Software Installation Guide – Freedom Scientific
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Software Installation Guide


Installation

When installing one or two copies of JAWS, ZoomText, or Fusion, the easiest option is to manually run the installer and follow the prompts. In environments where you need to install for many users, such as a university or government agency, manual installation can become tedious and time consuming. To help speed up the installation process in enterprise environments, Freedom Scientific software offers a wide range of options to assist IT personnel with automating the installation process.

Choosing a Setup Package

The setup packages for JAWS, ZoomText, and Fusion are available as either a Connected or Offline installer.

The Connected installer is a small setup package that downloads all necessary components and language files over the internet. The computer you are installing on must be able to access the public internet in order to use this setup type. The latest Connected installer for each product is always available from the following pages.

The Offline installer allows you to install the software when you want to avoid connecting to the internet to access components, or if you will be installing on computers in your organization with limited internet access. The Offline installer is quite large as it contains everything necessary to install the product in a single executable. You can download the Offline installer for each product (JAWS, ZoomText, or Fusion) from the following page.

Customizing the Installation

Both the Connected and Offline setup packages offer several command line arguments you can use to customize how the software is installed. If your deployment infrastructure supports the use of executable installers, the easiest way to customize the installation process is to run one of the offline installers with the command line options you need. Available command line options are described in the following sections. You can also run the setup package with the /Help or /MoreHelp options to Display a dialog box containing additional information about the available command line arguments. For example,

c:\package.exe /help

Selecting a Setup Type

Use the /Type argument followed by an option to specify the setup type to use instead of the default. For example,

c:\package.exe /type Silent

Available setup types include:

  • Silent – Silently installs a typical installation without displaying any installation dialog boxes or prompts.
  • Repair – Repairs an existing installation. During the repair, progress dialogs are displayed and a clicking tone is played. At the end, you are prompted to restart the computer.
  • SilentRepair – Silently repairs an existing installation without displaying any installation dialog boxes or prompts.
  • Uninstall – Uninstalls an existing installation.
  • SilentUninstall – Silently uninstalls an existing installation without removing shared components.
  • SilentSharedUninstall – Silently uninstalls an existing installation and the shared components.

Note: If you want to install the software without any prompts, you can also use the /silent command line argument instead of /type silent. For example,

c:\package.exe /silent

Selecting Languages

You can tell the setup package which product languages you want installed, as well as specify the language used by the installer if you want dialogs and prompts displayed during setup.

To install specific languages, use the /language command line argument followed by a comma delimited list of the three letter language codes of the product languages to use during a clean install instead of only the Operating System Language. During an install, the first product language specified will be used to determine the language of the shortcuts, the default synthesizers, and the default braille drivers. For example,

c:\package.exe /Language deu,enu,esn

The German, English, and Spanish product languages are installed along with the German shortcuts, default synthesizers, and default Braille drivers. For actions like an update or a repair, the previously installed product languages will be used and this option will be ignored.

The following language codes are supported:

  • Arabic: arb
  • Danish: dan
  • German: deu
  • English: enu
  • Spanish: esn
  • Finnish: fin
  • French: fra
  • French Canadian: frc
  • Hebrew: heb
  • Hungarian: hun
  • Italian: ita
  • Belgian Dutch: nlb
  • Dutch: nld
  • Norwegian: nor
  • Brazilian Portuguese: ptb
  • Russian: rus
  • Swedish: sve
  • Turkish: trk

To specify the language used by the installer, use the /InstallerUILanguage command line argument followed by the three-letter language code you want to use for the installer user interface instead of the operating system language. For example,

c:\package.exe /InstallerUILanguage enu

All dialogs and prompts are displayed in English.

Disabling External Services

When installing JAWS, ZoomText, or Fusion on computers in a highly secure environment such as a hospital, bank, or government agency, you can turn off all product features that reach out to the internet. When performing a full install, add the /DisableExternalServices command line argument. For example,

c:\package.exe /DisableExternalServices

Once the software is installed after using this command, features no longer available for use include Research It, FS Support Tool, Voice Assistant, Error Reporting, JAWS Tandem, Picture Smart, and Anonymous Usage Data Collection. Note that using the software in a remote access or virtual environment will still be available.

Making Further Customizations Using AdditionalSettings.ini

If more granular customizations are needed, you can extract an AdditionalSettings.ini file which offers numerous options for determining what features are installed. Sections include options, individual components, Configuration Changes, ConfigNames, Domains, and Key Assignments. To extract this file from any installer, add the /ExtractAdditionalSettings command line argument along with the folder and file name to extract to. For example,

c:\package.exe /ExtractAdditionalSettings “c:\FS setup\AdditionalSettings.ini”

This outputs an example AdditionalSettings.ini file containing comments for each section documenting how to make specific customizations.

When using this command line argument, you can also add one of the following types:

  • Default – Extracts an example AdditionalSettings.ini file to the specified path with commented out options for sections.
  • DisableExternalServices – Extracts an AdditionalSettings.ini file to the specified path that disables and prevents the install of product features that connect to the internet. This file should not be used with the /DisableExternalServices command line option. It is intended as an alternative for Administrators who want more setup customization than this command line option provides. For instance, you may want to leave certain features like Voice Assistant and PictureSmart off, while turning on Error Reporting and JAWS Tandem.

After making any necessary customizations in AdditionalSettings.ini, make sure this file is located in the same folder as the installer before starting the installation.

Using /Layout to Download Installation Files for Offline Deployment

For even greater customization, you can use the /Layout command line option with the Connected installers for JAWS, ZoomText, or Fusion to download the individual MSI files to a specified folder. For example,

C:\Package.exe /Layout “C:\FS setup\OfflineSetup\”

You can then use scripts or other install automated tools to sequence these files for installation on offline computers.

When you use the /Layout command, a dialog box displays with two options: Options and Layout. By default, /Layout extracts files in the same language as the system language. Select the Options button if you want to change the language or extract installers in multiple languages. Select the Layout button to begin downloading files.

You can also add the /Language command to automatically download install files for specific languages. For example,

c:\package.exe /Language deu,enu,esn /Layout “c:\FS setup\OfflineSetup”

The installer files for the German, English, and Spanish product languages are downloaded to the c:\FS setup\OfflineSetup folder.

Finally, the /Layout command creates an “Example MSI scripts” folder, which contains batch files that run the installers in the proper sequence with the necessary flags. These scripts demonstrate how to install using this approach.

Note: The /Layout command only works properly with the Connected installers, available by default on the Freedom Scientific Downloads pages. It does not work with Offline installers.