Unattended VMware player Install

[Elcephus]

Hello all,

Does anyone know how to do, or where I might find informatoin on, how to do an unattended VMware player installation?

[Elcephus]

I tried vmplayer.exe /? and got a nice usage screen that shows me some options /a : admin install /s: hide initialization etc. The option that I am interested in is the /v: Parameters to pass to installer.

When I run the install vmplayer.exe /a and specify a target directory I to the installation screen and it ask to to hit next, etc. I would like this all to be done with one command. What I am trying to do is create a batch file that will install vmplayer without any user interaction.

[evocator]

we got same issue here, anyone can help?

[PJN]

I use AutoIt - works like a charm.

Pete.

[ISEA]

VMware-Player-2.0.0_45731.exe /v"/qb REBOOT=ReallySuppress ALLUSERS=2 DESKTOP_SHORTCUT=0 QUICKLAUNCH_SHORTCUT=0 STARTMENU_SHORTCUT=0" /l "%TEMP%\VMware-Player-2.0.0_45731.log"

The Parameter /v passes the string provided to the msi installer included in the.exe, alternatively you can use /a to extract the installer et voilá you have a plain .msi package.

"REBOOT=ReallySuppress" does exactly what it suggests, the properties "*_SHORTCUTS" toggle if the respective shortcuts are created or not, but don't ask me about "ALLUSERS=2"...

What we don't know, but would really like to, is how you can activate Shared Folders by default (without user intervention). Any clues?

[RDPetruska]

>What we don't know, but

would really like to, is how you can activate Shared Folders by default

(without user intervention). Any clues?

Absolutely NOT! MAJOR security breach doing so!! If you are going to have shares in place, the user MUST be made aware of this.

[ISEA]

The user is aware of the Shared Folder, because there is only one Shared Folder in this VM specifically created and named for the only purpose to exchange Files with the VM.

I do not object the idea of Shared Folders being disabled by default, I just think there should be a way to override this default (with administrative rights and in the configuration of VMware Player, not in the .vmx) and even if you insist on the user having to explicitly allow Shared Folders, I think it would be convenient if the dialog warning about Shared Folders being defined but not active would also present an option to activate them.

Anyway you're definitely not the one to blame but maybe some VMware guy reads this and gets my point...

By the way, I just found out that you can drag'n'drop files between the VM and the host, that feature is probably even better in our use case, but with large files and files constantly being swapped between host and vm it might turn out to be slow, cumbersome and memory intensive.

[RDPetruska]

Just use standard network file shares - they are more reliable, robust, and most users already are aware of them. The issue with the VMware Shared Folders is that is bypasses the network, and users may not be aware of the existence of the share - since they (most of the time) did not create the guest VM, but obtained it from somewhere else, they are trusting the author of the VM. And it would be very easy for malware authors to take advantage of the Shared Folders.