Automatically deploying the Exclaimer Outlook Settings Update Client for remote users

Scenario:

If you have remote users who use computers that are not joined to the Active Directory domain to access your network, you can configure the system to deploy signatures to their local copy of Outlook - required setup to achieve can be found here.

As part of the setup process, the Exclaimer Outlook Settings Update Client (an MSI file) must be deployed to and then installed on each end user’s computer. This file is added to your Exclaimer Signature Manager Outlook Edition installation directory when the product is first installed, so it can be copied from here and distributed to remote users, as required. However, you may prefer to automate this process.

Solution:

You can automate the process of deploying the Exclaimer Outlook Settings Update Client to end users with command line options. These options must be run on each end user’s computer, so the simplest approach is to add the required command to a script (for example, InstallUpdateClient.bat) to be used for a Group Policy Object (GPO) install.

The following command-line options can be used:

UI_SMTPADDRESS

This is the SMTP address that will be used by the update client, and should be the user's primary email address. For example: user@companyname.com. Environment variables are supported in this parameter.

UI_REMOTELOCATIONURL

This is the website URL that contains signatures. For example: http://www.companyname.com/signatures.

INSTALLLOCATION

(Optional). This is the directory to install the application to. If this parameter is omitted, the default location is used, as below:

• On x86 computers: c:\program files\exclaimer ltd\client.
• On x64 computers: c:\program files\exclaimer ltd\client.

Example silent installation script

Msiexec /q /i “Exclaimer Outlook Settings Update Client.msi” UI_SMTPADDRESS=%username%@companyname.com UI_REMOTELOCATIONURL=”http://www.companyname.com/signatures” INSTALLLOCATION=”c:\signatureclient”

The script should be saved to a NETLOGON share, or another network share with appropriate permissions so that it can be used easily in a GPO. The Exclaimer Outlook Settings Update Client.MSI file must be copied to the same location.

This example script identifies the primary SMTP address for users by connecting to the Active Directory. It then silently installs the Exclaimer Outlook Settings Update Client (looking for Exclaimer Outlook Settings Update Client.MSI in the same directory).

Using GPO

The simplest option for using Group Policy is to add InstallClient.bat (or your own filename, if different) as a Logon script.

It should be added to the Logon Scripts folder of the required GPO (via the Group Policy Object Management Console).

For further information about Group Policy logon scripts please see this TechNet article.