Deploy SketchUp without desktop icons on client computers (.msi PublicProperties)

Developers
1

Hi,

I am a System Admin at a High School and am installing the SketchUp2015-x64.msi. I have deployed the software with a silent install but the teacher is requesting that it be done without desktop icons.

I have been unable to find this MSI’s Public Properties. I have tried the setting DESKTOPSHORTCUT=0 but it did not work and installed with desktop icons.

Can you list all the Public Properties for this MSI.

Note: I got the MSI by extracting the SketchUpMake-en-x64.exe wtih 7zip

Thanks

2

The installer writes them here:
“C:\Users\Public\Desktop”

You’re an Admin, so write a batch file to delete them.

3

HI psohal,

Not sure if you’ve already figured this out for your environment, but I was able to edit the MSI with the Orca tool from Microsoft SDK and remove the Shortcut table rows for the desktop icons:

  1. Download the SDK from Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=3138 )
  2. Install the Orca editor by double-clicking the Orca.msi file in the \Microsoft SDK\bin folder.
  3. Right-click the MSI and choose “Edit with Orca”
  4. Select the “Shortcut” tables. In the right-pane, you can right-click and choose “Drop Row” to remove the rows for desktopSketchUp.F(etc.), desktopLayout.F(etc.) and desktopStyelBuilder.F(etc.)
  5. Click Save
    If it does not work in your environment, you can always download or re-extract the original MSI to restore the default functionality.
4

Do MSI packages have certificates that would become invalid by tweekin’ them ?

5

And besides, that seems like a hassle compared to the easy way.

A batch script on the thumbdrive that first runs the unaltered MSI installation, and afterward, either:

  • moves the desktop shortcuts from the public desktop, to the default user desktop.
  • or deletes them altogether (as it seems the teachers do not want them to appear on the student desktops.)