Scripted install of Parallels Tools on Windows

[Rickard von Essen]

I trying to script a install of a Windows VM in Parallels Desktop 10.

To install the Parallels Tools it is possible to use the install_silent option to PTAgent.exe. The problem with this solution is that PTAgent.exe returns immediately and if the script shutdowns the VM to fast after this command the tools will not be completely installed. Is there any other option to tell PTAgent to not return until the install have finished? Or maybe there is some trick that could be used to detect when the install have finished? (Like looking for some service, file or log entry)

 

[Andrew@Parallels]

Hi @Rickard von Essen - thanks for your question.
It's currently being investigated by the development team and the fix should be included to one of the future releases.
Please subscribe to this KB article to track the changes: http://kb.parallels.com/122720

 

[vitalb]

Hi, Rickard,
You are right using 'PTAgent.exe /install_silent' command for silent Parallels Tools installation. See detailed description in KB article http://kb.parallels.com/116161 It is still actual.
Note, that PTAgent is not a console application. If you want use scripting like this http://stackoverflow.com/questions/25999729/parallels-tools-silent-install-for-windows-platform you can modify your batch file. You can type in .cmd file

PTAgent.exe /install_silent
@echo %ERRORLEVEL%​

or

start /wait PTAgent.exe /install_silent
@echo %ERRORLEVEL%​

For other scripting systems use calls waiting for process completion. No special tricks required.
Note, that no reboot initiated with '/install_silent' key, but you must reboot guest Windows before using Parallels Tools. You can check return code, 0 means success as usual. Do not forget that installer requires administrative privileges.