Table of Contents
Installation Tips
Overview
There are four installation files for Digital-Clay:
- DigitalClayInstall.exe for installing the server or a full development workstation: ClayStation, ClayStudio, ClayIntegrator, and optionally, ClayCentral. Note that if an end-user requires the ClayStudio or ClayIntegrator tools then you must run this installer. Otherwise:
- DigitalClayStationInstall.exe for installing the ClayStation desktop client only for end-users.
- DigitalClayOutlookInstall.exe for installing the ClayStation add-on for Outlook only for end-users.
- DigitalClayWebInstall.exe for installing Web ClayStation and its support files on a web-server machine only.
Each of these installations install several support files and components, some of which are stored in the Windows SysWOW64/System32 folder.
Due to the fact that the installation needs to install and register shared components, the installer almost always needs administrator access. On Windows Vista and later, the installer automatically runs as administrator (and may ask permission for this beforehand).
All data files (see Data) and settings are left untouched by both the installer and the uninstaller. If you wish to remove DigitalClay completely from your computer, you will need to delete the C:\DigitalClay folder manually.
Multiple Windows Users
The main DigitalClayInstall as well as DigitalClayWebInstall both install for all Windows users by default.
The ClayStation and Outlook installations offer an option of installing Digital-Clay for either 'All users' or 'Only for me'. Keep in mind the following issues regarding this option:
- When installing on a machine with multiple Windows users, you may choose either option as appropriate.
- When installing for 'All users', each additional Windows user will see the installer window load briefly during his/her first run of Digital-Clay.
Command-Line Parameters
Digital-Clay installs are standard Installshield installers containing a standard msiexec installer package. They can therefore accept all the standard parameters for automated deployment. For reference, see:
Installer parameters
MSIexec parameters
MSIexec properties
Some useful installer parameters:
/S : Hide initialization screen
/V : Pass parameters to msiexec
/X : Run uninstaller
/A : Administration installation for extracting the MSI, etc
Some examples:
DigitalClayInstall.exe /V/passive
No user interaction but show progress bars
DigitalClayInstall.exe /S /V/qn
Completely quiet/invisible installation using default parameters
DigitalClayInstall.exe /S /V"/qn /l*v C:\Clay.log"
Quiet install with verbose logging for the installer and log to C:\Clay.log
DigitalClayInstall.exe /S /V"/qn ADDDEFAULT=ALL"
Install with ClayCentral
Old issue with the above option: Old versions of the installer may not install the ClayCentral Windows service. To install and run ClayCentral you must also run the following command-line actions to install and run the service (as administrator):
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Digital-Clay\Central\service.exe" -install -SName=ClayCentral -Command=C:\Program Files (x86)\Digital-Clay\Central\ClayCentral.exe -Process=ClayCentral.exe -DisplayName=ClayCentral
NET START ClayCentral
DigitalClayInstall.exe /S /X /V/qn
Silent uninstall
To run the installer in a batch file and wait for the installer to exit:
start /WAIT DigitalClayInstall.exe /w
MSI Installers:
To extract a full single MSI file from the exe use:
DigitalClayInstall.exe /b[c:\PathForExtractedFiles]
The MSI will be extracted immediately and then you can simply cancel the installer wizard.
Alternatively, run the installer as usual and get the MSI file from your %temp% folder.
To extract prerequisites that may need to be installed before the Clay installer:
DigitalClayInstall.exe /a[c:\PathForExtractedFiles]
To extract an administrative MSI installer (a smaller MSI plus extracted folders and files to be installed):
DigitalClayInstall.exe /a
Custom Installations
Using the above command-line parameters, one can package Digital-Clay inside another application, or develop a Digital-Clay system and then deploy the same system to multiple companies using custom installations. There are some issues that need to be taken into account however:
- VERY IMPORTANT: Every Digital-Clay database has its own unique DB identifier stored inside the database. When offline clients are synchronizing their data, this identifier is compared to ensure that data from one database isn't dumped into a completely different database. This means that if you are distributing a database that you built instead of building a new database per company, the DBID value (in the DBID table) must be manually deleted from the database before distribution.
- If ClayCentral settings must be pre-defined for an installation, you may need to install registry values as well as the database.
- By default, ClayCentral stores and reads its data from the \DigitalClay folder on the system drive. On some machines, this may not necessarily mean the C drive. Keep this in mind if you are auto-installing an mdb database, profiles, templates, etc. into the \DigitalClay folder.
Other Issues
For deploying profiles to all users, see Profile Management. For deploying profiles during an installation, see Role Deployment.
After the initial installation is complete on each machine, users may update Digital-Clay automatically using Auto-Updates.
For custom branding or customizing the logos, see Custom Logo.