SMS Installation Requirements

A software setup or installation program used in the Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) environment must support that environment by:

• Operating in unattended mode. It is mandatory that the program not require user input during the installation, removal, or maintenance of the application. Any information or options required by the setup program should be supplied by command-line switches to the program, or should be provided in a configuration file that is read by the program at run time or by some other means such as the Microsoft® Windows NT® registry. Your application must not show any dialog boxes or windows during installation/deinstallation or maintenance.
• Not forcing the operating system to restart. Because multiple packages can be installed by SMS at one time, no individual package installation should force the operating system to restart as part of its installation program. Instead, the Package Command Manager (PCM) has the capability of intercepting and queuing restart requests until all packages have been installed, offering the user the opportunity to save any work in progress before the operating system is restarted.
• Passing restart instructions to the PCM. To copy system files that may be in use, setup programs typically construct a batch file containing operations that must be performed during a restart of the operating system, such as running a Microsoft® MS-DOS® program by using ExitWindowsExec, and then restarting Microsoft® Windows®.
• Reporting status to SMS using a package command status MIF file. To report the status of a PCM application installation, a Management Information Format (MIF) file must be created in the Windows directory.