My thanks to The Lazy Slug who has written detailed instructions for bulk installs of the BOINC Client software in Windows. If you have suggestions on how to improve these instructions, please post them in http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/forums/wcg/viewthread?thread=5792

Automating the deployment of BOINC Agent

Whether you have a large or small network, installing the WCG UD agent on multiple machines has always been difficult, as each PC has had to be manually registered with the WCG servers.

Now that you can crunch WCG work units using the BOINC agent, the problem can be overcome.

These instructions will allow you to deploy the BOINC client across your network AND enable each PC to automatically register itself with the WCG servers.

What you will need:
1. The latest BOINC client, available at http://boinc.berkeley.edu/download.php
2. A PC that is already running the BOINC agent and has been joined to WCG. If you have not done this yet, login to your WCG account and follow the instructions here
3. Microsoft's Orca msi editing tool, currently available here. (The location does change from time to time.)

a. Download PSDK-x86.exe
b. Run the installation package
c. Click your way through the wizard, ensuring that the 'custom' installation option is selected
d. To minimise the amount of data that has to be downloaded, click every item and select the option 'will not be available' for everything except for 'Windows Installer SDK > Tools' where you should click and select 'will be installed on the local hard drive'
e. Continue clicking through the wizard and let the installation complete.
f. You will find the installation file 'orca.msi' in the directory 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Platform SDK\Bin\'
g. Install orca.msi (just accept the defaults.)
h. Keep a copy of 'orca.msi' so you don't have to go through this again!


Extracting the BOINC Package
1. Click 'Start' and select 'Run'
2. Enter that path and file name of the downloaded BOINC package and add the /a switch to the end. eg:

"C:\Documents and Settings\Me\Desktop\boinc_5.2.13_windows_intelx86.exe" /a

3. Click Next and then enter a directory where you want to store your package. eg:

C:\BOINC Package

4. Click 'Install'
5. When the package has installed, untick the 'Launch BOINC' checkbox and click 'Finish'.


Modifying the BOINC Package
1. From your PC that has already run the BOINC agent and joined WCG, copy the file 'C:\Program Files\BOINC\account_www.worldcommunitygrid.org.xml' to the subdirectory 'program files\BOINC' that will be found in the directory chosen in 3 above.
2. Right click the file account_www.worldcommunitygrid.org.xml and select 'Properties'
3. Write down the size of the file. (Not the 'Size on disk' value.) You will need this info later.
4. Browse to the package directory and right click 'BOINC.msi'. Providing Orca has been sucessfully installed, select the option 'Edit with Orca'
5. Once Orca has opened the BOINC msi, click the menu item Transform > New Transform. The window title will change to 'BOINC.msi (transformed by Untitled)'
6. In the 'Tables' list in the left panel of Orca, select 'File'. (A list of files will appear in the right panel.)
7. In the right panel, click the heading 'Sequence' to sort the list in numeric order.
8. Scroll down to the bottom of the right panel file list and note what will be the next free number. (At the moment it will be 71.)
9. Right click anywhere in the right panel and select 'Add Row'
10. In the window that pops up, CAREFULLY enter the following.

File: account_www.worldcommunitygrid.org.xml
Component: _AccountFiles
FileName: ACCOUN~1.XML|account_www.worldcommunitygrid.org.xml
FileSize: ENTER THE FILE SIZE VALUE NOTED DOWN EARLIER, WITHOUT ANY COMMAS OR OTHER SEPARATORS.
Version:
Language:
Attributes:
Sequence: 71

Click 'OK' when you have finished. (Note: the line you have just added will have a green border around it. This will be displayed around every table entry that you modify as it makes it easier to find what you have changed.)

11. In the 'Tables' list, select 'Media'. (You will see just one entry.)
12. Change the value in the 'LastSequence' column from 70 to 71.
13. In the 'Tables' list, select 'Components'. (There will be about 45 rows here.)
14. Find in the first column, Component called '_AccountFiles' and select it.
15. Remove the value 'ACCOUNTS_LOCATION' in the 'Condition' column.
16. Select 'Transform > Generate Transform...' and pick a file name for your modifications. (eg: BOINC Modifications) Click 'OK' to save your .mst file.


Installing the modified BOINC Package.
1. If the directory where you have created your modified BOINC installation, is not 'shared', you will not be able to access it from another PC. To allow a directory to be shared, follow the instructions below

a. Right click the directory and click 'Sharing and Security...'
b. Select the option 'Share this folder'. The folder's name will become the name of the share.
c. Click 'OK' to finish

2. On the other PC, click 'Start > Run' and enter the following (This example is based on the example folders and file names I have used above and assumes the name of the PC, where the share is located, is 'PC-01')

msiexec /i "\\PC-01\BOINC Package\BOINC.msi" TRANSFORMS="\\PC-01\BOINC Package\BOINC Modifications.mst"


Additional Modifications
There are quite a variety of additional modifications that can be added to your mst file. An up to date list can be found at http://boinc.berkeley.edu/win_install.php under the heading 'Customizing the installer'.
All of the parameters are pretty self explanatory and will allow you to create a fully automated installation of the BOINC agent.
To modify any of these parameters, follow these instructions.
1. Open the BOINC.msi with Orca
2. Click 'Transforms > Apply Transform...' and select the mst file you created earlier.
3. In the 'Tables' column, select the 'Property' table.
4. In the right panel, click the 'value' of the property you want to change.
5. If the property you want to change is not there, you can easily create it by right clicking on any of the properties and selecting 'Add Row'
6. If there is a property you want to remove, right click it and select 'Drop Row'
7. When you have finished all of your changes, click 'Transform > Generate Transform' and pick a file name for your updated mst file. (NB. you cannot overwrite an existing mst, however, you can rename it after you have exited Orca.)


Tips.
1. DO NOT CHANGE AN MST THAT HAS BEEN INSTALLED ON A PC.
The installer will demand the original file when you to repair, modify or remove the BOINC client.
2. Uninstall BOINC on PC if you are giving it away otherwise the new owner will have the problem highlighted above.
3. You do not need to modify the property table, if you don't wish to. Instead you can add the property to the command line. eg:

msiexec /i "\\PC-01\BOINC Package\BOINC.msi" TRANSFORMS="\\PC-01\BOINC Package\BOINC Modifications.mst" ENABLESCREENSAVER=0

This would install BOINC, and disable the screen saver.
4. If you are using some kind of snapshot mechanism to deploy BOINC, you can install the agent without any modifications (Don't launch it at the end of the installation), copy the account_www.worldcommunitygrid.org.xml file to 'C:\Program Files\BOINC\' directory, and then take your snapshot.

If anybody would like any further information, let me know.

The Lazy Slug