Is there a way to get WebPI to install Products in an offline way?

FAQ: Do I always need to be online for WebPI to download and install all the products it offers?

Short answer: Yes

FAQ: Is there a way to get webpi to install products in an offline way?

Many WebPI customers have requested for this feature. While WebPI does *not* offer an offline install feature yet, there is a way to get WebPI to install products in an offline way (and help customers save some bandwidth). Read on for a few options …

Connect machine to the internet and download all the msi components you want to install locally. Note the physical path for each of these msi components. Now you have two options to get WebPI to install all these components offline.

Option 1: Recommended if the product(s) you are trying to install already exists in webpi feed

1. Copy the webproductList.xml from http://www.microsoft.com/web/webpi/2.0/WebProductList.xml to your local machine
2. For each Installer downloaded on your local machine, update the local copy of WebProductList.xml. Specifically, update the <installerURL> to point to the msi downloaded on the local machine. XML Snippet using SEOToolkit as an example in the webproductList.xml feed below:

<installerFile>
    <fileSize>720</fileSize>
    <installerURL>http://download.microsoft.com/download/A/C/A/ACA8D740-A59D-4D25-A2D5-1DCFD1D9A01F/IISSEO_amd64.msi </installerURL> //location on the machine where the msi is downloaded
    <sha1>96306F47159E1B348075629A3FCF2D66DD221883</sha1> //SHA1 hash for the installer
</installerFile>

To:

<installerFile>
    <fileSize>720</fileSize>
    <installerURL>C:\Users\nitashav\AppData\Local\Temp\IISSEO_amd64.msi </installerURL> //location on the machine where the msi is downloaded
    <sha1>96306F47159E1B348075629A3FCF2D66DD221883</sha1> //SHA1 hash for the installer
</installerFile>

Option 2: Recommended for products that are not offered using webpi

1. Craft your own webpi feed for the products you would like webpi to install
2. For each Installer downloaded on your local machine, update the <installerURL> to point to the msi downloaded on the local machine. XML Snippet using the custom sampleProductFeed.xml shared here below:

<installerFile>
    <!-- size in KBs -->          
    <fileSize>1024</fileSize> 

    <installerURL>http://www.contoso.com/SampleProduct_x86.msi </installerURL>

    <sha1>111222FFF000BBB444555EEEAAA777888999DDDD</sha1> 
</installerFile>

To

<installerFile> 
    <!-- size in KBs -->
    <fileSize>1024</fileSize>
    <installerURL>C:\Users\nitashav\AppData\Local\Temp\SampleProduct_x86.msi</installerURL> 

    <sha1>111222FFF000BBB444555EEEAAA777888999DDDD</sha1>
</installerFile>

    3. Save the SampleProductFeed.xml file locally

    4. Run the following commands

•     Clear local cache: %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft\Web Platform Installer\Webplatforminstaller.exe /reset
•     Launch WebPI, go to the Options dialog (click the “Options” link on the main window), type the location of the SampleProductFeed.xml file and click “Add Feed” and close the dialog.

    5. Now you can disconnect your machine from the internet and use WebPI to install the sampleProduct!

A note about product Dependencies: If the product has any dependencies, follow the same steps to install the dependencies offline too (download each dependency and update the installerURL with the local msi location). However, if the dependency is an iisComponent, it can be installed offline (there is no need to download anything for it)