Context

When using Software Distribution Tools (or software deployment tools) to automate the process of delivering software to all computers on a network, it may be useful to set certain installation options, such as disabling automatic updating or installing in silent mode (no end-user interaction is required during the installation process).

Installing the Rainbow application on a Remote Desktop (VDI - Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) requires a "per machine" installation which will change the location of cache files and registry entries.

How does it work?

Available options:

Different options exist and can be passed as arguments to the installer for Rainbow installation:

• /VDI : modifies location of cache files & disables auto update
  • works only for the "Per Machine" installation file.
  • to be used for Remote Desktop environment.
• /DisableAutoUpdate : disables automatic update
• /DisableAwayOnSessionLock : this will make the presence not turn to away automatically when the screen is locked
  • works only for the "Per Machine" installation file.
  • to be used for Remote Desktop installation because away detection may not work well in VDI environment.
• /AutoStart : start the application when user connects to Windows.
• /NoOutlookAddIn : disables Outlook add-in (can be activated by the user after installation).
• /SILENT : the setup will not ask then end-user to manually check any options. If no other option is defined then defaults will be used.
• /RESTARTAPPLICATIONS : Execute the application when the installation is finished.
• /CreateDesktopShortcut : creates a desktop shortcut icon.
• Dialing hotkey :
  • /UseQuickDialModifier : sets the modifier key with the values NONE, CTRL or SHIFT.
  • /UseQuickDialKey: sets the dial key to be used in combination with the modifier key with the value F1 to F11

• /FirstStartLanguage : sets the language of the Desktop GUI
  Example for German use following argument /FirstStartLanguage=de
  Available languages (ISO 639-1) are:

  • ar, ca, cs, de, en, es-es, fi, fr, he, it, ja, ko, nl, no, pl, pt-br, pt-pt, ru, sv-se, tr, zh-cn, zh-tw

• /FirstStartLoginEmail : automatically fill in the user's e-mail address field on the login screen
  usage: /FirstStartLoginEmail=john.doe@company.com
  If the specified email is recognized as a SSO user, then SSO wizard is launched
  This option has to be used with per user setup.

• /ForceInstallDeps : When the flag is set, and the setup is started by a non admin user (without "Run as administrator"), the setup will allow the installation of missing Microsoft dependencies (i.e.: VSTO, VC++ Runtime, .net framework). As these dependencies require admin rights to be installed, a rights elevation popup will be displayed for each missing dependency (the local admin can then enter his credentials).
  Doing this, Rainbow application is installed for the user that started the setup (in his %APPDATA% directory) and the missing Microsoft dependencies are installed on the machine (C:\Program Files or equivalent).
  Note that without this setting if the setup is started by a non admin user, and Microsoft dependencies are missing, the setup stops with an error popup telling these must be installed before installing Rainbow.
• /FirstStartTeams : At first start, if this option is set during setup, Rainbow Desktop application will stay hidden until the user connects to Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Teams provides credentials to the Desktop application.
• /ForceSoftphone : At first start, if this option set during setup, Desktop will automatically set user's option apparence to Softphone mode. This will apply only if other user data are compatible with this softphone view (user must have a profile where IM, Video calls and Screen sharing are not allowed like the Telephony or Telephony and Rainbow audio profiles)
  If set during setup the user will not have the option to change the appearance. To allow the user to change the appearance of the Rainbow application the only way is to suppress the registry key ForceSoftphone.

  Depending on setup used, the key can be found in:

  Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise\Rainbow
  Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise\Rainbow

How to use these options?

How these options are passed to the installation file depends on the software distribution tool used. It is possible to provide several arguments at once. 

For example using Windows command line tool (cmd.exe), you'll have to execute following command:

msiexec.exe /i Rainbow.msi WRAPPED_ARGUMENTS="/arg1 /arg2"
or
msiexec.exe /i Rainbow.msi WRAPPED_ARGUMENTS="/arg1=value /arg2=value"

Troubleshooting

For debug purpose, following command will generate installation logs:

msiexec.exe /i "Rainbow.msi" /l*v rainbow_msi.log WRAPPED_ARGUMENTS="/arg1 /arg2"

Some examples of installations

Silent installation + disable automatic update + start app after installation:

msiexec.exe /i Rainbow_Installer_Offline.msi WRAPPED_ARGUMENTS="/SILENT /DisableAutoUpdate /RESTARTAPPLICATIONS"

Silent installation + dialing hotkey = SHIFT+F7

msiexec.exe /i Rainbow_Installer_Offline.msi WRAPPED_ARGUMENTS="/SILENT /UseQuickDialModifier=SHIFT /UseQuickDialKey=F7"

Resulting keys in the PC registry database

Depending on the installation file type used (Per User/Per Machine) and the provided arguments, the installation process creates different keys in the PC registry database.

Per Machine mode:

• Autostart:
  • Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
• VDI:
  • Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise\Rainbow
• DisableAutoUpdate:
  • Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise\Rainbow
• DisableAwayOnSessionLock:
  • Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise\Rainbow
• UseQuickDialModifier:
  • Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise\Rainbow
• UseQuickDialKey:
  • Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise\Rainbow
• ForceSoftphone:
  • Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise\Rainbow
    

Per User mode:

• Autostart:
  • Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
• DisableAutoUpdate:
  • Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise\Rainbow
• UseQuickDialModifier:
  • Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise\Rainbow
• UseQuickDialKey:
  • Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise\Rainbow
• ForceSoftphone:
  • Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise\Rainbow
• no VDI in user mode

Following options will not create keys in the PC registry database:

• SILENT
• NoOutlookAddin
• CreateDesktopShortcut

Tips about disabling automatic update

When the application starts, it checks the registry for two entries "VDI" or "DisableAutoUpdate".

It checks for these entries in both

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise\Rainbow
and
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise\Rainbow

If one entry is found then no automatic update will be proposed when starting the application.

Application has been installed without this option, how can I disable automatic update?

If the application is installed in Per Machine mode then you can add the one of following Keys into the registry

1- In Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise\Rainbow

Add a Registry Key with value name VDI, type DWORD 32bit, value 1, base Hexadecimal

2- In Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise\Rainbow

Add a Registry Key with value name DisableAutoUpdate, type DWORD 32bit, value 1, base Hexadecimal

If the application is installed in Per User mode then you can add the Key into the registry

In Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise\Rainbow

Add a Registry Key with value name DisableAutoUpdate, type DWORD 32bit, value 1, base Hexadecimal