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Can I install Penfriend on a network?

Yes.

Network Installation

Penfriend is happy to work on a computer network. It can be installed on each machine because the installation process includes copying files to the Program Files directory, to the Windows System directory, and also involves updating the registry. You can batch-install it using Norton Ghost or similar software if necessary, but you will need a special serial number to do this, so ask for this when ordering the program.

Please do not repackage the installer with SCCM or any tool which skips part of the installation process. Penfriend uses a proper, Microsoft-standard MSI installer.

Unattended Installation

Penfriend can also be used on a computer network using unattendded installation if you wish. First, you must purchase a site licence for the appropriate number of machines from Penfriend Ltd.

Penfriend is provided as an "MSI" file for Windows Installer, and can normally be installed remotely with no user interface; "unattended installation". You must specify the installation code (serial number) of your licence on the command line to MSIEXEC using the property PIDKEY, for example:

msiexec /qn /i "Penfriend XL.msi" PIDKEY=ABCD-EFGH-IJKL-MNOP  

During installation, activation will normally be recommended with a dialogue box. If the user interface is disabled, however, activation will always be attempted without the dialogue. If it fails, the installation will proceed, but the application will request activation again by the end user. If the serial number was incorrect, (fails its checksum), the application will not run and must be re-installed. If you have a group of related serial numbers, you can install all machines with the same code. Other properties that you can specify on the command line for msiexec include:

Property Meaning
PIDKEY Installation code (serial number) for this copy of Penfriend XL, which will be used for activation and for support. A serial number must be specified, and there is no default.
EMAILADDR The email address of the user, to be included in the activation request. This is optional but improves the quality of support that Penfriend Ltd can give if any issues arise.
INSTALLDIR Directory on computer filing system where application will be installed. This is normally something like c:\Program Files\Penfriend\PF-XP but you can change it to any directory which will be readable by the users. If this is not specified, there is a default such as the example above.
USERNAME The textual name of the person or role to which the installation is assigned, or who owns this copy of the product. This appears in the "about" dialogue box, and is submitted with the activation request. If this is not specified, a default is taken from your installtion of Microsoft Windows.
COMPANYNAME The textual name of the organisation who owns or uses this product. If this is not specified, a default is taken from your installtion of Microsoft Windows.
ACTIVATENOW Whether to perform Internet activation immediately during the installation process. This is recommended, and it is the default. This property must be either the number 1 or 0, for yes and no respectively.
(others) There are other properties which can be specified to standard Windows Installer packages.

Activation

The software must be activated on each machine before it can be used fully. Please read the section on site licences in the help page for activation.

When installing from the command line or unattended, activation will be attempted during installation, and users should not need to see any activation prompts. When doing this at the desktop interactively, the user can choose whether to activate or not.

If activation fails for any reason, installation proceeds anyway, and the user will be prompted again later.

The ACTIVATENOW property defines whether to attempt activation during installation.

Administrative Privileges

Penfriend should normally be installed with administrative privileges, like other software. Please ensure the command prompt shell that you are calling MSIEXEC from, was run as administrator. You can do this on the desktop by finding a shortcut icon to CMD.EXE or a console, clicking the right mouse button over it, and choosing "Run As Administrator". Beware that all commands you execute in this window will have full access to the computer's configuration.

The /a command line option to MSIEXEC is not helpful. It changes the install location and does not complete activation correctly.

Logging and Response from MSIEXEC

If Penfriend does not install correctly, you may ask MSIEXEC to save a log file. In the example below, a verbose log is saved to "c:\temp\pf-msi-log.txt":

msiexec /qn /i pf-xl-gb.msi /L*V "c:\temp\pf-msi-log.txt" PIDKEY=ABCD-EFGH-IJKL-MNOP EMAILADDR="admin@penfriend.biz" USERNAME="Penfriend Fujiyama deploy" COMPANYNAME="Penfriend"

The logging from MSIEXEC is verbose but not always clear. You might look out for lines such as the following:

Lexicons

It becomes very easy to handle individual lexicons for users, which should be done even on a stand-alone machine. There can be a directory for lexicons on the server which each user chooses their own lexicon from regardless of the computer they are using. Even better, however, is to map the user's home directory on another drive and make sure that each person has the same file name, for example U:\WRITING\MYDICT.LEX where U: is the user's home directory mount. Penfriend records in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry the name of the last lexicon to be used. If your users all log in with the same Windows accout, and they are starting Penfriend from the Start menu or a program shortcut, but do not wish to use the same lexicon as the previous person (each user should have their own personal lexicon), then you can switch off "Load Previous Lexicon" in the Advanced Preferences. FAQ answered: by RIWS on 2001-12-13 revised RIWS 2012-01-26

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