Using Avantext technical manuals over the network, part 2

In my last award-winning post, I mentioned that it's possible to coerce Avantext into accessing files over the network and deploying silently -- a feat their technical support swears is impossible (and I'm pretty sure voids any support contract). Further investigation indicates that you need to do a few more things to make this work right.

1. First, for each CD, you need to edit the .ini file to which you point in the registry so that it uses the UNC path of that directory instead of a drive letter. For instance, for disc PR0101 (Piper Dakota), you'd want to replace all references to a drive letter (say, "D:") in the ini file to the UNC path to that network folder (\\Server\AvantextShareName\PR0101). Be sure to change the entries in both the [Path] section and the [Volume] section. Because we're changing a file that comes from the stock installation, I would highly recommend making a copy and changing the copy. You can always change the .reg file to point to any .ini file you want.
2. Make sure that the Users group has Modify access to the AVViewer\dat directory in your Avantext install directory. Avantext really likes to write to that directory, in flagrant violation of the Windows development guidelines. Likewise, if your users want to use the Order functionality in Avantext, you'll need to ensure they have Modify rights to the TechPubs\Orders directory, or that your .ini files from above point to a location to which they do have access.
3. You may need two .reg files, one for 32-bit systems and one for 64-bit systems, as Avantext is a 32-bit application. Its registry keys will show up in the Wow6432Node key on a 64-bit machine.
4. When you update Avantext, make sure you don't clobber the .ini file from above, or you'll be sorry.

One interesting note is that, at least on Windows 7 x64, you get an error about a file being used by another process when you exit the Avantext viewer. You can inform your users to just respond with "Cancel" to that dialog box.

Using Avantext technical manuals over the network

Everyone who's had the displeasure of dealing with aviation industry software knows that most of the vendors are stuck in the 1980s. A case in point is Avantext, the official Piper Aircraft technical manuals vendor. The Avantext software allows you to, in theory, access the technical manuals over a network, but in practice, makes this annoying by forcing you to map drives. Drive maps are the spawn of Satan (brittle unless mapped over DFS, often disconnected randomly, confusing to you and users when someone's "R drive" doesn't work, tough to deploy silently with, etc.), so I'm going to tell you how to get past this limitation.

When you install Avantext initially, you install it off a single CD. The content remains on the CD and registry keys are added to tell the viewer where to find the content. Now, if you're following the official directions, you need to repeatedly add each new CD from the network share where you copied them using a drive map. Instead, do this:

1. Open up regedit.
2. Go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Avantext\Products key.
3. Find your currently installed product and make the following changes:
a. Change the ContentLocation value to a UNC path pointing to the network location of your copy of the CD. Be sure to leave an ending slash on the path, or Avantext will say it can't find the CD.
b. Change the IniPath value to the UNC path of the .ini file in that directory.

Now, you've gotten Avantext to look at the network for a single CD. To add additional CDs, export this registry key, then open the .reg file in notepad. Edit the exported key to reflect the CD name (the CD name typically being the first four characters of the folder name) and adjust the UNC paths appropriately. When you're done, import the .reg file back into the registry and you should see all of your available publications.

Because you now have a .reg file that sets up Avantext, you can use a silent install of the client (with the /s switch) and a run of regedit to import the data. This lets you deploy Avantext over the network.

Please note that you shouldn't do this if you don't have the appropriate licensing for using Avantext over the network, and as always, you should ensure the security on the network folder is such that only licensed users can use the system.