Deploying Corel Painter 2018 to a Lab

[mpaganr34]

Corel currently does not offer a slick way to silently push Painter 2018 on MacOS, and I had to deploy it to a lab over Christmas break.

I’m well aware that what comes next is a very butcher-ey way to do this. I’m definitely open to suggestions for how to clean up my process, but since I didn’t see a guide online, I thought this could possibly be helpful for someone else and could maybe start a discussion.

Anyway, Corel provides a utility called “create_dta” that will create a License key file. The rest of this paragraph is pretty much ripped straight from their documentation. It will generate the key file (PFXX.dta) which you can then push to the machines you have installed Painter 20xx on. It’s important to note each release of Painter has its own version of create_dta. Create_dta takes 2 parameters. The first is the serial number, the second is the location to generate the License Key file.

syntax:

create_dta <SERIALNUMBER> <DESTINATIONPATH>/PFxx.dta

I then used Composer to capture file changes, including placing the dta file into /Library/Preferences/com.corel.Painter2018. I know, I know, don’t use Composer, but it was the only way I could figure out to do the install silently.

After install and licensing, you must register the install per computer and per user by entering the email address associated with the license. I did this by logging in under a set account, entering the email address, and then copying the Registry Plist file from that user’s “Preferences” directory into the directory of every logged in user with this script:

#!/bin/sh
# Get the username of the currently logged in user
loggedInUser=`/bin/ls -l /dev/console | /usr/bin/awk '{ print $3 }'`

mkdir /Users/$loggedInUser/Library/Preferences/com.corel.Painter2018
cp /Users/<LicensingAccountNameHere>/Library/Preferences/com.corel.Painter2018/com.corel.Registry.plist /Users/$loggedInUser/Library/Preferences/com.corel.Painter2018/com.corel.Registry.plist

I trigger this script at login per account.

From there, it’s just a matter of scoping and grouping your install the way you’d like it to go.

Here’s my step by step from our documentation, if it helps anyone.

Create the Installer:
1. Create licensing file:
Use the “create_dta” utility. It will generate the key file (PFXX.dta) which you can then push to the machines you have installed Painter 20xx on
NOTE: each release of Painter, has its own version of create_dta.
create_dta takes 2 parameters. The first is the serial number, the second is the location to generate the License Key file.
syntax: create_dta <SERIALNUMBER> <DESTINATIONPATH>
The file must be named “PFxx.dta”
Save the generated file for use in step 3
2. Use Composer to capture file changes:
Run through Painter 2018 Installer process
place DTA file in /Library/Preferences/com.corel.Painter2018
remove unnecessary files captured in Composer process
* save Package

Create Licensing Plist:
1. Open Corel Painter 2018 under <EndUserLogin>
2. At the registration prompt, enter <RegisteredEmail> and submit
3. Copy the following file:
/Users/<EndUserLogin>/Library/Preferences/com.corel.Painter2018/com.corel.Registry.plist
4. Place the copied files into ~/Library/Preferences for each new logged in user
this step currently done via login script

[jwojda]

thank you. I'm actually in progress of trying to wrap this app up for deployment. Were you able to successfully deploy the app itself? I'm fine with it deploying as a trial, but whenever I launched the app it would bounce in the dock but never open.

[mpaganr34]

Yes, I built the app using Composer, then cached and installed cached and it worked fine. I never ran into the bouncing app issue.

What kind of package did you push out? Do the installer logs in the console tell you anything?

[mgshepherd]

I was just in the process of trying to find where Corel stores the serial number for Painter 2018 and stumbled across this post, talk about timing! I'm going to try a method myself and report back if I come across any issues. Thanks for the starter tips.

[mgshepherd]

After trying several methods I ended up finding a way to deploy to my labs. I first used Composer to capture the Painter installer (not a big fan but until silent install works this is my way), during the installation process I entered in the serial so it would be included in the package. Note: a few unneeded things were deleted from the capture as typical with captured installs.

Next I ran Painter for the first time while capturing with Composer so I could make a DMG file with the preferred settings (Completed registration, turn off startup screen and turn off updates).

The policy for my lab consists of the Painter package made from Composer (remember this already contains the PFxx.dta as mentioned in the beginning of the post) and the DMG file that contains the captured settings I want set for my lab environment. The DMG file is set to fill user template. I rolled the policy out, tested and it works beautifully.

[mpaganr34]

entered in the serial so it would be included in the package

So just to be clear, you didn't have to package the DTA file, you just entered the serial, and it works?

Next I ran Painter for the first time while capturing with Composer so I could make a DMG file with the preferred settings

I'll try this out. Much better option than copying the plist on login.

[mgshepherd]

Correct @mpaganr34, I didn't have to package the DTA file because I already entered it during the installation process.

Best of luck.

[kwoodard]

Does this process still work with the current version of Jamf and its tools and Corel 2021 (2022)?