Administrator Update Rollout

TreeSize can be deployed on multiple systems via an admin rollout. Automatic updates can be enabled or disabled during this process.

Default Settings

Starting with version 9.8, TreeSize can be installed without requiring administrative permissions. This is the default option during installation. In earlier versions, the admin rollout was the default and only behavior. This is now optional.

Important: Updates must be performed with the same permissions as the previous installation! This means that if you installed TreeSize for the current user only, admin privileges are not required for updating TreeSize anymore.

TreeSize stores its settings in the user profile. If no options have been saved yet - for example, when the application is launched for the first time - the default settings will take effect.

Configuration of Default Settings

You can adjust these default settings system-wide by creating entries in the Windows registry or by deploying a customized options file. More information regarding this can be found below.

Customize the Options File

You can control the update behavior and also hide the “Check for update” button in the UI by applying a customized configuration file.

The configuration file is located at %APPDATA%\JAM Software\TreeSize.

(Please note that %APPDATA% is an environment variable that Windows will resolve automatically if it is entered in the address bar of Windows Explorer.)

Before proceeding, please ensure that TreeSize is closed.

In the folder mentioned above, you will find a file named “GlobalOptions.xml.” Please open the file with a suitable text editor (Notepad, Notepad++, etc.) and search for the following line: <CheckForUpdatesAutomatically>True</CheckForUpdatesAutomatically>

Please change the value “True” to “False” and save the file.

If the line does not exist yet, add it inside the <CheckForUpdateOptions> element (create the element if necessary). TreeSize only writes this element to the file once one of its values differs from the default, for example after the first automatic update check:

<CheckForUpdateOptions Type="TCheckForUpdateOptions">
    <CheckForUpdatesAutomatically>False</CheckForUpdatesAutomatically>
</CheckForUpdateOptions>

If you would like to disable the “Check for Updates” button in the user interface, you can do so by changing the following value accordingly: <ShowCheckForUpdate>True</ShowCheckForUpdate>

Please note that hiding the “Check for Updates” button also disables the automatic update check, regardless of the value of CheckForUpdatesAutomatically.

These settings will be applied automatically the next time TreeSize is started.

Deploying the Customized Options File

To deploy this file on all systems, you have the following options:

• If TreeSize is already installed on your systems, you can simply replace the existing options file at %APPDATA%\JAM Software\TreeSize.

• If you are reinstalling TreeSize on multiple systems, please save the file to a location accessible to all systems (e.g., on a network drive). First, run the installation, for example using the following command:

  TreeSize-Setup.exe /SILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES /PASSWORD=<YourInstallationKey>
  

  Then apply the options file by starting TreeSize with the command line parameter /OPTIONS (see Command line options). As the settings are stored in the user profile, this has to be done in the context of each user who will work with TreeSize:

  "<InstallationDirectory>\TreeSize.exe" /OPTIONS "<Path\to\Your\Network\Drive\GlobalOptions.xml>"
  

  Please note that the setup itself does not accept an options file as parameter.

Configure Windows Registry (Administrative Templates)

Another way to customize these default settings system-wide is by creating entries in the Windows registry for each setting at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\JAM Software\TreeSize.

To simplify this configuration, we provide administrative templates for the Group Policy Editor: Hyperlink

The administrative templates contain the setting ShowCheckForUpdate, which hides the “Check for Updates” button and thereby also disables the automatic update check. There is no separate template setting for CheckForUpdatesAutomatically.

Important: The registry entries only define default settings. They take effect only as long as the user has no options file (GlobalOptions.xml) yet, e.g. on the first start of TreeSize. If TreeSize has already been used on a system, changes in the registry have no effect for this user. In this case, please deploy a customized options file as described above.

Restricted Mode

Another way of disabling automatic updates is to run TreeSize in its restricted mode. This can be done by using the parameter: “/restrictedmode true”.

However, please note that this disables a few additional features, so this is not the recommended way unless the disabled features do not matter for your use cases. For more information about this mode, please refer to the following page: /RESTRICTEDMODE <value>