Best practices for deploying applications within a Config. Mgr 2. 01. 2 Task Sequence. When you decide to install Applications during your OS Deployment using Configuration Manager, there are some caveats which must be taken into account. Applications installed during a task sequence must be installed completely silent, that means that no user interaction is allowed. Some points of attention are Task Sequence runs in the context of the System account. There is no Explorer. Task Sequence. Installation must be fully unattended, no user interaction is allowed. The installer may never initiate a reboot, it should return return code 3. Config. Mgr will then take care of the reboot when needed. During many of my project building Task Sequences for customers Ive build a way to test successful installation of an Application during a Task Sequence. This is detailed in the Flowchart below Step 1 Intake of the application. During application intake, we collect all the information we can find for the application. In my opinion this information should be stored in a central place for example your DSL. We need the following Application Sources. Error Installation Failed With Error 1618 Windows' title='Error Installation Failed With Error 1618 Windows' />Installation Manual, which in the most ideal situation tells you exactly which parameters should be used for silent installation. Application settings which you ideally determine together with the application owner, a senior user actually using the application. We also need to determine the Name of the manufacturer, the name of the Application and the version. Step 2 Test Silent Application installation. First of all, you need to determine if the application has some requirements of other applications which should be installed for it to work correctly. Within Config. Mgr we can then install the required applications first before actually deploying the application we need. 3D Graphics Accelerator Download Free here. Determine the silent installation parameters, some common parameters are listed below but finding out the exact parameters can be a hard task. I really urge you to join the ITNinja community which has a lot of information about application packaging and unattended installation parameters. Windows Installer. Description. Option. Install the specified MSIi. Remove the specified MSIxremove. Install to the C drive, not just the drive with the most free space. ROOTDRIVEC Install silently with no user interfaceqn. Improve your productivity and save time. Let your system work for you. FB62F2564F103150?v=1.0' alt='Error Installation Failed With Error 1618 Windows' title='Error Installation Failed With Error 1618 Windows' />Create a verbose a the path and filename specifiedlv c windowsccmlogslt unique. ID lt applicationname. Do not allow the machine to be rebooted following installation. REBOOTReally. Suppress. Install. Shield Legacy Setup. Description. Option. Execute the installation while recording any wizards responses in an ISS answer file at the specified name and pathr f. ISS fileRun a silent installation using the specified ISS answer files f. ISS fileDo not release the current session until the installation is completesms. Install. Shield Windows Installer Setup. Description. Option. Silently install and pass the specified parameters to be included Windows Installer Setups vqnWindows Installer parametersDescription. Option. Install the specified MSIi. Remove the specified MSIxremove. Install to the C drive, not just the drive with the most free space. ROOTDRIVEC Install silently with no user interfaceqn. Create a verbose a the path and filename specifiedl lt location of logfile name. Do not allow the machine to be rebooted following installation. REBOOTReally. Suppress. X/e/ee093a05b1c126109a9e15542f4376c3f92033da.png' alt='Error Installation Failed With Error 1618 Windows' title='Error Installation Failed With Error 1618 Windows' />Important Its important that you enable logging in your unattended application installation. Config. Mgr executes the installation parameters and determines successful installation based on the return code which is returned. Everything that happens in between should be logged somewhere in order for you to determine what goes on during installation, and what went wrong when an application failed to install successfully. Step 3 Test application installation in a Task Sequence. In all of my task sequences I created a run command line step named Pause TS to check for whatever Debug which is disabled by default. This run command line step runs a script which pauses the Task Sequence allowing me to press F8 to start a command prompt from which I can test my application installation. The script I use is listed below, I got this script from Niall Brady, who runs the Windows noob website, another useful resource for SCCM related information. Save the code below in a. MDT integrated of course in order to use the script. You Run command line step should contain cscript. If you put the script in your scripts folder of your MDT Files Package you will be able to execute it successfully. Env  lt script languageVBScript src. ZTIUtility. VBScript Dim o. TSProgress. UIset o. TSProgress. UI Create. ObjectMicrosoft. SMS. TSProgress. UIo. TSProgress. UI. Close. Progress. DialogOn error resume next. Msg. Box Pausing TS. PAUSE  lt script lt job From the command prompt, map a network drive to a place where you have stored the application, and try to run the application using the parameters you determined in step 2. Also make sure the logfile is created on the place you specified, and open the logfile in order to determine if application installation was successful. Step 4 Create Application in Config. Mgr and test your task Sequence. When you can successfully install the application using the method described in step 3 its time to integrate your application installation in your common task sequence. Create the application as described in this article Keep in mind that when you create the application that you enable the setting Allow this application to be installed from the Install task sequence action instead of deploying it manually and that you allow the application to be installed whether or not a user is logged on. If you have the Pause TS to check for whatever Debug still enabled you should disable this step again. Test your task sequence with your new application added. After installation check both the App. Enforce. log which details how the application installation was executed and the logfile which you specified during your application installation in order to determine if application installation was successful. Step 5 Test Application Deployment and Application uninstallation. Keep in mind that most applications that you create in Config. Mgr should also be deployed and uninstalled at some point in time. Make sure that you also test these scenarios as well. As a last note here are some things to consider as well First Sometimes installing an application can trigger other application installations as well. Which could break your task sequence. Take for example the Mc. Afee framework installation. This installation installs the Mc. Afee agent, which contacts the Mc. When you attempt to run Windows Installer, or a program dependent on it, you may have experienced the 1618 error. This error means that you have more than. These error codes are returned by the Windows Installer functions MsiExec. InstMsi. exe. Afee e. PO server. This server will then sent additional installations to the client based on set policy. Say for example that your task sequence is still running and installing applications, you can end up in a situation where the e. PO server initiates an installation, and the next application which gets installed in the Task Sequence fails because another installation is already running error code 1. Second Most ideally you should separate application installation and application configuration from each other. Having this separation allows has several benefits.