How to deploy Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 and 2013?

Description

This document provides steps required to deploy Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 or 2013 to multiple computers using Desktop Central.

Steps

Before you deploy the software application, ensure that the computers to which you deploy Microsoft Visual Studio meet the system requirements prescribed by Microsoft. Refer to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/4c26cc39%28v=vs.90%29.aspx  and http://www.visualstudio.com/products/visual-studio-2013-compatibility-vs for more details.

To deploy Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 or 2013, follow the steps given below:

1. Create a common network share to store the required installable file. Network share is recommended only while you wanted to deploy the software to computers within the network. If you wanted to deploy Microsoft Visual Studio to computers located in a remote location, you can use HTTP upload.

Note: The network share should have read permissions to Everyone in the group and should be accessible from all the computers to which you are trying to install.

2. Copy the Contents of the CD or DVD to the network share created in step 1

3. Create an Unatted file for deployment.

1. Edit the AdminDeployment.xml located within the installable files and change the value of the NoWeb attribute of the BundleCustomizations element from "default" to "yes" as below:
   
   <BundleCustomizations TargetDir="default" NoWeb="default"/> to
   <BundleCustomizations TargetDir="default" NoWeb="yes"/>
2. In addition to the above, you can also customize few other attributes as mentioned in the table below. While the above change is mandatory, the others are optional:
   

   Element	Attribute	Values	Description
   BundleCustomizations	TargetDir	Path	Behaves the same as overriding the path in the user interface of the installation application. This element is ignored if Visual Studio is already installed.
   SelectableItemCustomization	Hidden	Yes|No	If the value of this element is Yes, hides a Selectable item in the customization tree.
   SelectableItemCustomization	Selected	Yes|No	Selects or clears a selectable item in the customization tree.

   
   
3. Save the changes.

4. Add the package in Desktop Central

1. Click the Software Deployment tab
2. Click Add Package
   
3. Select the MSIEXEC/EXE/ISS/Command package type
4. Specify a name for the application
5. Specify the Installation Command with Switches/Arguments as below:
   
   <Network Share>\vs_professional.exe  /adminfile  <Folder_Path>\Admindeployment.xml  /quiet /norestart
   
   
6. Click Add Package

5. Deploy to target computers
   
   
1. Select the package that you added
2. Click Install/Uninstall Software
3. Enter a name and description for the configuration
4. Define the package settings
5. Configure the deployment settings
6. Choose the target computers
7. Specify the schedule options, if required
8. Click Deploy