ITHIT Web Browser Extension and Protocol handler Deployment (GPO) for Windows

Introduction

This document describes how to distribute and installing the ITHIT browser extension and protocol handler for Highstage.

Protocol handler for windows

Protocol App Installation Privileges

The protocol application supports dual-mode installation, providing the 'Only for me' option to perform per-user installation and the 'Anyone who uses this computer' option for per-machine install.

• In the case of the 'Only for me' option, the protocol application can be installed by the account with ‘Standard User’ permissions. Administrative privileges are NOT required (unless the Web Client service needs to be started on Windows 7, see below).
• In the case of the 'Anyone who uses this computer' option, administrative privileges are required. Note that administrative privileges are required only to install the protocol application. To use the installed application and open documents, administrative privileges are NOT required.

Web Client Windows Service

The protocol application on Windows requires Web Client Windows service to be running when opening documents.

• On Windows 8.1 and later: In case the Web Client is stopped, it will be automatically started when opening a document. Administrative privileges are NOT required.
• On Windows 7: The Web Client would NOT start automatically if it is stopped. Instead, the protocol app installer and protocol application itself (when opening a document) verifies the status of the Web Client service and offers to start the service in case it is not running. Starting the Web Client service requires administrative privileges, including when installing with the 'Only for me' option. The Web Client service will be also configured to automatically start when Windows starts.

Note that the Web Client service must not be disabled. If it is in the disabled mode it will start neither automatically nor via installer/protocol app and the document opening fails.

Protocol App Installer Parameters

Protocol application installer provides the following installer parameters:

• WEBCLIENTAUTOSTART

Specifies if Web Client Windows service must be started during install and configured to autostart.

Values: "1" - start and configure autostart. "" - do not start and configure autostart. The default is "1".

• INSTALLWEBBROWSEREXTENSIONS

Available in v5.17 and later only. Specifies if web browser extensions for Chrome and Microsoft Edge Chromium should be installed. When installing web browser extensions via group policy, do NOT install web browser extensions via the installer, set this property to "".

Values: "1" - install extensions. "" - do not install extensions. The default is "1".

• MSIINSTALLPERUSER

Installs protocol app for the current user ('Only for me' option) or for all users ('Anyone who uses this computer' option).

Values: "1" - for current user. "" - for all users. Default is "1".

• ALLUSERSEDGEPOLICYMODIFY

Specifies if the Classic Edge policy must be updated during install. Required to install Edge extensions for all users in case installation is performed for all users (with MSIINSTALLPERUSER="1" parameter). Note that this parameter is for Classic Edge only, it has no impact on Microsoft Edge Chromium.

Values: "1" - change Edge policies to install an extension for all users, "" - do not change Edge policies and install an extension for current user only. Default is "".

• REMOVEWEBBROWSEREXTENSIONS

Available in v5.14 and later only. Specifies if web browser extensions should be removed during uninstall. You will specify this parameter during uninstall only if you do not plan to reinstall the protocol application. As soon as web browser extensions are updated automatically typically you do not need to uninstall and then reinstall them when updating the protocol application.

Values: "1" - remove web browser extensions. "" - do not remove web browser extensions. Default is "".

Common used sample:

msiexec /i "<full path to>\ITHitEditDocumentOpener.msi" MSIINSTALLPERUSER= FILESIZELIMITINMB=4095 SIDELOADPOLICYMODIFY=1 ADDLOCAL=ALL ALLUSERS=1 REBOOT=ReallySuppress /qn

Unattended Install

To run unattended installation use the following commands:

To install for all users. Administrative privileges are required. The below example installs the application for all users, starts the Web Client Windows service if stopped and configures Web Client service auto-start.

xxxxxxxxxx
msiexec /i ITHitEditDocumentOpener.msi /qb MSIINSTALLPERUSER="" WEBCLIENTAUTOSTART="1"

To install with 'Only for me' option. Administrative privileges are NOT required unless the Web Client service needs to be started. The below example installs the application for the current user, starts Web Client Windows service if stopped and configures Web Client service auto-start:

xxxxxxxxxx
msiexec /i ITHitEditDocumentOpener.msi /qb MSIINSTALLPERUSER="1" WEBCLIENTAUTOSTART="1"

Note that in case Web Client failed to start during installation for any reason the installer completes successfully. The Web Client service can be started at any time after installation.

Removing Mounted File Systems

If you experience any issues with opening documents you can try to remove all mounted file systems using 'net use' command.

To list mounted file systems:

xxxxxxxxxx
net use

To unmount all file systems use the following command:

xxxxxxxxxx
net use * /DELETE

Deployment of Web Browser Extensions

To install web browser extensions via group policy you must install the protocol application with INSTALLWEBBROWSEREXTENSIONS="" parameter:

msiexec /i ITHitEditDocumentOpener.msi /qb MSIINSTALLPERUSER="" WEBCLIENTAUTOSTART="1" INSTALLWEBBROWSEREXTENSIONS=""

If you install the protocol application without the INSTALLWEBBROWSEREXTENSIONS="" parameter before installing web browser extensions, web browser extensions may appear as disabled.

To install web browser extensions using group policy follow the instructions below:

​x
- Unzip the ITHitExtensionsInstall.zip file and copy the .admx files and the en-US folder to the %systemroot%\PolicyDefinitions folder on your Active Directory or RDS host.

- On the Active Directory host, open the Group Policy Management Editor.

- On an individual RDS host, you can open the Local Group Policy Editor with the gpedit.msc utility.

- Go to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Install IT Hit Browser Extensions.

- Go to every policy with the extension and enable it.

Source:

• https://www.webdavsystem.com/ajax/programming/open-doc-webpage/install
• https://www.webdavsystem.com/ajax/programming/open-doc-webpage/install/extensions_gpo/
• https://www.webdavsystem.com/ajax/programming/open-doc-webpage/install/web_browser_extensions/