Slice Installation to Multiple Users and Silent Installation
Trigger during user logon or device startup to avoid Excel-in-use conflicts.
If Slice is already installed, perform a silent uninstall first, then install the latest version silently.
Host the unzipped installer on a central share to avoid copying large payloads to every device.
Pre-provision user settings via the Slice configuration file to point users at a centralized Arc server.
Silent Uninstall and Install
General command patterns for Windows endpoints:
Silent uninstall: run the existing Slice
Uninstall.exewith/S.Silent install: run the new
Slice installer.exewith/S.
Optimizing the Installation Package
If your organization uses a centralized Arc server, local Arc binaries are not required within the Slice directory.
Pre-configuring User Settings
Configuration File Location
Slice user settings are stored in %AppData%\ArcForTM1\desktop.yml. You can configure one reference workstation via the Slice UI and then distribute the resulting desktop.yml to other users to standardize settings.
Key Parameters for Centralized Arc
IsRemoteUrl: set totrueto indicate connection to a remote Arc server.URL: the full URL of the centralized Arc server.UrlInUse: match this to the Arc server URL used by Slice.
Distribute desktop.yml to the target path for each user profile after installation. If the file already exists, back it up or carefully merge key-value pairs to preserve user preferences.
Distribute desktop.yml to the target path for each user profile after installation. If the file already exists, back it up or carefully merge key-value pairs to preserve user preferences.
Enterprise Rollout Patterns
Common Approaches
Device-based deployment at startup using a system account; elevated privileges may be required.
User-based deployment at logon to ensure per-user configuration is applied in
%AppData%.Phased rings (pilot → wave 1 → global) with rollback by re-installing the prior version silently.
Detection and Remediation
Detection: query the installed application version (e.g., registry or presence of versioned files).
Remediation: if old version detected, run silent uninstall followed by the new silent install.
Troubleshooting and Tips
Excel state: schedule installs when Excel is typically closed (e.g., at logon) to avoid file-in-use issues.
Permissions: ensure users or deployment agents have rights to write to
%AppData%and the Slice install directory.Network: verify endpoints can reach the centralized Arc URL; consider proxy and firewall rules.
Logging: wrap commands in scripts that capture exit codes and write to centralized logs for auditability.