Windows Vista support

Remote Installer becomes Windows Vista compatible. You can perform remote installation and all other actions on computers where Windows Vista is installed.

64-bit Windows versions support

A list of supported operation systems was supplemented by 64-bit platforms like Windows Vista x64 and Windows 2003 x64. Remote Installer was improved to work under these platforms.

MSI Package Builder projects deployment

Deployment options in Remote Installer were extended. In addition to option of remote MSI packages installation you are able to deploy MSI Package Builder project remotely. This option allows to avoid special service installation on remote computers, so is a benefit for high secure networks. Such type of deployment also doesn't require presence of Windows Installer 3.1 on remote computers, which is also a plus.

This new option tightly integrates MSI Package Builder and Remote Installer - you can deploy MSI Package Builder projects directly, without MSI package generation. You can browse projects, available for deployment on Packages tab. In order to deploy project you should select in Packages tree, select computers, where project should be installed and select Packages > Deploy Package menu item.

Version of the remote service

Remote Installer checks version of remote service in order to prevent usage of old versions, which doesn't compatible with newest versions of Remote Installer. In case is such incompatibility found you can see it on the Log tab.

User interface localization

MSI Remote Installer interface and integrated documentation is available on English, German, French, Spanish and Russian languages. You can easily switch application to another language using Language menu.

Improved data validation

Data validation mechanism on dialogs assists you with data entering by providing hints and data verification. Existing data validation was extended by new checks and added to all dialogs.

Optimization of network operations

Performance of network operations was increased. As a result operations like network scanning are more responsive and large networks scanning takes up only a few seconds.

Resolved issues

This release contains a set of resolved issues, including most important ones, listed below:

• Install MSI with Reboot computer option
• Scan deletion
• Multilanguage data support on the Registry Conditions dialog
• Replacement of User name field to combo-box on the Install Service dialog
• Current Scan deletion before a new scan

Reports

Now you can not only to save scan results, but also to generate and print report, which includes scan results. Also report can be generated for scan comparison, so you get a print copy of installation changes. Reports generation is available through Report item in the main menu.

User Account Control (UAC) support on Vista

You don't need to launch Remote Installer using 'Run as Administrator' command under Vista now, because it is automatically executed with administrative permissions. If you are not computer administrator, you will be prompted to enter administrative credentials.

History of project root paths

Remote Installer allows installation not only msi packages, but also projects of MSI Package Builder. In order to install MSI Package Builder project you need to path to directory, projects are stored. You can enter path to new project storage in Preferences dialog or switch to one of previously used paths by selecting it from combo-box.

Resolved issues

This release contains a set of resolved issues, including most important ones, listed below:

• Access Violation at program startup
• Connection to Remote Registry Service

Favorites tree improvements

Now you are able to create groups of computers in the Favorites tree. This feature can be useful if you would like to make installations on subset of computers in your network. Instead selection computers manually in the tree each time when you want to perform operation, you can create special group in the Favorites tree once, place computers into these group and later operate with this group as a whole.

Remote Installer provides an ability to add the same computer to different groups. In order to add computer to the group you should specify group name as the Domain Name field on the Add Computers dialog.

Logging improvements

Logging engine was significantly improved. Now in case of operation failure you get more exact and detailed information about reasons, which significantly simplifies solution finding. For example, in case of remote installation failure you can see all details directly in the log.

Log is extremely helpful for troubleshooting, thus we made it persistent. You are able to close Remote Installer without loosing error logs - they will be still available at the next start or in the log file. Path to persistent log file can be defined in the File > Preferences... dialog.

Resolved issues

This release contains a set of resolved issues, including most important ones, listed below:

• Validation error in the Add Computers to Favorites dialog
• Small UI improvements: forms polishing, labels alignment, etc.

One-click MSI installation

New MSI installation engine allows you to install MSI just by one click. You don't need to care about installation of special service to remote computer - if required it's performed automatically in scope of installation operation.

Alternate credentials improvements

Now you don't need to specially define alternate credentials. Instead you can perform required operation and in case if you don't have enough permissions, then you will be prompted to enter new credentials to proceed.

Security improvements

In order to prevent any potential non-authorized usage of installation service and avoid intruder's penetration, application security system was revised. Following security aspects were affected:

• Option to save username and password was removed in spite of the fact that this information was stored in encoded form. For better security now you will be asked to enter credentials at every startup.
• Information from Favorites tab is kept in user's profile, so other users don't have an access to this data.
• The lifetime of installation service is the same as the amount of time the operation of installation/uninstallation takes. At the end of the installation/uninstallation operation service stops itself and terminates.
• In case of any failure of the operation a full rollback is performed.

Logging improvements

Logging operations were extended to contain detailed information regarding successful of unsuccessful results of installation, including following:

• The name of remote computer the installation was made from
• The name of application that was installed
• The result of installation and detailed error message in case of an unsuccessful installation

Resolved issues

This release contains a set of resolved issues, including most important ones, listed below:

• Problems with installation from Vista and Server 2008 to remote computers working under x64 platforms (XP, Vista, 2003, 2008).
• Failed installation in networks with DHCP server, where IP addresses on remote computers can change often.

UI improvements

Few visual improvements were applied, including forms polishing and using of new icons set.

Add multiple computers to the Favorites tree

Set of options for adding computers to the Favorites tree was extended. Now Add computers dialog includes new option Group of Computers that allows adding multiple computers in one step if they have regular names.

For example, if computers named like ws001, ws002, etc., their names consist of the same base name and sequential numbers, and you can add all these computers to Favorites in one step by selecting Group of Computers option. When this option is selected, you have to enter base name and range of numbers. In this case computer names will be generated automatically and placed to Favorites tree.

Resolved issues

This release contains a set of resolved issues, including most important ones, listed below:

• Potential access violation during enumeration of installed applications.
• Invalid Row Access error happens sometimes when selection on the Installed Application grid is changed.

Large Fonts (120 DPI) Support

All application dialogs and forms were updated to have a good look when Small and Large Windows Fonts are used on desktop.

Separate Credentials for Groups/Domains

Now it's possible to set credentials separately for every domain/workgroup. During a network scan credentials are prompted once for a domain/workgroup and applied for access to all PCs in the group.

Resolved issues

This release contains a set of resolved issues, including most important ones, listed below:

• Potential access violation during a network scan
• PCs can't be removed from the Machines Tree
• Failure during a search for installed applications

Improved network scan performance

The overall time required to make a network scan and retrieve information about installed applications was reduced on 10-15%. Also application installation and uninstallation mechanism was optimized.

Path to the Log file

If you would like to change the path to the Log file, now you can use Save As dialog that points the current log file location.

Resolved issues

This release contains a set of resolved issues, including most important ones, listed below:

• Representation mode switching in Preferences has no influence on the list of displayed PCs
• Incorrect work of the Registry conditions

Improved software inventory report

Software inventory report was reworked to improve labels, layout and data representation.

Resolved issues

This release contains a set of resolved issues, including most important ones, listed below:

• Loose saved scans for Entire Network after closing of application
• Hang up after clicking on See log file link in case of error
• Potential Access Violation on PCs or domains deletion from the Machine Tree

New and improved features

Features below were firstly introduced or significantly improved in this release:

• Introduced Windows 7 and Windows 2008 support

Resolved issues

This release contains a set of resolved issues, including most important ones, listed below:

• Buttons alignment on the toolbar

New and improved features

Features below were firstly introduced or significantly improved in this release:

• Added support of Microsoft Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 operating systems

Resolved issues

This release contains a set of resolved issues, including most important ones, listed below:

• Wrong website and e-mail links in the application user interface
• The application is displayed incorrectly on wide screen monitors
• Some of the application dialogs are displayed incorrectly

Brand-new software audit engine

The new software audit engine allows you to retrieve the same information from remote PCs as available in their Windows Programs and Features views. The collected information is displayed by the application on the Software Inventory, Inventory Snapshots and Snapshots History tabs. On the Software Inventory tab, you can see aggregated audit info for the selected PC(s). By default, the audit info is grouped by software publisher and application name, so for every application you can see the PCs where the application is installed. You can select different groups of PCs or even the whole network to get an aggregated software inventory report for them.

Install/uninstall customization

You can customize remote MSI installation and uninstallation operations according to your needs. The application now offers the following customization options:

• Deploying an MSI package with applied MST transformations
• Passing custom properties to Windows installer upon installation/uninstallation
• Importing registry files and running executable files, script files, Power Shell scripts and Shell commands before/after an MSI installation
• Customizing the Windows Installer Log results

Install, uninstall and software scan tasks

If you need to repeat the same remote operation multiple times, you can create and configure a task once, then execute it any time when required. Tasks include all required settings, such as a set of target PCs and remote operation parameters (MSI files and customization options for remote installation, for example), so they can be executed immediately with no configuration steps required. This feature is available in the Professional edition of the application.

Remote operations scheduling

You can create remote installation, uninstallation and software scanning tasks and schedule them for automatic execution by the application. You can schedule tasks either for one-time execution at a specified date/time or for recurrent execution, for example, every day at a specified time. You can, for instance, schedule recurrent execution of software scanning tasks to always have up-to-date software inventory info. This feature is available in the Professional edition of the application.

Dynamic targets for remote operations

Now it's possible to use both static and dynamic targets for remote operations. Static targets mean a list of PCs where the operation should be executed. The newly introduced dynamic targets mean dynamic sets of PCs that satisfy specified conditions. For example, you can execute a remote operation on all PCs that belong to a particular Organizational Unit in AD. You can specify a condition (it's called Machine Query) to target all the PCs that satisfy this condition. You can use Machine Queries to define targets for remote operations and tasks in the Professional edition of the application.

MSI uninstallation from multiple PCs

Using the Professional edition of the application, you can uninstall one or multiple MSI packages from one or multiple remote PCs in scope of a single operation. For example, you can uninstall a particular application installed as an MSI package from all the PCs across a local network.

Advanced MSI installation options

There are also some new installation options that can be helpful in different cases of software deployment in enterprise networks:

• You can distribute the installation to be deployed from the PC where the application is running or from a network share. Distribution from shares can help you to save the network bandwidth and optimize the deployment time.
• In the Professional edition of the application, you can use the advanced options to install different MSI files on remote PCs depending on the Windows platform (x86 or x64) they run.

New and improved features

Features below were firstly introduced or significantly improved in this release:

• An improved network enumeration engine that can collect network information from Active Directory
• Improved logging to generate detailed error messages in case of problems and provide troubleshooting information

New and improved features

Features below were firstly introduced or significantly improved in this release:

• Introduced an option to perform Quick Software Scan
• Added an option to group inventory info by the application type
• Reorganized the main application actions to improve the application usability

Resolved issues

This release contains a set of resolved issues, including most important ones, listed below:

• The error is reported when a new Scan Software task is created or scheduled

Installation, uninstallation and repairing of EXE setups

You can remotely install, uninstall and repair installations available in the EXE format. To run such installations silently on remote PCs, you need to specify vendor-specific installation/uninstallation command-line parameters or an installation/uninstallation scenario file when configuring a remote operation.

Deployment of MSP patches

You can install, uninstall and repair MSI patches available in the MSP format. MSP deployment works just as MSI deployment, and you can use the same configuration options you use for MSI packages.

The new Quick Install option

The new option is designed to save the time required to configure a simple remote installation operation. Select target PCs where you need to deploy certain software in the Network Browser or All Machines views, and choose Quick Install on the Ribbon or from the context menu. To initiate installation, you only need to select the installation file to be deployed. The advanced installation options are not available in this case, but you can use other remote installation operations provided by the application if you need to run an installation in the advanced mode.

New Office 2013 UI skin

A new UI skin has been added that has a style similar to that of Microsoft Office 2013 and was inspired by the concepts of the flat UI introduced in Window 8.

New and improved features

Features below were firstly introduced or significantly improved in this release:

• Simplified deployment packages configuration process
• Newly introduced option of using an auto-generated comment for software scan snapshots,
• Significantly optimized performance while creating smart packages
• Improved diagnostics of deployment process errors

Resolved issues

This release contains a set of resolved issues, including most important ones, listed below:

• Platform-specific transforms for Multi-Platform Windows Installer packages are applied incorrectly
• Incorrect error diagnostics if Windows PowerShell or the Console Registry Tool for Windows is not installed on a remote Machine
• A critical error occurs when switching from programs to updates in the Inventory view if it is not linked with the selection
• A potential error while logging the results of a scheduled task

Multi-host operations in the Free edition

We've changed licensing policies of the Free edition to allow managing multiple remote PCs. Now you can install, uninstall and repair up to 5 packages on up to 5 remote PCs at a time.

New and improved features

Features below were firstly introduced or significantly improved in this release:

• Reworked Ribbon and context menus structure to improve user experience
• Improved the remote service startup error diagnostics
• Renamed tasks being executed to operations to avoid ambiguity between executed tasks and tasks saved for future execution

Resolved issues

This release contains a set of resolved issues, including most important ones, listed below:

• An error while connecting to an Active Directory forest root in specific environments
• An error while handling a successful result of sending a e-mail notification or test e-mail
• An error while moving a mouse pointer over an auto filter row
• Line feed characters are replaced by HTML line breaks tags in plain text emails
• Potential dead-lock when trying to edit a task during the tasks execution
• Potential critical errors when deleting snapshots during the software scan process

Resolved issues

This release contains a set of resolved issues, including most important ones, listed below:

• It is impossible to install specific executable packages due to the remote service failure
• The application does not allow to install Microsoft Software Patches (MSP files) without the specified patch metadata
• Potential application failure while selecting the software to be uninstalled or repaired
• The application does not allow to install MSI packages if the target platform is not defined by the package
• The application update process may hang in specific environments

New and improved features

Features below were firstly introduced or significantly improved in this release:

• The application supports Microsoft Windows 8.1 and .NET Framework 4.5.1
• The custom actions execution results are logged

Resolved issues

This release contains a set of resolved issues, including most important ones, listed below:

• An installation completion is detected incorrectly if the installation launches more than 64 processes
• Errors are possible after creating exceptional occurrences or occurrences deletion
• The application database could not be opened if it is located on a network share
• Potential errors during updating the operations' progress

Software Bundles

You can save software deployment configurations as software bundles and use them in deployment operations. You can manage bundles in the new Software Bundles view. Each bundle represents the steps required to install, uninstall and repair particular software. Multiple bundles can be grouped in bundle groups to be used as single deployment units. Bundles can be exported to a file and imported to another PC so you can exchange your deployment configurations with colleagues.

Using filters to configure target PCs

In the Professional edition of the application, you can use filters to configure PCs where deployment operations should be executed. You can define a filter as a condition that uses properties of remote PCs such as the OS version and type, the service pack, the language, the installed software, etc. As a result, the deployment will be performed only on the target PCs that satisfy the filter condition. For example, using a filter, you can configure deployment to be performed only on Windows 7 x64 PCs that have Adobe Reader 11 installed.

Collections

Collection objects are introduced to replace Custom Groups. A collection can include a set of static machines, and queries, that report PCs dynamically based on the defined conditions. In the Professional edition of the application you can also configure a filter that should be applied to select the PCs that satisfy the filter condition. Collection configuration is identical to configuration of targets in deployment operations, so you can create collections and then use them to configure deployment targets.

Retrieving additional inventory data

During software scanning, the application extracts additional information from network PCs, including the operating system version and type, service pack, language, etc. The collected information is displayed in the All Machines view and can be used in deployment operations to filter target PCs.

Improved logging system

You can check the statuses of remote operations, see error messages and get troubleshooting information in the Execution Results and Application Log views. The Execution Results view provides information about all deployment and audit operations. The Application Log view shows the statuses of the rest of operations, such as network enumeration, etc. Both views report detailed information, including troubleshooting suggestions.

New and improved features

Features below were firstly introduced or significantly improved in this release:

• Added an option to repeat execution of a task on the PCs where the task failed
• Improved the user interface to implement the windows docking technology, which allows you to reorganize the application views layout according to your needs
• Reorganized the Ribbon bar layout to improve the usability
• Improved the drag/drop, copy/paste and import/export behavior
• Reworked the context menus and the toolbars
• Added an option to use the Ribbon buttons when a floating view is active
• Optimized the UI rendering performance and decreased the system resources required to run the application

Collections settings

The Preferences dialog now includes the new section that defines the default settings for Collections. In this section you can configure the application to get information about machines from network or the application database when running machine queries in Collections. Also you can enable OS properties and inventory information caching to use the cached information in Machine Filters. Using locally stored data can significantly improve Collections performance.

Using cached data in filters

The application allows to filter deployment targets, based on a condition. For example, you can select target remote PCs if they have a specific OS and/or software installed. In that case the application needs to extract OS properties and software inventory information from all target PCs to check it based on defined condition. If you already have OS properties and inventory information for remote PCs then you can configure the application to use these cached data instead of requesting data remotely to improve performance. You can enable using cached data in Preferences for all Collections or override global settings in a Collection.

Using inventory to select deployment targets

Now you can use the collected software inventory information to define deployment targets. Application views that display inventory information now include the Machine item in the context menu, that allows to initiate deployment operation for selected PCs. This option can be useful in the different cases, for example, to update a specific application. In the Software Inventory view you can see PCs where the application is installed and can perform deployment operation to distribute update on the displayed PCs.

New and improved features

Features below were firstly introduced or significantly improved in this release:

• The users on remote Machines are now allowed to initiate an immediate reboot from the notification dialog

Resolved issues

This release contains a set of resolved issues, including most important ones, listed below:

• The application database containing specific network structures cannot be loaded
• It is impossible to update the application using the Live Update feature. It is required to download the setup from the web-site to perform the update.

New and improved features

Features below were firstly introduced or significantly improved in this release:

• The application supports Microsoft Windows 10 and .NET Framework 4.6
• The security of the remote service is improved

New and improved features

Features below were firstly introduced or significantly improved in this release:

• The application supports Microsoft Windows 10 and .NET Framework 4.6
• The security of the remote service is improved