Webex App | Installation and automatic upgrade

Whenever a new version of the Webex App is released, it will be installed into the same folder on the server in which it was installed.

Please refer to Find your App version if you wish to check what version of Webex App you have installed.

When the Messaging App Version Report is run, administrators can identify which version of the application their users have, which is included under Cloud Collaboration Portfolio Reports, when they run the Messaging App Version Report

Manual install

An IT administrator or a user can install Webex App on a machine or on a user’s machine, and it can be installed both ways.

It is the default location for the Webex App to be installed:  %LocalAppData%\Programs\Cisco Spark.

A Windows installer file (msi) can be downloaded and then run by users. There is no need for them to have administrator privileges on their machine in order to use this feature.

A browser will automatically detect whether the user is using a 32-bit or 64-bit operating system, and download the correct version of the Webex App according to the operating system.

Depending on the permissions of the administrator, the installer can be run with additional privileges and the installer can be installed per machine and in the directory of the installation.

Table 1. Windows installers for the Webex App

Description	Is localized?	OS architecture	Install file download link
Webex App only	Localized	32-bit	https://binaries.webex.com/WebexTeamsDesktop-Windows-Gold/Webex_x86.msi
Webex App only	Non-localized (EN)	32-bit	https://binaries.webex.com/WebexTeamsDesktop-Windows-Gold/Webex_x86_en.msi
Webex App only	Localized	64-bit	https://binaries.webex.com/WebexTeamsDesktop-Windows-Gold/Webex.msi
Webex App only	Non-localized (EN)	64-bit	https://binaries.webex.com/WebexTeamsDesktop-Windows-Gold/Webex_en.msi
Webex App and desktop meetings bundle*	Localized	64-bit	https://binaries.webex.com/Webex-Desktop-Windows-x64-Combined-Gold/WebexBundle.msi
Webex App and desktop meetings bundle*	Non-localized (EN)	64-bit	https://binaries.webex.com/Webex-Desktop-Windows-x64-Combined-Gold/WebexBundle_en.msi

Installing all components of Webex App at the same time is made easier by using the bundle installer.

Bulk install

To bulk install Webex App to select users or computers, you need to use a third-party distribution mechanism and the non-localized version of the MSI file. As long as the user is comfortable with the language in which the app is available, they can still use it.

It is possible that if you use a different version of the MSI file, that you may encounter some problems when uninstalling the application.

The following command line parameters can be added to the MSI file when installing Webex App with the MSI file:

In order for you to specify a per-machine installation when you set ALLUSERS=1, you must have administrative access to the machine.

• Silent installation

  Using /quiet will ensure that there will be no interaction between the user and the application. For example: msiexec /i c:\work\Webex.msi /quiet.

 

• ACCEPT_EULA

  Users will not be prompted to accept the end user license agreement as long as you choose to accept it for them, and they won’t be asked to accept it as long as you accept it for them. In this case, for example,: msiexec /i c:\work\Webex.msi ACCEPT_EULA=TRUE ALLUSERS=1.

  In the event that any of the following registry entries have been set to the eula-disabled setting, the end user license agreement will not be displayed

  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\CiscoCollabHost\Eula Setting

  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\WOW6432Node\CiscoCollabHost\Eula Setting

 

• AUTOSTART_WITH_WINDOWS

  When installing Webex App, if you are granted administration access privileges, you can specify a property called AUTOSTART_WITH_WINDOWS=true, which will cause Webex App to start automatically with Windows when you set the APPLICATION_START_WITH_WINDOWS environment variable to true. It is likely that the default value for the property will be set to true if you do not specify the property option.

  • Set the Webex App to automatically start with Windows by specifying the option below. For example: msiexec /i c:\work\Webex.msi AUTOSTART_WITH_WINDOWS=true ALLUSERS=1.

    Unless you have administrative access privileges, all users will have the checkbox grayed out in Settings, preventing them from changing this option.

  • Set a preference to prevent the Webex App from automatically starting when Windows starts. For example: msiexec /i c:\work\Webex.msi AUTOSTART_WITH_WINDOWS=false ALLUSERS=1.

    The checkbox can be selected or deselected by the user at any time in the Settings section.

 

• DEFAULT_THEME

  With administrator access, you can set the theme that will be used for the Webex application if you have this permission. There is a default value set to dark if the property option for the property is not specified. The theme can be changed by the user by going to the settings page.

  • The Webex App can be customized with a light theme.

    For example, msiexec /i c:\work\Webex.msi DEFAULT_THEME=”Light” ALLUSERS=1

  • Webex App’s dark theme can be specified in the preferences.

    For example, msiexec /i c:\work\Webex.msi DEFAULT_THEME="Dark" ALLUSERS=1

 

• DELETEUSERDATA

  Any user database or log files that you create while running the installer to update the Webex App will by default be retained when you run the installer. You can include the following command line parameter if you want to remove these files:  DELETEUSERDATA=1.

  For example, msiexec /i c:\work\Webex.msi DELETEUSERDATA=1 ALLUSERS=1.

 

• EMAIL

  There is an option to specify an email address for a user and that email address will be used by Webex App to sign that user in to the Webex App. Whenever your organization uses a method to authenticate a user, for example Kerberos, then the user is automatically created in Webex App when this occurs.

  For example: msiexec /i c:\work\Webex.msi EMAIL=acassidy@example.com ALLUSERS=1.

  In addition, this parameter supports two system attributes so that the email address of the user can be dynamically retrieved: the User Principal Name (UPN) of Active Directory and the sAMAccountName from legacy versions of Windows. On a machine that is part of a UPN domain, you can use those as follows:

  msiexec /i Webex.msi EMAIL=$userPrincipalName ALLUSERS=1

  msiexec /i Webex.msi EMAIL=$SAMAccountName ALLUSERS=1

 

• ENABLEOUTLOOKINTEGRATION

  The ENABLEOUTLOOKINTEGRATION=1 property that you can specify when you are installing Webex App, if you have administration access privileges, will enable Webex App to register with Microsoft Outlook for the purpose of integrating its presence with Windows when you install Webex App. By default, the value is set to false if you do not specify the property option when configuring the property.

  • In order for Webex App to integrate with Microsoft Outlook on Windows, you need to specify that Webex App should register with Microsoft Outlook.

    For example: msiexec /i c:\work\Webex.msi ENABLEOUTLOOKINTEGRATION=1 ALLUSERS=1.

    The checkbox can be selected or deselected by the user at any time in the Settings section.

  • You can specify that Microsoft Outlook will not be integrated with Webex App on Windows in order for Webex App to register.

    For example: msiexec /i c:\work\Webex.msi ENABLEOUTLOOKINTEGRATION=0 ALLUSERS=1.

    Unless you have administrative access privileges, all users will have the checkbox grayed out in Settings, preventing them from changing this option.

 

• FORCELOCKDOWN

  I believe that you will be able to lock the version of Webex App that is used to join meetings if you have administrative privileges when you install the bundled components for Webex App, if the version is compatible with the site version of Webex App that is used to join meetings. Use the command line FORCELOCKDOWN=LockWhenCompatible

 

• INSTALL_ROOT

  With the help of a command line parameter, you can choose a different folder to install the app in. For example: msiexec /i c:\work\Webex.msi INSTALL_ROOT=”C:\Program Files” ALLUSERS=1.

• INSTALLWV2

  Using the INSTALLWV2 command line parameter of the installer, you can install the embedded browser WebView2 of Microsoft while installing Webex. Beginning in June, 2022, Webex will need to be installed with WebView2 in order to function properly.

  For example: msiexec /i c:\work\Webex.msi INSTALLWV2=1

Running the App

A separate automatic update mechanism has been developed for the Webex App, so it is independent of the Windows operating system. Apps that run on Windows are capable of automatically updating without the knowledge of the operating system, so the version of the app installed on a computer may be different than the version that the user sees while using the app.