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Nexthink Library

Application Management

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Application Management

Latest Version: 1.6.2.0
|
Updated on February 28, 2024
Install

Description

The Application Management pack helps you maintain healthy application life-cycle. Install and uninstall MSI based application as well as custom software often delivered as .exe files. Retrieve details from the Windows Event log about the last application crash.

Versions

  • 1.6.2.0 - 28 Feb 2024 - Updated OS requirements
  • 1.6.0.1 - 22 Jul 2022 - Fixed typo in "Get Application Crash Details" and "Install Application" Remote Actions
  • 1.6.1.0 - 19 Apr 2022 - Fixed issue with hash validation on "Install Application" Remote Action
  • 1.6.0.0 - 12 Apr 2022 - Removed input parameter and improved installer verification process on "Install Application" Remote Action
  • 1.5.0.1 - 06 Apr 2022 - Updated to fix a issue with the delivery on "Get Application Crash Details" Remote Action
  • 1.5.0.0 - 23 Dec 2021 - Added compatibility for Windows Servers on "Get Application Crash Details" Remote Action
  • 1.4.0.0 - 23 Dec 2021 - Improved uninstall string parsing for "Uninstall Application" Remote Action
  • 1.3.0.0 - 14 Apr 2021 - Updated "Install application" Remote Action description
  • 1.2.3.1 - 04 Nov 2020 - Updated "Uninstall application" and "Get Application Crash Details" Remote Actions
  • 1.2.3.0 - 29 Jun 2020 - Enforced "Install Application" Remote Action security
  • 1.2.2.0 - 29 Jun 2020 - Fixed "Application Management" Campaign
  • 1.2.1.0 - 15 Jun 2020 - Fixed "Uninstall Application" Remote Action
  • 1.2.0.0 - 15 Jun 2020 - Added Application update campaign
  • 1.1.0.0 - 06 Mar 2020 - Enhanced "Install Application" Remote Action
  • 1.0.1.0 - 06 Nov 2019 - Updated "Install Application" Remote Action documentation
  • 1.0.0.0 - Initial release

Required Products

Nexthink Act
Nexthink Engage

Platforms

Windows 7 or newer

Compatibility

V6.14 and later

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Install application

Script Description

Install applications using either the Microsoft Software Installer (MSI) or a custom installer.The Remote Action includes protection layers to provide secure installation method. That includes verification of the hash of the installer to be used or including the hash of the root CA of the installer within the remote action code.

Warning: This Remote Action starts the simultaneous download of the desired installation packages on all targeted devices. Please ensure that the available network capacity is appropriate for the number of targeted devices.

Execution context and suggested scheduling

Run the script as 'local system'. The script should be executed manually.

A timeout of 720 seconds is recommended.

Parameters

Label Description
Maximum Delay In Seconds Maximum random delay set to avoid network overload. Provide number of seconds lower than 600
Installer Source Provide URL or UNC path to retrieve the installer file. Example values: http(s)://domain/folder/installer.exe, \\server\SharedFolder\winrar-x64-571.exe
Installer Hash Provide expected file hash using SHA256 algorithm to verify delivered installer file. E.g. FD820BF82EDBAA4BE20FD3B644A05754D95D71DE60FE79AB983C3318E0697540
Install Parameters Provide optional arguments for the installer (either for .MSI or .EXE). Common parameter prefix and letters or numbers are allowed, such as /quiet, /noreboot, /s, /1, etc. Provide "" if no arguments are needed

Outputs

None.

Restrictions

Further Information

The installer path could be either an UNC path with read access or an URL. The MSI error codes are documented here.
If the application is already installed, it might be re-installed. User settings or application data may be lost.
If targeting a non-MSI-based application, it is frequently necessary to specify additional parameters for a silent install. Please visit official documentation from the application vendor.
Be aware of whether silent install parameters are omitted, the install process may be waiting forever for user action while the remote action terminated before completion. In such case, you need to kill the process before executing the remote action again.
To understand how to configure a network share to work properly with Nexthink Act, please visit this page.
To get the installer hash, type this command on a Windows 10 PowerShell session":" Get-FileHash -Path <PATH_TO_THE_FILE> -Algorithm SHA256.

If a installer hash is not provided, the hash of the root CA must be included within the remote action code. It must be populated as an additional line on TRUSTED_PUBLIC_CAS variable:
'7AF2D8FF9A3EDAC99CA3AE7F8FB4CCABB120C1E292BE0565A67C6F5B417A1AD1' = 'Adobe Acrobat DC Adobe Inc'
'XXXXXXHASHFROMTHEROOTCAFROMTHEINSTALLERMUSTBEINCLUDEDHEREXXXXXXX' = 'Name of the source'}

To obtain the hash of the root ca the following function can be used:

function Get-RootCASignature($ExecutablePath) {
$chain = New-Object -TypeName 'security.cryptography.x509certificates.x509chain'
$chain.Build((Get-AuthenticodeSignature -FilePath $ExecutablePath).SignerCertificate)
$rootCa = $chain.ChainElements | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Certificate -Last 1
$publicKey = ::UTF8.GetBytes($rootCa.GetPublicKeyString())
$hash = ::Create('SHA256').ComputeHash($publicKey)
return ::ToString($hash) -replace '-',
}

Then, run the following command: "Get-RootCASignature -ExecutablePath 'C:\Temp\executable.exe'".

Test Scenarios

TestInstallersWithWrongHashes
Test Case Trying to install MSI (7 zip, Tortoise Git) and custom installers (WinRAR) from URL and UNC paths whose hashes don't match with the one given as input parameter
Environment VM Windows 10 x64 EN, VM Windows 10 x86 EN, VM Windows 7 x64 FR, VM Windows 7 x64 DE
Results Failure - Installers hashes must match with the one given as input parameter
TestInstallersForx64Architecture
Test Case Trying to install MSI (7 zip) and custom installers (WinRAR) from URL and UNC paths only for x64 architectures
Environment VM Windows 10 x64 EN, VM Windows 10 x86 EN, VM Windows 7 x64 FR, VM Windows 7 x64 DE
Results Failure on the x86 machine and success on the x64 ones
TestMsiInstallersWithRandomParameters
Test Case Trying to install MSI installers (7 zip, Tortoise Git) from URL and UNC paths
Environment VM Windows 10 x64 EN, VM Windows 10 x86 EN, VM Windows 7 x64 FR, VM Windows 7 x64 DE
Results Success - Parameters are ignored when the given installer is MSI
TestWinRARInstallationWithoutParameters
Test Case Trying to install custom installer (WinRAR) from URL and UNC paths without any install parameter
Environment VM Windows 10 x64 EN, VM Windows 10 x86 EN, VM Windows 7 x64 FR, VM Windows 7 x64 DE
Results Failure - As the silent install was omitted, the RA finishes with timeout. In fact, it is necessary to kill the installer manually. Be aware of the install parameters before proceeding
TestWinRARInstallationWithParameters
Test Case Trying to install custom installer (WinRAR) from URL and UNC paths with silent install '/s'
Environment VM Windows 10 x64 EN, VM Windows 10 x86 EN, VM Windows 7 x64 FR, VM Windows 7 x64 DE
Results Success - Installation performed without prompting the user

Uninstall application

Script Description

Uninstalls applications using Microsoft Software Installer or custom uninstaller, depending on the application.

Execution context and suggested scheduling

Run the script as 'interactive user'. In some environments it might be necessary to run as 'local system'. The script should be executed manually.

A timeout of 300 seconds is recommended.

Parameters

Label Description
Application Name Full application name to be uninstalled
Uninstall Parameters If targeting a non-MSI-based application, provide optional options/arguments for the uninstaller. Common option prefixes and letters are allowed, such as /quiet, /noreboot, /s, etc. Depending on the Application vendor, options may be case-sensitive

Outputs

None.

Further Information

As first parameter for this script, type in the full name of the application as it is displayed on Programs and Features menu in Control Panel.
If targeting a non-MSI-based application, it is frequently necessary to specify additional parameters for a silent uninstall. In such case, please visit official documentation from the application vendor.
Be aware that omitting the silent uninstall parameters might cause the un-installation process to be stuck waiting for user interaction, causing a timeout.
Custom un-installation was developed and tested using 7-Zip latest binaries.

Test Scenarios

LogParameterPassed
Test Case Any of msiexec's "log" option variations is passed as uninstallation parameter
Environment VM Windows 10 x86/x64 (Multi-language) (1803/1809/1903)
Results Failure - Log parameter is not permitted due to security considerations. The application is not uninstalled.
SilentParameterPassed
Test Case The /S (silent) option is provided to uninstall the MSI package '7-Zip 19.00 ()'
Environment VM Windows 10 x86/x64 (Multi-language) (1803/1809/1903)
Results Success - Application is uninstalled successfully and no popups are displayed to end user

Get Application Crash Details

Script Description

This Remote Action helps organizations to gain an understanding of crashing applications on devices along with important information related to the crash.

The information is extracted from the Windows Event Log and contains useful details such as the application version, faulty module, error code and error description, which is helpful in troubleshooting scenarios.

Execution context and suggested scheduling

Run the script as 'local system'. The script should be executed manually.

A timeout of 120 seconds is recommended.

Parameters

Label Description
Application Name Name of the application. It has to be the exact executable name

Outputs

Label Type Description
Error Date DateTime Date when the error was recorded
App Name String Name of the application
App Name Version String Name of the application
Fault App Path String Path to the fault app
Module Name String Name of the module that was also affected
Module Name Version String Version of the module that was affected
Fault Module Path String Path to the fault module
Exception String The exception code obtained

Test Scenarios

WrongNameInputted
Test Case We executed the code in Windows 7/10 machines with a wrong application name.
Environment Windows 7 & 10 VMs with various languages
Results The code failed and displayed an error so it was fixed and managed.
Win7Error
Test Case We executed the code in Windows 7 machines with a correct application name.
Environment Windows 7 VMs with various languages
Results The code showed the language dependency and was fixed to allow different languages.
FullTest
Test Case We executed the code in Windows 7/10 machines with a correct application name.
Environment Windows 7 & 10 VMs with various languages
Results The code succeeded and displayed all the information as it should.