Q166679: SMS: Smsacm32.exe Does Not Set Status to Success

Article: Q166679
Product(s): Microsoft Systems Management Server
Version(s): winnt:1.2
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbsetup smssetup
Last Modified: 27-JUL-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Systems Management Server version 1.2 
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SUMMARY
=======

Smsacm32.exe is a Systems Management Server helper program designed to provide
an install wrapper for Systems Management Server shared application support of
Microsoft 32-bit applications. These include Microsoft Office 95 and Microsoft
Office 97 or their individual components (such as Microsoft Word 7.0, Microsoft
Excel 7.0 and so on). Smsacm32.exe was introduced as a 32-bit equivalent of
Smssetup.exe, which is used to install shared versions of Microsoft 16-bit
applications (such as Microsoft Office 4.2 or Microsoft Word 6.0).

MORE INFORMATION
================

The primary use of Smsacm32.exe is in the Configuration Command Line of the
Program Item Properties for shared Microsoft applications. When the program item
is selected for the first time, the Configuration Command Line is started by
Appstart.exe, which in turn starts the application's Microsoft Acme Setup
(Setup.exe) to perform a workstation setup of the application. The 16-bit
version of Smssetup.exe sets the following registry key to Success after a
successful installation by Acme Setup:

  HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\SMS\APPICATIONS\<Application Registry Name>
  \CONFIGURESCRIPT\STATUS

NOTE: The above registry key is one path; it has been wrapped for readability.

After STATUS is set to Success, Appstart.exe would not need to call Acme Setup
again, but instead call the actual application executable from an available
distribution server.

However, Smsacm32.exe does not set the STATUS to Success after the successful
installation of a shared application, but changes the status from Failed
(changed during Acme Setup in case of failure) to Configure. This is due to the
nature of Acme Setup 3.0, because it creates application icons under the Windows
Explorer Start, Programs menu during installation of the application. The icons
created by Program Group Control (PGC) for shared applications such as Access
97, Word 97, and so forth are therefore only used for shared application setup
and installation. The applications themselves are invoked in the normal way
through the use of their shortcuts created from the Start, Programs menu on the
task bar. These shortcuts in turn invoke Appstart.exe to start the application
from an available distribution server.

Additional query words: prodsms acmesetup taskbar

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Keywords          : kbsetup smssetup 
Technology        : kbSMSSearch kbSMS120
Version           : winnt:1.2
Issue type        : kbinfo

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