Hack52.Automate Skype Installation


Hack 52. Automate Skype Installation

These tips will simplify installation if you need to install Skype on anything more than a handful of machines.

Works with: Windows version of Skype.

Walking from machine to machine and installing Skype can be a thankless task. Automating the installation process makes the job a lot more palatable, and enables you to customize the installation easily.

To help customize the installation of Skype on Windows, Skype has thoughtfully provided its installer, typically a file named SkypeSetup.exe, with several command-line options (see Table 5-1).

Table 5-1. Skype's install program command-line options on Windows

Command-line option

What it does

/NoStart

Do not start Skype when Windows starts.

/NoWpFinished

Skip the "finish page" during installation.

/Silent

Show installation progress only.

/VerySilent

Show nothing during installation.

/NoCancel

Install cannot be cancelled.

/Lang=<language>

Specifies the language for installation.

/Dir="X:\Directory"

Specifies the installation directory.

/NoIcons

No shortcut icon on the desktop.


Using these command-line options, you can very easily create a Windows batch file that will simplify the whole installation process. Here's a step-by-step how-to guide:

  1. Put SkypeSetup.exe in a folder on a shared network drive, which maps to, say, S:\Shared\Install\ on all your target machines.

  2. Create a batch file, install_skype.bat, and save it in S:\Shared\Install\:

     REM File: install_skype.bat MKDIR C:\Apps\Skype S:\Shared\Install\SkypeSetup.exe /VerySilent /Lang=en /Dir="C:\Apps\Skype" / NoIcons 

  3. Send an email to all the users whom you want to install and run Skype. At a minimum, this email should specify how to run install_skype.bat and how to set up a Skype name. If you are rolling out Skype, not as a trial, but in a rather more systematic fashion, this same email should also perhaps include additional information, such as the Skype name to be used by each user, and advice on how best to configure their sound hardware to use Skype, among other things.

This procedure might look like something that Rube Goldberg (http://www.rube-goldberg.com/) might dream up, but it beats wandering from machine to machine, especially if those machines are in different offices, or even different buildings!

5.2.1. Hacking the Hack

If you want to roll out Skype, but with restricted functionalitysuch as with file transfer and Skype's API disabledyou can instruct the batch file installer to do this at the time of installation.

First, create a registry file, skype_disable.reg, and save it in S:\Shared\Install\:

 ; File: skype_disable.reg Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Skype\Phone] "DisableFileTransfer"=dword:00000001 "DisableApi"=dword:00000001 

Next, add a line to the existing batch file to create a new installation filesay, install_skype_reg.batso that the appropriate registry keys to disable Skype file transfer and its API are created during the installation process:

 REM File: install_skype_reg.bat MKDIR C:\Apps\Skype S:\Shared\Install\SkypeSetup.exe /VerySilent /Lang=en /Dir="C:\Apps\Skype" / NoIcons RegEdit.exe /s S:\Shared\Install\skype_disable.reg 

For Skype file transfer and the Skype API to be disabled, the users who run install_skype_reg.bat must have the necessary privilege to edit the registry under [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies. Incidentally, this also means that they can switch these features back on if they're willing to hack around in the registry! Clearly, this method of installing Skype is not the most foolproof if your users are relatively sophisticated and experienced with Windows.

5.2.2. See Also

  • Skype has a briefing document directed specifically at network administrators responsible for installing and running Skype; see http://www.skype.com/security/guide-for-network-admins.pdf.

  • For details on how to disable Skype file transfer, see "Disable Skype File Transfer" [Hack #58].

  • For details on how to disable the Skype API, see "Disable the Skype API" [Hack #100].




Skype Hacks
Skype Hacks: Tips & Tools for Cheap, Fun, Innovative Phone Service
ISBN: 0596101899
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 168

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