Skip to content

Apply Software Updates

Software updates are distributed as executable files that contain Microsoft .msp files. You can deploy these updates in a number of ways:

note

Patch log files are saved in the user's Windows temporary folder( %tmp%) with a generated name. The file naming convention for these log files is atmpatchxxxxxx.log.

Apply a Patch to a Workstation

When you open the downloaded software executable file, it unzips the files required to install the patch and opens a patch utility that you can use to apply the patch to a workstation.

Apply a patch to a workstation using the patch utility interface

  1. Before you start, check the following requirements:

    • You must have administrative rights for the workstation.

    • The Reflection version that the patch applies to must be installed on your workstation.

    • You may require access to the original installation files – either the distribution media or administrative installation point, depending on the original installation type.

  2. Download the executable file for the update.

  3. Close all running applications.

  4. Using Windows Explorer, locate the downloaded executable file and double-click the file. After the files needed to install the patch are extracted, a patch utility dialog box opens.

  5. Accept the license.

  6. In the Apply, Remove, or Save this update window, select Apply to the Local installation on this workstation and then click Finish.

    If the patch is successfully installed, a message is displayed indicating "The update was applied successfully."

  7. If problems occur, open the atmpatchxxxxxx.log file, created in each user's temporary folder.

Apply a Patch to an Administrative Installation

If you deploy Reflection from an administrative installation point, you can apply a patch to your administrative installation and then redeploy the Reflection MSI to users.

caution

Do not patch the administrative installation while users are running Reflection "from the network."

Apply a patch to an administrative installation and silently install it on workstations

  1. Before you start, check the following requirements:

    • You must have administrative rights for your administrative installation point.

    • The Reflection version that the patch applies to must be installed on the administrative installation point (as an administrative installation).

  2. Download the executable file for the update.

  3. Close all running applications so that system files can be updated if required.

  4. Using Windows Explorer, locate the downloaded update file and double-click the file. After the files needed to install the patch are extracted, the patch utility dialog box opens.

  5. Accept the license.

  6. In the Apply, Remove, or Save this update window, select Apply to the Administrative installation on a server and then click Finish. Then browse to the administrative installation location and select the Reflection MSI Installer Package.

    If the patch is successfully installed, a message is displayed indicating "The update was applied successfully."

  7. If problems occur, open the atmpatchxxxxxx.log file, created in the user's temporary folder.

  8. Deploy the MSI that includes the patch to users from your administrative installation point.

    The following commands silently install the patched MSI on workstations from the administrative installation point:

    msiexec /i path_to_admin.msi REINSTALLMODE=vomus REINSTALL=ALL /qn

    For example:

    msiexec /i "\\myserver\shared\AdminPoint\Reflectionv18.0SP2.msi" REINSTALLMODE=vomus REINSTALL=ALL /qn

    note

    If you prefer to use a command line to silently install the patch on your administrative installation, you can extract the .msp file as shown in To extract an msp file from the downloaded executable and then apply the .msp file to your administrative installation as follows:

    msiexec /p path_to_patch.msp /a path_to_admin.msi /qn

Directly Install a Patch on Workstations

If you deploy Reflection using an imaging technique or deployment tools such as Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) (rather than from an administrative installation point), you may want to either deploy the patch so that individual users can update their workstations, or deploy the patch automatically or silently.

In these cases, the you can extract the *.msp file from the Reflection patch executable and use the MSIEXEC command to apply the patch.

To extract an msp file from the downloaded executable

  1. From the distribution image, double-click the self-extracting executable update file.

    After the files needed to install the patch are extracted, the Patch Utility dialog box opens.

  2. Accept the license.

  3. In the Apply, Remove, or Save this update window, select Save to a file (*.msp) for later application and then click Finish.

  4. Save the .msp file.

To deploy the patch to workstations

  1. Extract the patch from the downloaded executable as shown above.

  2. Use your standard deployment tools along with MSIEXEC and the MSIEXEC command line switches to apply and deploy the service pack:

    msiexec /p file name.msp REINSTALL=ALL REINSTALLMODE=omus <switches>

    The following example uses the /qn switch to install the service pack with no user interface (a silent install).

    msiexec /p "E:\RTM Image\t170442.msp" REINSTALL=ALL REINSTALLMODE=omus /qn

Perform a new Installation with a Patch

You can install Reflection with a patch on a "clean" workstation (a workstation on which Reflection is not installed).

For example, you could use this approach to install Reflection with a service pack.

Use the following command to silently install Reflection to a "clean" workstation and apply a patch:

msiexec /i path_to_original.msi PATCH=path_to_patch.msp /qn