[ovirt-users] Automating oVirt Windows Guest Tools installations

[Lev Veyde]

Hi Patrick,

First of all lets clear some misunderstanding here - you don't need to
manually install Python.
The installation of oVirt WGT is fully self contained, and while the oVirt
Guest Agent it includes is indeed programmed in Python, the version
included is converted using py2exe (check py2exe.org for more details if it
interests you) into a standalone executable (well, almost - just like
Windows version of Python.exe, it depends on Microsoft Visual Studio CRTL,
but we install it during the installation of the oVirt WGT).

Now about the automated installation. Generally we support silent
installation of oVirt WGT.
You just need to supply /S command parameter to the installer.
However there is a catch - unfortunately Windows will popup warning
messages due to the fact that the drivers supplied are non-WHQL'd. That is
because the drivers are signed by Red Hat, Inc. and not by Microsoft
certificate.

This is a security feature of Windows OS itself, and there is not much we
can do about it right now.
The side effect of this is that you need to manually approve the drivers
installation for each driver, or choose to trust all drivers from Red Hat,
Inc., and then no more popups will show up. Unfortunately, you still need
to do this manually at least once, and you can't pre-approve Red Hat, Inc.
to make this process automated. For more information on installing oVirt
WGT you can check this article:
http://community.redhat.com/blog/2015/05/how-to-install-and-use-ovirts-windows-guest-tools/
by yours truly.

There is a workaround though, and it's to create a program that will
automatically approve such unsigned drivers dialogs. It's relatively easy
to program with i.e. AutoIt scripting engine (check:
https://www.autoitscript.com/site/autoit/ ), which is free (like in free
beer, but unfortunately not as in freedom because source code for it is not
supplied). Note that you must be quite careful with that, as by doing so
you basically disabling the security mechanism that Microsoft had put in
place for a reason, and potentially you may unintentionally install other
non-WHQL'd drivers - if the installation attempt for these other drivers
will be made while your auto-approver program will run.

Thanks in advance,
Lev Veyde.
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