Teams Machine Wide Installer Options as Transform

Question

Teams Machine Wide Installer Options as Transform

James Edmonds 831

Hi,

Is it possible to take some of the Teams Machine Wide Installer options such as:
OPTIONS="noAutoStart=true"
ALLUSERS=1
etc. and put them into a transform file that can be used in Group Policy assigned software settings?

Thanks
James

Yuki Sun-MSFT 41,376 Reputation points Moderator

2022-03-17T04:03:56.19+00:00

Hi @James Edmonds ,

For OPTIONS="noAutoStart=true", there's a Group Policy setting "Prevent Microsoft Teams from starting automatically after installation" that can also be used to disable auto launch for the MSI installer:

More details can be found via Bulk install Teams using Windows Installer (MSI)

But as can be seen in the image above, there are no group policy settings available for other options like "ALLUSERS=1".
James Edmonds 831 Reputation points

2022-03-17T10:45:36.323+00:00

Thanks.

Yes, I saw this but there is a caveat to our use case;
We only want to apply this for two particular machines (remote app hosts).
As it's a per user setting, we would need to enable group policy loopback for this particular OU, which should be fine but I wanted to keep the group policy side of things simple. Therefore, if we can set it at install time using a transform and assigned software group policy, we can target it at the machines in a slightly simpler way.

For now I have just run the command line manually, but I know we have to keep the MWI up to date so it may be something we repeatedly have to consider during udpdates.

Many thanks.
James
Yuki Sun-MSFT 41,376 Reputation points Moderator

2022-03-21T08:19:25.003+00:00

Therefore, if we can set it at install time using a transform and assigned software group policy, we can target it at the machines in a slightly simpler way.

Thanks James for the clarification. But from what I am aware of, I am afraid I cannot think of a way to realize this.
James Edmonds 831 Reputation points

2022-03-31T11:59:55.89+00:00

An additional query I have;
If we manually install this onto some machines using the OPTIONS="noAutoStart=true" parameter, and then push the MSI using group policy, will the group policy install honour the original noAutoStart=true setting, or will it override that and use the default of auto starting the app?

If it honours it, then I guess we just do a manual install with these options set initially, then just use group policy assigned software to deploy new versions over time.

Thanks
James
Yuki Sun-MSFT 41,376 Reputation points Moderator

2022-04-01T08:39:00.713+00:00

Hi @James Edmonds ,

As far as I know, the OPTIONS="noAutoStart=true" needs to be specified during the Teams Machine-Wide Installer installation, so personally I don't think it's gonna work. But it's worth giving it a go and see how it goes.
James Edmonds 831 Reputation points

2022-04-01T18:35:57.54+00:00

So, I had deployed MSI 1.4 manually using these parameters.
I then downloaded the more recent 1.5 MSI and replaced the assigned app in my GPO.

After I updated policies and restarted, the newer MSI was installed, but it seemed to honour the no auto start option.
I logged in with an existing user that had Teams deployed from the MSI and it did not auto start.
I then logged in as a new user, Teams was deployed (no desktop shortcut oddly) and it also did not start.

So for small scale deployments, I think an initial manual deploy is best, followed by updates of the MSI via GPO.
Perhaps the solution for larger scale deployments is a startup script that runs MSIEXEC with the MSI as an input plus the parameters discussed here.
Clunky, but then Teams has always been clunky.

Cheers
James
Yuki Sun-MSFT 41,376 Reputation points Moderator

2022-04-04T08:37:08.947+00:00

So for small scale deployments, I think an initial manual deploy is best, followed by updates of the MSI via GPO.

Cool! Great to know that it worked and many thanks for your sharing!

Your answer

Yuki Sun-MSFT 41,376 Reputation points Moderator

2022-03-17T04:03:56.19+00:00

Hi @James Edmonds ,

For OPTIONS="noAutoStart=true", there's a Group Policy setting "Prevent Microsoft Teams from starting automatically after installation" that can also be used to disable auto launch for the MSI installer:

More details can be found via Bulk install Teams using Windows Installer (MSI)

But as can be seen in the image above, there are no group policy settings available for other options like "ALLUSERS=1".
James Edmonds 831 Reputation points

2022-03-17T10:45:36.323+00:00

Thanks.

Yes, I saw this but there is a caveat to our use case;
We only want to apply this for two particular machines (remote app hosts).
As it's a per user setting, we would need to enable group policy loopback for this particular OU, which should be fine but I wanted to keep the group policy side of things simple. Therefore, if we can set it at install time using a transform and assigned software group policy, we can target it at the machines in a slightly simpler way.

For now I have just run the command line manually, but I know we have to keep the MWI up to date so it may be something we repeatedly have to consider during udpdates.

Many thanks.
James
Yuki Sun-MSFT 41,376 Reputation points Moderator

2022-03-21T08:19:25.003+00:00

Therefore, if we can set it at install time using a transform and assigned software group policy, we can target it at the machines in a slightly simpler way.

Thanks James for the clarification. But from what I am aware of, I am afraid I cannot think of a way to realize this.
James Edmonds 831 Reputation points

2022-03-31T11:59:55.89+00:00

An additional query I have;
If we manually install this onto some machines using the OPTIONS="noAutoStart=true" parameter, and then push the MSI using group policy, will the group policy install honour the original noAutoStart=true setting, or will it override that and use the default of auto starting the app?

If it honours it, then I guess we just do a manual install with these options set initially, then just use group policy assigned software to deploy new versions over time.

Thanks
James
Yuki Sun-MSFT 41,376 Reputation points Moderator

2022-04-01T08:39:00.713+00:00

Hi @James Edmonds ,

As far as I know, the OPTIONS="noAutoStart=true" needs to be specified during the Teams Machine-Wide Installer installation, so personally I don't think it's gonna work. But it's worth giving it a go and see how it goes.
James Edmonds 831 Reputation points

2022-04-01T18:35:57.54+00:00

So, I had deployed MSI 1.4 manually using these parameters.
I then downloaded the more recent 1.5 MSI and replaced the assigned app in my GPO.

After I updated policies and restarted, the newer MSI was installed, but it seemed to honour the no auto start option.
I logged in with an existing user that had Teams deployed from the MSI and it did not auto start.
I then logged in as a new user, Teams was deployed (no desktop shortcut oddly) and it also did not start.

So for small scale deployments, I think an initial manual deploy is best, followed by updates of the MSI via GPO.
Perhaps the solution for larger scale deployments is a startup script that runs MSIEXEC with the MSI as an input plus the parameters discussed here.
Clunky, but then Teams has always been clunky.

Cheers
James
Yuki Sun-MSFT 41,376 Reputation points Moderator

2022-04-04T08:37:08.947+00:00

So for small scale deployments, I think an initial manual deploy is best, followed by updates of the MSI via GPO.

Cool! Great to know that it worked and many thanks for your sharing!

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Teams Machine Wide Installer Options as Transform

Your answer