Firefox x64 failing to deploy [Answered]
Luke Barone
I have been having a problem for a couple weeks now (at least) with deploying Firefox 64-bit. I am trying to deploy to a Windows 7 x64 system, that used to run the 32-bit version (installed with PDQ originally). The 64-bit kept failing to deploy (the Install would run on the workstation, but it would just hang... No output, and PDQ times out after an hour). I tried to manually uninstall Firefox 32-bit, and install a fresh copy of the 64-bit Firefox from Mozilla's webpage. The system still will not deploy the new version of Firefox 64-bit. I have rebooted, and ensured that Firefox was not running before deploying. It's making no difference.
What else can I try?
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Yank that installer out and manually put it on a windows 7 x64 machine you are trying to deploy to and run the installer on a command line with the /S switch. That silent installs the program.
What is the output from that? Does it work? Hang? Error?
Post back and we can go from there
The command line given only had the parameter of "/INI="%CD%\Firefox.ini". I copied that file out too, and ran the command from the folder that had both those files in it. It brings up the installation wizard, which I promptly close. I'll try the /S switch like you proposed, and report back.
Assuming both the installer and ini are in C:\temp of the machine you are testing with, the command would look like this then:
setup_filename.exe /S /INI=firefox.ini
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Hi,
The .ini file is what tells the installer to be silent instead of silent parameters on this package. On the target machines giving you trouble take a look in the Windows\AdminArsenal directory and you'll see the processes and files being copied over during the deployment.
Under The Hood: How PDQ Deploy Installs Software to Remote Computers
Using the `/S` parameter on the install worked for me locally. As well, this time it did not wipe out all my cookies like it has before! I don't know why, but the `/INI="Firefox.ini"` parameter did not do it for me. I'm going to manually change the Mozilla Firefox 46.0 package to use /S instead, and see if that works on the next test system from within PDQ.
This seems to be working with a dev version that Jason sent me via email on a test system. It installed in about 30 seconds, so I did not have the full chance of looking in the Windows\AdminArsenal directory, but I can only assume it got installed properly
Awesome. Glad to hear you have made headway on it!
The dev build that we sent has a fix to bypass something called the File Watcher in Windows which might have been "squashing" the ini file. This is included in Deploy 9 as well so if you upgrade you should be all set.
After further testing, I realized it was not the end-all issue. On my first computer I was testing, I had the C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox folder in my %PATH% variable. Therefore, when PDQ executes Firefox Setup 46.0.exe, Firefox 32-bit would try to interpret the command, and just kind of... Stall? I removed the variable, rebooted, and Firefox deployed to that first computer as well.
Might be a bug with other programs, but I chatted with Jason via email, explaining what may be a good trick for avoiding that in future builds. His support was pretty awesome during all this.