Silent Install with Admin.ini - no upgrade?

[HomeNet]

I have been playing around with unattended installs for some of my customers.  They work well as long as they don't already have the trial version installed.  If they do have the trial version installed, they get prompted with the Upgrade/Repair/Remove window(s)  This may also happen if they have another version installed like Home or an older version of Pro but I've not tested this yet.  Is there something in the Admin.ini file that needs to be tweaked so that the installs blow right through regardless of what may already be installed?

04-17-08
1041 EDT
Rob @ HomeNet

[DavidR]

Whilst I don't know if there is some  tweaking to 'admin.ini' that can be done, I wasn't aware there was such a file.

However, you are going to have a problem in blowing through any version of avast 4.8 Home/Pro, trial or otherwise as it has a self-defence module and I would doubt there would be a backdoor to 'blow right through regardless' as that same process could be used to disable avast.

[HomeNet]

So, I guess the only way around it would be as I instructed my clients to do - uninstall the trial version and run the new setup after the reboot.

Such a file exists if you create it.    To do so, install Avast Pro, tweak your settings as you wish & go to the advanced view.  Once you have your scheduled scans and other settings the way you want them, go to FILE > CREATE SILENT INSTALLATION....

This is in the help file:

Creating silent installation of avast! program

This option, intended especially for network administrators, makes it possible (and easy) to install avast! on an arbitrary number of computers, without any interference from the users. The installation may contain predefined settings of the program and tasks.

To create the silent installation:

1: Install avast! on one computer.
2: Modify the avast! settings exactly as you want them to be on the other computers.
3: Set the parameters of the tasks (as you want them).
4: If you wish, set the password to access the resident protection settings (and termination).
5: In the Enhanced User Interface, select File ® Create Silent Installation.
6: Set the parameters of the silent installation:
6-A: Silent mode - During the installation on the target computers, only error messages will be displayed.
6-B: Very silent mode - During the installation on the target computers, no messages will be displayed.
6-C: Installation path - Enter the folder to install avast! to (by default, %PRGFILES%\Alwil Software\Avast4).
6-D: No reboot - avast! requires the computer to be restarted after the installation. If you select this option, the reboot will not be requested.
6-E: Ask for reboot - When the installation is finished, the user will be asked to reboot.
If neither No reboot nor Ask for reboot is checked, the system will be restarted automatically when the installation is finished.
7: Click the Create button.
8: Select the folder to store the files necessary for the silent installation.
9: The following two files will be written to the selected folder: admin.ini and tasks.xml. The file admin.ini contains the settings of the avast! program, the file tasks.xml contains the settings of the particular tasks. If the password for resident protection settings was set, there will be another file in the target folder: aswResp.dat; it contains the encrypted password to access the resident protection settings and termination.
10: Put these two or three files into a shared folder.
11: Put the avast! installer into the same folder.
12: On the target computers, start the avast! installation from this folder.

04-17-08
1114 EDT
Rob @ HomeNet

[DavidR]

You could have them disable the self-defence module, Program Settings, Troubleshooting, 'Disable avast! self-defence module.' That however, might seem daunting to some.

Since avast isn't running when in safe mode I guess you could try from there, but again you would have to get them to boot into safe mode which would mess with their desktop icons when back in normal mode.

So I think that it would be the best to have them uninstall as there is no way you might know if they have installed whatever version they have in the default installation folder.

Thanks for the insight into the silent install.

[Vlk]

Updates from the full setup package (e.g. setupengpro.exe) are currently not working if the self-protection module is enabled.
This is a known/confirmed problem in the current version of avast 4.8, and is going to be fixed in the next program update.

Thanks
Vlk