Set up the installation using the response.ats file

If you do not use the installation wizard to install components, you can use the default transfer specification file named response.ats that is available in the installation package. Use the response.ats file to copy IBM® Cognos® Office components to several computers without being prompted for information.

You must modify the response.ats file for your environment before you can use it for an unattended installation.

You can check if the unattended installation was successful by checking the return status. A value of zero (0) indicates success and all other values indicate that an error occurred.

Procedure

  1. On the target computer, download and extract the contents of the installation package.
  2. In a text editor, go to the operating system directory in the file structure that you extracted and open the response.ats file.

    Each section in the response.ats file corresponds to a dialog box in the installation wizard.

  3. In the section named License Agreement, change the I AGREE= property to y.

    This action means that you are accepting the license agreement. To read the terms of the license agreement, see the LA_language_code and notices files in the root installation directory for the operating system in the installation package.

  4. In the APPDIR= location, type the installation location of the program files for the IBM Cognos for Microsoft Office component.
    Note: Ensure that there are no spaces on either side of the equal sign (=).
  5. For the APPFOLDER= property, type the name of the Start menu folder that contains your program shortcuts.
    Note: To ensure that the shortcut folder is visible to all users, for the ALLUSERS_FLAG= property, type 1.
  6. In the section named [Component List], next to each component:
    • To install the component, type 1.
    • To not install the component, type 0.

      For example, COR_APP=0 or COC_APP=0.

  7. In the [Install Conditions] section:
    • To specify that the condition is true, type 1.
    • To specify that the condition is false, type 0.
  8. After you make the necessary changes, save the response.ats file to a local directory.
  9. Open a Command Prompt window, and then change to the directory in which the installer, issetup.exe, is located.
  10. Type the following command, where location is the file path location of the transfer specification file: issetup -s location/response.ats

    The progress of the installation appears in the Windows taskbar.

    If zero (0) is not returned, check the log files for error messages. Errors are recorded in the installation directory in the following log file:

    • For IBM Cognos for Microsoft Office, the file name is tl-COC-version-yyyymmdd-hhmm_summary-error.txt.
    • For IBM Cognos Analysis for Microsoft Excel, the file name is tl-COR-version-yyyymmdd-hhmm_summary-error.txt.
  11. If errors occur before sufficient initialization occurs, log messages are sent to one of the following log files in the Temp directory:
    • For IBM Cognos for Microsoft Office, the file name is tl-COC-version-yyyymmdd-hhmm.txt.
    • For IBM Cognos Analysis for Microsoft Excel, the file name is tl-COR-version-yyyymmdd-hhmm.txt.