I don’t like it when technology tells me what to do. I ignore three things in particular: red lights, low fuel warnings, and that dang “You Must Reboot Now!” message after installing an application.
MSIs are not known for their formality or grammar.
In most cases, ignoring technology won’t fix the root problem. Deploying applications that reboot automatically can cause some big issues in your environment. These installs can break your imaging process (if you are using MDT) and reboot users without warning. In today’s guide, we will cover two ways to stop a MSI from restarting your machines.
The Slow Way to Stop a MSI from Restarting
Orca, Microsoft’s old MSI editing tool, can be used to stop an MSI from restarting your machine. I will spare you the Killer Whale jokes this time and jump right to the details. Some organizations have strict limits on what applications can be used on administrative machines. If you are limited to Microsoft only products, you can use Orca to stop a MSI from rebooting.
Fun Fact: Orcas can reach a top speed of 28 miles per hour when pursuing prey.
If you haven’t, download and install Orca. It can be found in the Software Packaging section of the Tools page. Launch Orca and then select Open. Browse to your MSI. Next, select the Property Table and sort the table by the Property column. Look for the value REBOOT. If the value doesn’t exist, scroll to the bottom of the Properties table and create a new value named REBOOT. Set the value to ReallySuppress .
Apparently a MSI won’t take you seriously if you just tell it to Suppress the reboot. MSIs are like children. If the MSI continues to reboot, you can try adding a header to the ReallySuppress data. I find that [SternVoice]ReallySuppress works.
The Fast Way to Stop a MSI from Rebooting
A few weeks ago, we covered how Smart Packager can make working with applications a lot easier! One cool feature is the ability to edit an MSI with a menu driven interface. If you haven’t, download Smart Packager and install it. Launch it and then open your MSI in the Package Editor.
Select the Advanced tab to see the Reboot mode of your MSI. It will probably be set to Always but might also be Prompt if necessary.
Under the drop down menu, select Never and press Ok. Smart Packager will make the needed changes to your MSI without you needing to find properties or create new values. If you have MSIs that are causing issues by rebooting, take a minute and fix them now! It will save future you a bit of trouble.