Using a Transform File

A transform file (.mst) is file that passes customized configuration settings to the MSI installer package. Information about the customized setup of a package, application configuration, or a variety of other customizations is contained in the transform file. These customizations are typically unique to a specific environment.

Once a transform file is created, the transform file needs to be added to the package as an additional file.

To use a transform file that was added as an additional file, the TRANSFORMS= command must be part of the command line.

For example, If you had a package that had a .mst file called test.mst the command line would need to contain TRANSFORMS=test.mst. LANDesk will then build the command line for msiexec.exe to look something like this:

msiexec.exe /i example.msi TRANSFORMS=test.mst

This would install the application (/i) and use the specified transform file. This example also assumes that the transform file is in the same directory as the msi. In the event that they transform file is not in the same directory the path would need to be specified.

msiexec.exe /i example.msi TRANSFORMS=c:\your_directory\test.mst

The msiexec.exe command is called by LANDESK and does not need to be specified in the command line and the install switch is added to the command line automatically for you. The only additional parameter required to use the transform file is the TRANSFORMS= command. Other parameters may be specified based on the requirements of the package.

When calling a transform file from the command line TRANSFORMS must be in all capital letters. Also note that there is no / or \ for TRANSFORMS.

This is what it should look like in the console: