easiest way to run the “pasilent.bat” file to get the install going is to include it in a standard Windows login script. This works great for networks that are running Win95/98 or where your users have local Administrator rights on their computers. The Print Audit installs need permission to create directories, create registry keys and in some cases copy files into areas that can be locked down for users with restricted permissions.
2. Active Directory Managed Software Packages
Print Audit provides two files, “PAInstallWrap.msi” and “PaUninstallWrap.msi” that you can assign as managed software packages using group policies in Active Directory. These files simply call the “pasilent.bat” and “pauninst.bat” files respectively. Using the MSI packages and Active Directory allow the Print Audit installs to run at system level security when a computer boots up so that users do not need to have elevated permissions.
The downfall of this approach is that this will not install software to older operating systems, so if you have a mix of operating systems in your organization you will have use a combination of this approach and login scripts.
3. Third Party Installation Tools
There are third party tools your organization may have for the distribution of software across your network. These tools include SMS from Microsoft and ZenWorks. If you have one of these tools in your organization then you can use it to run the “pasilent.bat” or create your own installation batch files using ours as a basis.
