Administered Windows Desktops

To install Omniscope or FeatureFinder in a corporate administered network environment you may either install individually, or deploy (roll out) to multiple terminals from a central location. Additionally, once installed, you may then need to activate your installation(s) to upgrade from the free Viewer to the Standard or Professional Edition.

Single User installation

Download the full installer files

Omniscope: download the full installer from here
FeatureFinder: download the full installer from here

Choose the full installers which are self-contained and do not trigger further downloads.

Installation by an System Administrator

As with all software, installing Omniscope requires local admin/install privileges. Most corporate environments do not grant this to all regular users, so a System Administrator will need to log in to the PC and install Omniscope themselves.

Omniscope is a quick install, and takes only a few seconds. It is advisable for the Administrator to configure the appropriate proxy settings at installation, allowing Omniscope to activate online. This can be done from Tools menu, Advanced, HTTP Proxy Settings. Alternatively you will be prompted during activation. Another alternative is to deploy a plain-text properties file into the Visokio Omniscope program folder in Program Files. See Proxy Settings for more information.

Activation

Unless the installation is intended to operate as a unactivated Omniscope free Viewer (only for viewing & filtering .IOK files), rather than an activated Omniscope- Standard or Professional (able to publish data sets as .IOM Standard or .IOK Professional files) or Professional DataPlayer (also able to produce Flash DataPlayers) the installations should be activated immediately.

Activating for a single user on one machine

If the PC is only used by one user (one login), the application can be activated by that user, which will only allow them to use the activated product feature set. If another user logged in, they would see the free Omniscope Viewer only. This approach allows you to activate separately by giving users their own keys, rather than relying on administrators to activate, and is particularly suitable to roll-out installation.

Activating for multiple users on one machine

If the PC is used by more than one user, the application should be activated by an Administrator, which will apply to all users of the PC. This should be done immediately after installation by the Administrator.

Multiple or 'Roll-out' installation

The best way to roll-out Omniscope to multiple machines in an administered network setting is to use a 3rd party application deployment management suite that will simulate the log-in of an administrator and execution of the offline installer executable.

What happens during an installation?

In addition to extracting application data to {System drive}\Program Files\Visokio Omniscope and {System drive}\Program Files\Visokio Common, the installer adds shortcuts and registry entries to implement file icons and associations for the Visokio file formats, particularly the IOK file format.

Roll-out Installation Options

Silent installation

Using the /S (capital "S") switch, the installer will run in silent mode. You can remotely execute the following command to install Omniscope without the usual sequence of interactive wizard steps.

  Z:/path/to/OmniscopeInstaller.exe /S

Deployment without using the installer

It is possible to roll out Omniscope without the installer using the following steps:

1. Download the latest Omniscope installer. If the machines you are deploying to already have the Java 5 (or greater) plug-in (with full permissions for images, etc.) you may use the lightweight installer. If not, you must use the full installer also found on this page.
2. On a test PC, clean out any prior Omniscope installation by deleting Visokio Common and Visokio Omniscope from Program Files.
3. Install manually on this test PC under a local admin login.
4. If the machines you are deploying to do not have Java 5 or higher, make sure the installer has created the Visokio Common folder, then visit www.visokio.com/getjava and download and install Java for Omniscope.
5. The Visokio Omniscope folder (and Visokio Common if it exists) in Program Files now contain all the application program and data files you need to roll out.
6. Deploy shortcuts: You will also need to deploy shortcuts to allow users to launch the application. These must start "launch.exe" inside the Visokio Omniscope folder, passing in %1 as a parameter, with the correct icon. On your test PC, the shortcut was installed to the Desktop and a program folder to the Start Menu, for all users. Take these files and replicate their creation as part of your deployment. See an example program folder in the Start menu
7. Configure Proxy Settings: If you need to configure a proxy server to allow Omniscope to communicate bug reports, upgrade notifications, etc., also deploy a proxy file into the Visokio Omniscope folder See an example proxy file or the section on Configuring Proxy Settings for more information.
8. Registry entries: Add the registry entries normally added by the installer. Most of these are static registry additions for the Visokio file formats, but Omniscope also adds right-click entries for Excel XLS and CSV files and the registry changes for this can vary depending on your Excel installation. Refer to the registry settings made by the installer on your test PC, which you will need to monitor and capture.
9. Roll out and test your installation using Test Scripts.