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How to deploy DisplayLink MSI files in a corporate environment with GPO or SCCM

← Corporate Deployment

Introduction

This article is intended to give a Windows Administrator a brief overview of Deploying DisplayLink’s Corporate Installer across a Windows Active Directory Domain.

DisplayLink provide the Microsoft Installer files, or a driver package to allow remote deployment of DisplayLink software. This article covers the deployment of the MSI files. 

Deployment of a driver package, using an INF file, is covered in this article.

Target Audience


Any IT Professional who is familiar with Windows Server, Group Policy, and deploying software company-wide via Group Policy Software Installation (GPSI) or via SCCM (System Center Configuration Manager)

Corporate Install Download


DisplayLink corporate install images can be downloaded from: http://www.displaylink.com/downloads/corporate

Deploying the DisplayLink Software using the MSI files

It is not possible to install these MSI files just by double clicking them to install. If User Access Control (UAC) is enabled on the tested machine during an installation, the  audio and Ethernet drivers will silently fail to install due to an “access denied” error (even if a user is prompted for elevation). 


If testing without using GPO, start the installation from command line with administrative privileges. The following commands can be used to install the MSI packages using msiexec on the command line:

Windows x64 architecture


Windows 10 (RS2 onwards)/11 
msiexec /i %SETUP%\DisplayLink_Win10RS.msi /norestart /quiet

Windows ARM64 architecture


 Windows 10 Redstone (Build 10.0.14393 and later)
msiexec /i %SETUP%\DisplayLink_arm64.msi /norestart /quiet


Windows 10/11 postponed installation


The driver installs seamlessly in the background without user interruption, preventing temporary loss of video, audio, or Ethernet connectivity during driver updates while users are working with their dock .

IT can  distribute the driver to all clients and when the MSI driver executes:
  • Driver will be updated straight away, if no DisplayLink product is connected,
  • Driver will be updated at the next machine reboot/plug-unplug, if DisplayLink device is detected in use.
The feature requires following Windows components:
  • Windows Service

Setting up the GPOs and File Shares



Setting up the File Shares 


  1. Download the DisplayLink Corporate install files from here: http://www.displaylink.com/corporateinstall/
  2. Create or use an existing file share for deploying software and drivers. The share must be accessible by the System user in order for GPSI to install the software on the target PCs
  3. Extract the .zip that was downloaded into a DisplayLink MSI directory on your network file share. Your extracted files should look like this:

Creating the GPO


  1. Create a new Group Policy Object (GPO) in the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) In this guide, we’ll be calling it DisplayLink Device Driver Deployment RS - 64-bit. You may wish to call it something else, particularly if you’re only interested in deploying the DisplayLink driver, and not extra drivers, such as Ethernet.
  2. Put the 64-bit DisplayLink_Win10RS1.msi onto a network file share.
  3. Edit the GPO you just created, and go to: Computer Configuration > Policies > Software Settings > Software installation
  4. Right click > New > Package...
  5. Add and Assign DisplayLink_Win10RS.msi

Targeting Operating System Version


To ensure that only the correct MSI is installed on the correct architecture and operating system version, it’s necessary to utilise Group Policy’s WMI Filtering to target the correct OS architecture and version

Targeting only 64-bit RS Onward Operating Systems (using  DisplayLink_Win10RS.msi ) 

Setting up the WMI Filter

  1. Open up the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC)
  2. Locate WMI Filters
  3. Right click on WMI Filters and choose “New…”
  4. Give the WMI Filter an appropriate name and description. For example, “Windows 10”
  5. Click Add, to add a new query
  6. Add the following Query: select * from Win32_OperatingSystem WHERE (Version like "10.0.%") AND (BuildNumber >= "14393") AND (ProductType="1") AND (OSArchitecture = "64-bit")
  7. Click OK, then Save

Targeting only 64-bit Windows 7-10TH2 Operating Systems (using  DisplayLink_Win7-8.1.msi )

Setting up the WMI Filter

  1. Open up the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC)
  2. Locate WMI Filters
  3. Right click on WMI Filters and choose “New…”
  4. Give the WMI Filter an appropriate name and description. For example, “Windows 7”
  5. Click Add, to add a new query
  6. Add the following Query: select * from Win32_OperatingSystem WHERE (Version <"10.0.14393" or Version like "6.%") AND (ProductType="1") AND (OSArchitecture = "64-bit")
  7. Click OK, then Save

Setting up SCCM


This section will only explain how to deploy the DisplayLink Software using SCCM. A requirement for this is a working Active Directory and SCCM environment with the Configuration Manager Client installed, or being pushed, to the target machines.
This guide is showing the install of x64 bit Windows 10 RS1 onward, these steps will also work for x32 bit and other supported Windows OS's

This guide will assume admin knowledge of System Center Configuration Manager.

Setting up the File Share

  1. Download the DisplayLink Corporate install files from here: http://www.displaylink.com/corporateinstall/
  2. Create or use an existing file share for deploying software and drivers. The share must have at least read permission rights for the end users in order for SCCM to install the software on the target PCs.
  3. Extract the .zip that was downloaded into a DisplayLink MSI directory on your network file share. Your extracted files should look like this:


Creating the installation packages


  1. In Software Library \ Overview \ Application Management \ Applications, create a new application:


  2. Select “Automatically detect…” and “Type” as “Windows Installer (*.msi file)”. Browse to the network share used and select the “DisplayLink_xxxxx.msi” file.

  3. If everything is correct, the following screen should appear:


  4. Give the application a name, in this case the 64-bits version is being created. The name given here will appear in the list of applications in SCCM.


  5. When the creation of the application is complete, the following screen appears.


Setting the device collections

  1. In Assets and Compliance \ Device Collections, create new device collections suitable for your corporate OS deployment
  2. In this example, we are using WS Clients for all tested machines:  Create your own device collection.  Right click and select Properties.


  3.   Add query, direct or any needed statement. You can choose from a range of rules depending on your needs. Edit query statement to look as below if you want to deploy to a certain group of machines based on OS version.


  4. OK this page and apply to device collection.

Deploying the application

  1.   Navigate back to the application that was created earlier.
  2.   Right click on this application and select deploy.


  3.   Select the device collection that the application is going to be deployed to.



  4.   Distribute this to your distribution points.



  5.   Select either an available deployed or a required deployment.


  6. You should now see this page displayed.


Testing the DisplayLink software deployment

Testing GPO


It’s best to test the GPO works before rolling it out company-wide:
  1. Make a Test OU and put a few Test or Lab PCs in the OU. Call it something like “DPinst Test Computers”
  2. Apply the DPinst GPO to the Test Computer OU
  3. If your AD DC infrastructure is large, you may need to wait a while for the new GPO to propagate around.
  4. On the test computers, add a domain user as a Limited Account on the Test PCs
  5. Run: gpupdate on the Test PCs
  6. Reboot the Test PCs
  7. Log in as the limited user and plug in the DisplayLink device. If the Drivers install successfully, everything went OK. If the drivers didn’t install, wait a while and reboot again. It may be that Group Policy wasn’t refreshed properly on the Test PC, or the GPO hasn’t propagated fully yet. It can sometimes take two or three reboots to pick up the new Group Policy settings.
  8. Once everything works as expected, it should then be safe to deploy the solution onto the corporate network.

Rolling out the Driver


To roll out the driver, simply link the GPO to which Computer OU you want to deploy the driver to.

After installation


In order for the DisplayLink-enabled hardware to function properly, a subsequent reboot may be required after GPSI has installed the DisplayLink software on the end-users machine. This is normal, as installing a graphics driver under Windows usually requires a reboot, post-installation.


Testing SCCM


To test that the DisplayLink Driver has installed properly, open Software Center and run the application.
If successful you should see the following window.

Uninstalling the MSI installed Drivers


Follow this article for instructions on how to uninstall the MSI files

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