Symantec Antivirus 10.0

[PaulIA]

Symantec is surely going to be the death of me. I've been trying to get the virus update to work during the unattended phase of my setup with no luck. After searching the forum, it appears that I'm the only one having this problem. Any help would be appreciated.

Using RunOnce, I'm executing the following:

msiexec.exe /i "Symantec AntiVirus.msi" /qb!- RUNLIVEUPDATE=0 RUNSCAN=0 SYMPROTECTDISABLED=0

which installs just find and dandy. Then I want to update my virus definitions so that they are current, so I am executing the following:

c:\program files\symantec antivirus\vpdn_lu.exe /s

which is where the problem occurs. In the event log, I get an error stating "Manual LiveUpdate failed to download Virus Definitions."

I've tried taking the vpdn_lu line out of the RunOnce batch file and putting it in a batch file that gets executed after the machine is booted. Same results. This is the code I use to setup the batch file. It gets executed at the end of my original RunOnce session:

REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx /V TITLE /D "Symantec" /f
REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx\010 /VE /D "Symantec" /f
REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx\010 /V 1 /D "c:\Symantec.cmd" /f

I thought that maybe the network hadn't finished initializing before this batch file was run, so I put a 2 minute delay in before the batch file was called. Same results.

If I let the machine boot and execute the batch file (from DOS or from Explorer) manually, I get the following event log entry "Manual LiveUpdate verified there are no new Virus Definitions available." Which causes me to bang my head on my keyboard several times.

It works when I manually run it, but not when it's run from RunOnce. Any clues?

P.S. Yes, I know you can download the current virus defs and slipstream them into the installation. That's not what I want to do. I don't want to have to update my UA disc every month.

Edited September 2, 2006 by PaulIA

[VCC]

Take into account that you have set: RunLiveUpdate=0

Have you tried changing this setting?

Oh, and if you are banging your head, first get a cold beer of your favorite taste. I prefer Bud, the King of Beers. Then, drink it half way. Afterwards, look for the problem, a solution normally appears after that. I don't know, usually works for me.

Edited September 2, 2006 by VCC

[PaulIA]

Setting RunLiveUpdate=1 didn't seem to make any difference. Good thought though. But I did take your advice about the beer. I still have the same problem, I just don't care about it as much

[mazin]

I'd suggest San Miguel.

[PaulIA]

After 6 or 7, I can't tell the difference...

[mazin]

After 6 or 7, I can't tell the difference...

LOL...but that's the light one. Dark? After only one, I couldn't tell my name.

[PaulIA]

I got a little further with the update problem. It seems if I take the batch file and put it in the Startup folder (say, All Users or Default, doesn't seem to matter), it works just fine. The only difference that I can see, is that the contents of the Startup folder are executed at a later time in the boot phase.

So was my problem trying to execute the batch file before the network was loaded or is there something else that I'm missing? I can live with the batch file being in the Startup folder if that's the way it needs to be (it can delete itself after it's done it's thing), but it just seems odd to me.

Dark beer... Never on an empty stomach!

[mazin]

If you don't like it in Startup folder,

put it somewhere else (%SYSTEMROOT%\update.cmd, for example),

then call it from HKLM\..\RUN.

update.cmd can delete itself and delete the HKLM\..\RUN entry, afterwards.

[PaulIA]

Thanks for the thought, but I'm guessing that I would run onto the same problem I had when I tried to execute this using the RunOnceEx key.

What I mean is, I think it works now because I've placed the batch file in the Startup folder, which gets executed later in the boot phase than it would if I put it in RunOnceEx. I'm guessing that the Run key probably gets executed around the same time as the RunOnceEx key. Or am I completely wrong about this?

[mazin]

I strongly think that RUN and STARTUP execute at the same time.

[PaulIA]

You are absolutely correct!!!

Not only does this solve my Symantec problem, but also clears up a few other "glitches" that I had im my UA installation scripts. It appears that I have been trying to execute some installations in RunOnceEx that needed to be moved later on in the boot phase and putting them in the Run key works just fine. I'm guessing because, with RunOnceEx, the desktop and network aren't loaded yet? Need to do some more research on that...

Thanks for the help. Wonder what it would cost to ship you a case of San Miguel?

[mazin]

You are absolutely correct!!!

...

Thanks for the help. Wonder what it would cost to ship you a case of San Miguel?

I gave it up. Now, coffee!

[Vits]

PaulAI,

Greetings, it may be a strange way of doing the updates, but hey, it works. Run the install as per normal, altough I have renamed the \symantecantivirus.msi to take the space out to save the " " bits, but thats me being lazy and taking short cuts,

After the install, run the "X86 Intelligent Updater" as this is around 15mb in size now. Download the yyyymmdd-ver.exe file ie, 20060905-019-x86.exe which can be found at http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcen...s/US-SAVCE.html

start /wait msiexec /i c:\install\sav\SymantecAntiVirus.msi /qn RUNLIVEUPDATE=0 REBOOT=REALLYSUPPRES
start /wait c:\install\sav\20060903-016-x86.exe /q

Further to the above (as i discovered this after posting and some more tweaking), the following should force a liveupdate

I now have the following in the last part of my cleanup.cmd

start /wait "\program files\symantec antivirus\VPDN_LU.exe" /s

Hope this helps

Dave

Edited September 6, 2006 by Vits

[PaulIA]

@Dave: Thanks for the reply. I finally got my problem solved thanks to mazin's help. I was trying to run the vpdn_lu.exe from the RunOnce phase of the install. After much head banging (and a few beers), I discovered as you did that it appears that the network is not loaded at this point in the install (or maybe it's just some other resource that vpdn_lu wants/needs). However, I too found out that if I take the batch file and move it to the Run or cleanup section of my install, it works just fine.

What I was trying to do is create a UA that I could pull out in 6 months and run without having to update any of the files. However, I'm going to put your snippet of code (about the intelligent updater) in my personal archives, because you never know when the day will come that you'll need something like this.

Thanks for the input!

[mazin]

@ Vits

Even if you only have got one partition (C:), it's recommended to use %SystemDrive% instead of C:!

You might change your mind sooner or later creating another partition (D:). In this case, if you install WinXP on D:, your code will not work.

Just a thought.

@ PaulIA

When it comes to future, there will be new LU and MSP for version 10.

I suggest you read this guide, too.

Given that download links may change, in that guide, the method may still work.

HTH