Folding Forum

Hi All,
I apologise for wasting your time if this is discussed somewhere else but I cannot see it.
Is there a .msi somewhere about for the windows software from a reputable source?
Or maybe a method of installing unattended across many desktops?

Please ignore this observation if it is obviously flawed.
I can't be the first person to think of this so I would imagine there is an explanation. I just can't think what it could be or see where it is in the forum.

-Surely if you want to get companies involved (with lots of available computers) would it be an idea to make it as easy for them as possible?
A .msi file would be a great start and if there are other settings that can be manipulated in the registry then a .adm file would also be useful.
If it is as I believe through a non-editable binary config file then this could be generated during the administrative msi installation.

Any ideas, pointers (or flames)?

No one has produced one. If you have access to .msi compiling environment then you can write a nice HOWTO on that.

Hello Robskii, welcome to the forum.

That is a good question. The question of mass distribution of the fah client does come up often, but not in this manner. Part of the problem with mass distribution of the fah client is that the client End User License Agreement does not permit anyone to redistribute any of the fah clients. This helps to make sure all clients come from Stanford, and are not modified in any way. You could probably write an .MSI file for yourself, and you would not break the EULA. But if you shared the .MSI... So if someone has already done this, they don't advertise.

This is one way to install F@H at work. http://fahwiki.net/index.php/FoldingAtWork
Another way is to script a service installer like this: http://devel.bluetentacle.co.uk/index.p ... -installer

Or use that info to write your .msi. If you find a good solution, please share it.

Licensing... Ahh of course,
Thank you for your help 7im and Ivoshee, very useful information.
Upon study of the license conditions, it says

"You may not alter the software or associated data files"
"distribution is prohibited"

(with the latter is doesn't state the scope meaning that internal distribution could be deemed prohibited).
Whilst I'm sure clarification of the license or confirmation with an email would be satisfatory for our auditers, that page alone leaves too many unanswered questions. I am going to have to abandon this project I'm afraid, this is in part because I have lots of other time commitments too at the moment.

- There is no contact address to obtain the licensing information I need.
- I would have also hoped that Stamford would produce the .msi itself ruling out the possibility of outside tampering with their software.
- With a stamford produced .msi file available, there would also be no need for external sourcing of the .msi file. So no dodgy .msi files from strange websites.
- If a Stamford produced .msi file were available to me, I would roll it out. Am I alone I wonder?

Thanks for your help again folks

In fact you can build an installer, but your installer MUST download the client from Stanford server : you can't include the Client binaries in the installer.

The main problem is that you'll have to update your installer if the download location change.

Thanks 'toTOW', that sounds like a very good idea.
Not only can you comply with the licensing of the product but you can also rollout using group policy. A very tidy solution.

Unfortunately I would have to use Orka or an open source MSI creation tool as I have no professional tools available to me.
Also my .msi writing experience is limited so again I will be restricted by time taken to familiarise myself with it.
But thank you anyway for sharing your obvious experience in this area.
I would guess you don't get the number of WUs processed that you/your organisation has done by installing each client manually

Again I see obvious disadvantages for the project by not supplying .msi files. Each corporate installer will have to download the whole client using up project bandwidth (in order to be compliant with the licensing). An msi download would be once for many desktops.

I will try to design the appropriate msi when I have more time, thanks again everyone for your input. At least now I have a plan of attack