Internet Explorer MSI

All the IEAK does is allow you to create a custom installation, and what it compiles is an ie6setup.exe and collection of CAB files... two things that I already have!  (see question... "I've now resorted to including the original ie6setup.exe and all its cab files in my MSI and simply running them, but I'm not sure if this is ideal.")

I did read it but assumed you were doing this manually.  IEAK will allow you to customize IE anyway you want and include only necessary cabs depending on what options you want to install.  This is the most ideal solution I have ever seen for deploying IE.  It can be a silent install assuming you choose that option from IEAK.  I think it is advantageous to just placing all cabs in the folder and copying the install and running it.  It will allow for more customization.  Yes this can certainly be configured manually but creating an inf file that does all that IEAK can do is failry hard and time consuming...Just a thought I realize it may be similar to what you already have but it will be a little less work and will be more customized.  I am sure it is possible from past experience to package nearly anything but many times it is not worth the time and effort if there is a comparable solution such as using IEAK and running the install from any means you choose whether it be locally or remotely.

Dis

If I used this, how would it be deployed?  Needs to be automatic and silent to 500+ users.

When you finish with answering all the questions in IEAK, you can roll it all into one big .exe file (Which is what I did.)  then you can copy the .exe to all the workstations or mount it to a network location, and build a .MSI to just run the .exe, or you can create a login script to automatically run the file on login.  It might take some time this way (our custom IE deployment took about 5 minutes to run) but it will deploy.

It will create an executable that is silent however the only problem I have found is that there is no way to specify it to not reboot PC.  Though in all honesty I haven't tried very hard.  When I implemented it, it was in a login script that asked the user to wait and not close the window and that the PC would reboot.  The script checked for a particular file's date, if it was the correct date it didn't do anything but if it wasn't it installed the update.  It could be done in the logoff script as well just ask users to reboot and not wait for their PC to turn off as software will install.

Actually after toying with it I found out how to stop the reboot.

The command below will prevent reboot...of course replacing the directories with the appropriate directories or network shared drives.  I would suggest running this command from the directory where ie6wzd exists.  It may be easier to move the ie6wzd file to the same directory as the setup file.  I ran this command from the default install location of the IE6wzd which is under the IEAK6 directory in the Tools folder.  It does prevent the reboot...This uses what MS calls IEXPRESS you can read more about it and find this syntax from the help file that downloads with IEAK6.  

C:\builds\10272004\FLAT\WIN32\EN\ie6setup.exe /R:N /c:"ie6wzd"

As for how to run it you can also create an MSI to just run the setup which I think is what you were doing or using a login/logoff script.  You can use utilites like psexec or another remote command execution program to execute this command on any PC that you needed.  The only thing you would need is a list of PCs.  then setup the appropriate syntax and test it out first before deployment.

Dis

As suggested by talphius, another good feature of IEAK is that you will be able to choose an installation that will work despite the logged in user not having admin rights.  IEAK is pretty self explanatory and will tell you what each feature does when you choose it and has a help file to go with it.  An MSI wrapper would work as well and then you could deploy it through WISE or Group Policy

Thanks for all your comments.

I'm going to go off and try all these suggestions.

As a programmer who's been roped into filling in for this damn packaging since our build expert left, I've found the IE6 deployment a bloody nightmare as my first assignment!!!

I can't find a way to include this User Rights Deployment feature that was mentioned.  Will keep looking...

There are a couple of sections in the IEAK6 wizard that mention whether users have admin rights or not, this is what it is referring too.

I'm got the checkbox checked for "Enable logon after restart with user-level access", which then mentions that this option should be used for installations with users who don't have admin rights.  That's all I've found, and it hasn't helped, unfortunately.  Setup won't run.

Oh, forgot something...

I've also selected "Display the Subset of IEAK policies for Non-Admin users"

The restricted desktops here just don't seem to like this package, they refuse to run it.

You read through the deployment guide?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/810011/EN-US/#4

See also IEAK Deployment Guide - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ieak/techinfo/deploy/60/en/default.mspx

Just wanted to let you guys know I've not abandoned this question.

I haven't worked on the IE problem in a good while now, having thankfully gone back to my development role, but am looking at it again today and will award points soon.

Thanks for your help, you two, and sorry for the delay in awarding points.