Offline Installation (no Internet access)

Modified on July 26, 2024

By default, when you install ProGet, BuildMaster, or Otter using the Inedo Hub internet access is required. This is because the Inedo Hub will connect to Inedo's servers to upgrade itself and show you what Inedo products and versions are available to install.

However, the Inedo hub can also operate in a completely offline/disconnected state. This is useful if you need to update an Inedo product on a server that does not have Internet access. You can also set up your own Inedo products feed for use on your intranet.

Downloading the Offline Installer

Starting from BuildMaster v7, Otter v3, and ProGet v6, you can download an offline installer from the downloads page at my.inedo.com. These installers contain a single version of a single Inedo product, and can be run with no internet access.

Creating a Custom Offline Installer

To create an offline Inedo Hub, follow these steps:

1. Install Inedo Hub on a workstation/server that has access to the Internet.
2. Click the "Create Offline Installer" button on the main page of the Inedo Hub application.
3. Select the versions of Inedo products you'd like to include in the offline installer. By default, the latest stable version of each product is selected.
4. Select the destination directory where the offline installer will be created. This directory will be created if it does not exist. If it does exist, it must be empty.
5. Click the "Create Installer" button and wait for the packages to be downloaded.
6. Copy the files in the destination directory to the server where you'd like to install one of the selected products.
7. Run InedoHub.exe on the server, and install the desired app.

Creating a Custom Single-exe Offline Installer

Instead of having a directory of files, or a .zipfile that you need to extract, you may wish to have a single-file executable offline installer, similar to what we provide on the downloads page.

There are many tools that can help create a single-exe installer, and the process generally involves creating a self-extracting archive (zip file) that runs an extracted executable after extraction.

Example Using the LZMA SDK

This is how we create single-exe bundles, and it involves using files from 7-zip (which you likely already have), and the 7zS.sfxplugin from the LZMA SDK.

1. Copy 7zS.sfx, 7za.dll, 7za.exe, and 7zxa.dll to C:\OfflineHub
2. Create C:\OfflineHub\config.txt with the following contents:

;!@Install@!UTF-8!
Title="Inedo Hub Offline Installer"
RunProgram="InedoHub.exe"
;!@InstallEnd@!

3. Create an offline Inedo Hub following the instructions above to C:\OfflineHub\src
4. Run the following commands

cd c:\OfflineHub\src
..\7za.exe -r a ..\pack.7z *.*
cd..
copy /b 7zS.sfx + config.txt + pack.7z OfflineInstaller.exe

The file OfflineInstaller.exe will be a self-extracting executable that runs the InedoHub.exe upon extraction.

Note that you could modify this process to run hub.exe instead (i.e. Inedo Hub CLI) and then pass in arguments as you would in a silent installation. However, this is more complicated and we wouldn't recommend it. Once you're scripting an install, you can simply download a .zip file and extract it with two one or two commands.

Setting up your own Inedo products feed

By default, the Inedo Hub will connect to a Universal Package Feed our public ProGet instance to upgrade itself and show you what Inedo products and versions are available to install.

You can configure the Inedo Hub to access a different feed, such as our Pre-release or a feed hosted on your own ProGet server. To connect to your own ProGet server, you can simply configure a Connector to our Products feed.