Command Line Installation of Classroom Capture and Personal Capture

In this section:

Overview

Classroom Capture and Personal Capture for Windows allows for command line installation (or unattended) of the software via command line execution on the target Windows PC. This option is not currently available for Personal Capture for Mac.

The command line install process is nearly identical to the standard installation process except for these differences.

You use a configuration file to convey the installation parameters, rather than entering them through a wizard. The same configuration file can be used for all installations of the same product (either Classroom Capture or Personal Capture).
You invoke the installer from the command line.
You can start the installation process and walk away, leaving the installation unattended.
For Classroom Capture installations, you will NOT be provided with the MAC address of the PC (required to register the device). You must note this manually; it is typically printed on a label on the PC.

Classroom Capture and Personal Capture Windows are supported on Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1, and require Microsoft .NET 3.5.

Command Line Install of Classroom Capture Across Multiple Organizations

If your Classroom Capture installations will be registered to multiple organizations, divide the podium PCs into groups by organization. Then perform the unattended installation and registration process for each group separately. Complete one group (say, all of the Podium PCs owned by the College of Engineering), then repeat the entire procedure for the next group (say, all of the podium PCs owned by the medical school).

When you register the installation on the EchoSystem Server (ESS), you must select an organization. The unattended installation does not provide you with the MAC address of the podium PC. This means that you cannot distinguish one installation from another on the ESS. If you perform each organization's installations separately, you can register all of the podium PCs owned by that organization at once, without having to know the MAC address of each podium PC.

For Re-Installation or Upgrades

Both this and future upgrades can be executed from the Classroom Capture or Personal Capture installation by clicking on the upgrade message provided in the bottom bar of the application window.

If Classroom Capture is not performing correctly and Customer Support has suggested you perform a fresh installation, uninstall the existing instance and restart the podium PC before re-installing.

Removing Previous Versions Before Installing v5.5

If you are upgrading current Classroom Capture or Personal Capture for Windows installations, you MUST FIRST remove the existing installations. Note that on removal of the program, all content and log files are also removed. Be SURE to create a backup of any unpublished recorded content or log file you want to save.

You have the following options:

Add the line UninstallPreviousVersions=true to the Configuration file. This removes the existing version before proceeding with the new version installation.
Add the option –UninstallPreviousVersions true to the command line you execute to launch installation.
Perform separate command line uninstallation by running the following command: <installation directory>\Uninstall_EchoSystemClassroomCapture.exe --mode unattended. This option can be performed for any version of Classroom Capture.

Regardless of which method you use, DO THESE STEPS FIRST:

Be sure all captures have been published to the ESS, or back up any captures currently resident on the PC. All content is removed on uninstallation .
If necessary, back up any Classroom Capture log files resident on the classroom PC. All log files are removed on uninstallation

If removing the program separately from the installation, it is recommended that you reboot the PC. You can then use the instructions on this page to perform unattended installations of Classroom Capture.

Installation Procedure

Command line installation of Classroom Capture involves the following steps:

Create a configuration file to use for all of the classroom installations.
Identify the Podium PCs where you want to install Classroom Capture.
- If the PCs are associated with different ESSs, perform the installations for each ESS group separately. The installation executable you download MUST be from the ESS to which the installation will communicate and be registered. The ESS information is located in the device.xml file contained with the installation package.
- If the PCs are owned by different organizations, organize the PCs into groups by organization, and plan to install and register all of the PCs for each organizational group separately. You must identify the organization when you register the installation on the ESS. Child organizations are considered separate organizations because you select the child organization for registration. See Register the Classroom Capture Software for more details on registering the installation.
Verify that the podium PCs are running either Windows 7 or Windows 8 and have Microsoft .NET 3.5 installed.
Download the installer from the ESS. If you have multiple ESSs, be sure the installer you use is from the same ESS to which the Classroom Capture mode installation will be registered.
Run the unattended installation command. See the section immediately above if you need to remove a previous version of Classroom Capture first.
Register the installation (for Classroom Capture mode installations only).

Unattended Install Also Available for Personal Software Capture

The above instructions can also be used for unattended or remote installations of Personal Capture for Windows. The only differences are:

The command line must identify the Personal Capture for Windows executable.
For Personal Capture silent installation, you may need to identify different installation and data directory names than you would for Classroom Capture.
Personal Capture installations are not registered on the ESS. This means you don't have to group the target PCs by organization, but you should use the installation executable from the same ESS to which the Personal Capture user will publish their recordings.

Create the Configuration File

Previous Versions MUST be Removed First

If you are using a previous version of Classroom Capture, you must remove the old version before installing the new version. See Removing Previous Versions Before Installing v5.5 for information.

The configuration file contains the same information you would normally enter via the installation wizard, and includes the following parameters:

prefix - This is the directory to which the program is installed. The directory shown in each example below is the default directory used by the installation wizard. As with the wizard, you can identify any location you want.
pre - This is the directory to which the software data files are written. It should be a volume with at least 20 GB of space. The directory shown in each example below is the default directory used by the installation wizard. As with the wizard, you can identify any location you want.

Create the configuration file and save it. You can name the file anything you want. The examples shown in the instructions on this page assume the name of the file is config.txt.

An example configuration file for Classroom Capture mode installation:

prefix=c:\Program Files\Echo360
pre=c:\ProgramData\Echo360\Client

An example configuration file for Personal Capture mode installation:

prefix=c:\Program Files\Echo360\Personal Capture
pre=c:\ProgramData\Echo360\Personal Capture

If you are installing Classroom Capture to many different Podium PCs, note the following:

You can use the same configuration file for all of them.
Be sure the installation executable you are using was downloaded from the ESS to which the Classroom Capture installation will be registered.
Be sure to group the target PCs by organization, to make registering the installations easier without knowing the MAC address of each PC.

If you are installing Personal Capture for Windows to multiple Academic Staff PCs, note the following:

You can use the same configuration file for all of them.
Be sure the installation executable you are using was downloaded from the ESS to which the Personal Capture recordings will be published.
If you are upgrading Personal Capture installations via command line installation, be sure both you and Academic Staff users understand the possible ramifications for any existing recordings they may have, noting that:
- Existing recordings will appear in the new version.
- Staff will NOT be able to use the new Personal Capture to edit previous recordings that have two visual inputs (A/D/V or A/V/V).
- Instead, they can publish their previous version's A/D/V or A/V/V personal captures and edit them through the ESS.

Run the Unattended Install

Previous Versions MUST be Removed First

If you are using a previous version of Classroom Capture, you must remove the old version before installing the new version. See Removing Previous Versions Before Installing v5.5 for information.

The installation procedure provided below assumes the following:

The installation file has been downloaded and you know the directory to which the executable was saved.
The directories identified in the configuration file can be created on the target PC.
You know and can include the fully qualified path to the configuration file.

If you are not familiar with the standard installation process, see Install Classroom Capture Software or Install Personal Capture for Windows.

To perform an unattended install:

Create and save a configuration file as described above.
Download the installation executable (EchoSystemSoftwareCaptureForWindows.exe) from the ESS Downloads page.
Note the following:
- If you have multiple ESSs, be sure the installer you use is from the same ESS to which the Classroom Capture mode installation will be registered.
- Be sure to note the location of the executable. You will need to run the installation command from this location.
Open a DOS command window.
Navigate to the directory where the installation executable was saved.
Enter the following command to run the installation executable using the configuration file parameters. Be sure to use the fully qualified path to the configuration file. The example command shown below assumes the configuration file is saved at the root of a USB drive recognized as the F: drive by the target PC. Replace F:\ with the appropriate directory/path.
```
EchoSystemClassroomCaptureForWindows.exe --mode unattended --optionfile F:\config.txt
```
Press Enter to execute the command.
When the installer is finished, close the DOS window.

Note that if you are using these instructions to install Personal Capture for Windows, the executable file called by the command line is: EchoSystemPersonalCaptureForWindows.exe

Troubleshooting the Installation

If you have problems with the installation, you can turn on a higher level of error messaging by adding the "–debuglevel 4" option in the installation command. This is the most "verbose" debug level and should provide you with sufficient information. Enter the command as follows:

EchoSystemClassroomCaptureForWindows.exe --debuglevel 4 --mode unattended --optionfile F:\config.txt

You may also need to have your System Administrator change the permissions on the local Users group on the podium PC for the C:\Windows\temp directory. Typically the local Users group only has Read & Execute rights. The local Users group must have the following permissions for this directory:

Modify
Read & Execute
List Folder Contents
Read
Write

Next Steps

For Classroom Capture mode installations, the next steps are as follows:

If you are using the Post-Installation Checklist to guide your process, check off the appropriate items in the Install and Register Classroom Capture Software section.
Register the installation.

For Classroom Capture mode installations, inform the Academic Staff members of the new or upgraded program. You can point users to Classroom Capture for Academic Staff online documentation, or instruct them to click the Help link in the interface for a PDF containing instructions for use.

If you upgraded Personal Capture installations for Windows users, you may want to inform staff of the new interface, and of the following:

Existing recordings will appear in the new version. If users do not see them, have them navigate to the Settings page and check or edit the path to their recordings folder.
Staff will NOT be able to use the new Personal Capture to edit previous recordings that have two visual inputs (A/D/V or A/V/V).
Instead, staff users can publish their previous version's A/D/V or A/V/V personal captures, then edit them through the ESS.

You can point Personal Capture mode users to Personal Capture For Windows online documentation, or instruct them to click the Help link in the interface for a PDF containing instructions for use.