In previous articles I have gone over publsihing applications with Group Policy and assigning applications with Group Policy. Both procedures require applications packaged as MSIs but what if you have an EXE?

Non-MSI pacakges can be published to users for automated installations using the native EXE. This is done with .ZAP files. A .ZAP file is a simple text file with instructions on how to install the application. The following is a sample of a .ZAP file used to publish the PowerPoint Viewer.

[Application] FriendlyName = "Powerpoint Viewer 2003"
SetupCommand = "ppviewer.exe" (hint: you can include any switches the executable supports i.e. setup.exe /quiet)
DisplayVersion = 11.0
Publisher = Microsoft

The contents were entered into Notepad and then saved as PPT.ZAP and copied to a network share along with the EXE. When publishing the application in Group Policy, instead of entering the path to an MSI, we instead enter the UNC path to the ZAP file. Select ZAW Down-level application package (*.zap) from the file type drop down and publish the application as normal.

Log on to a workstation and the package will be available under Add New Programs in the Add/Remove Programs applet.