InstallPad is a brilliant open source app for Windows that lets you automate the download and installation of entire suites of programs. InstallPad relies on "application lists," which are XML files that tell it where to download the programs and how to install them. It has a built-in GUI for building and editing an application list (or you can edit XML by hand if you like), and you can select which applications from the list to install. The really cool part is that it does all of this silently. You don't have to play "Next, Next, Next, Next, Next, Next, Finish" game with the installers, because InstallPad does it for you. It also lets you pass arguments to the installers and invoke scripts when installation is complete. It can download from HTTP and FTP sources as well as run local installers or network resources. The obvious audience here is the network administrator who frequently has to bootstrap machines with the same bunch of apps, but it also has benefits for when you're doing a reformat-and-reinstall, or setting up a virtual machine with a bunch of apps.
Over at Lifehacker, Gina Trapani has
put together a few application lists for InstallPad, including a "PC Rescue Pack," "Media Pack," and a general-purpose "Lifehacker Pack." Don't miss 'em.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-01-2006 @ 5:53PM
Peter said...
Unless you are setting up a huge number of identical machines I don't really see the benefit of this. And if I was setting up lots of identical machines, I'd sysprep and image them.
If you rebuild your machine once a year, you're going to have to go to the site anyway to get an updated URL and maybe change your silent install script. By that the time you've done all that you might as well just do the install and be done with it. If you rebuild more often then that, syspreping and imaging a configured system is faster and easier.
Installing all the Windows Updates on a new system is more time consuming that downloading and installing the newest version of iTunes.
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11-04-2006 @ 6:59PM
glenn said...
Could this help with automating/getting the latest updates of software?
for example: on my machines, I use the great tools from sysinternals. But on the various machines, the latest version is not always present. Instead of manually downloading and unzipping the files, it would be great to click one button to check and update if needed.
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