[ovirt-users] Automating oVirt Windows Guest Tools installations

[Patrick Russell]

Thank you Lev for the clarification. We had been installing manually via the ISO, but I had mis-read some other articles about using python to automate the process.

I will pass on the notes around /S and your article to our internal windows team. Maybe they have some ideas around the cert store, or at the very least pass off the manual instructions to our NOC.

I appreciate the response,
Patrick

On Jun 17, 2015, at 2:55 PM, Lev Veyde <lveyde at gmail.com<mailto:lveyde at gmail.com>> wrote:

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<http://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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