Friday, July 30, 2010

Extract Java .msi installer for software deployment

If you want to deploy Java software in an Active Directory environment, you can easily use Group Policy to install it on multiple machines. Here's how to get the msi installer file you'll need for the deployment:

1. Download the Java Offline installer from here for the browser you're using. If you don't know whether you're using a 32 or 64 bit browser, go with 32 bit. Not everything runs in a 64 bit browser (yet), so even the Windows 7 64 bit OS still defaults to the 32 bit version of Internet Explorer.

2. Start the Java Offline installer, but don't proceed with the actual install. Starting the installer creates the files you need in a temporary location.

3. Go to your Application Data folder. For each version of Windows it can be a bit different, and it is also a hidden folder

Windows Vista/7: C:\Users\username\AppData\LocalLow\Sun\Java\
Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Sun\Java\

4. In the Java folder you will find folders for each version of Java you have installed on that machine. Open the one named for the version of Java you want to extract the .msi file from

5. Here you'll find the .msi installer, along with its supporting files. Copy the contents of the folder to a network share and from there you can deploy that version of Java using Group Policy software installation.

You can find the official Sun/Oracle document here.