Windows - Software Lifecycle - Install ThinkCell

What the think-cell deployment Worklet does

This Automox Worklet™ deploys think-cell, the PowerPoint plug-in for charts and slide layouts, to Windows endpoints. The Worklet ships an MSI payload, runs msiexec.exe in silent mode, passes the license key to the installer at runtime, and confirms registration by scanning the Windows uninstall registry hive. Endpoints where the think-cell DisplayName is already present in the Windows uninstall registry are left alone, so a recurring policy lands as a no-op on the laptops that pass and only runs msiexec where the registry entry is missing.

The remediation script wraps msiexec in a watchdog with a configurable installTimeout (default 300 seconds). If the installer hangs, the Worklet stops the msiexec process, writes a verbose log to ProgramData\amagent\WorkletCache\WSE-856\think-cell_install.log, and exits with a non-zero code so the failure surfaces in Automox activity logs. Exit code 0 means installed; 3010 means installed but a reboot is pending; anything else is a real failure with the log to match.

Two operator inputs drive the run. The licenseKey input must be configured as an Automox Shared Secret so the value never lives in plain text inside the policy or in activity output. The payload input must point to a file named setup_think-cell.msi uploaded to the Worklet payload section in the console. The Worklet copies that MSI into the WorkletCache directory at execution time, installs from there, then deletes the installer to keep the endpoint clean.

Why deploy think-cell through Automox instead of per-user installs

think-cell is a paid plug-in that sits inside the PowerPoint ribbon and adds chart, waterfall, and slide-layout components that ship templates and data-bound updates. Consulting, banking, equity research, and analyst teams treat it as core tooling, which means the install has to land on every new laptop the day the user picks it up. Manual installs by IT, or by the user with an admin password handed over by helpdesk, do not scale past a few hundred employees and routinely leave laggard machines stuck on the wrong version or no version at all.

Most think-cell rollouts stall in the gap between procurement adding seats and those seats actually showing up in the PowerPoint ribbon. This Worklet runs the silent MSI install on every Windows endpoint in scope, applies the license key from an Automox policy variable so it never lands in a script file or a chat thread, and re-validates the install registry entry on each evaluation pass. New endpoints inherit think-cell on enrollment without a help-desk hand-off.

How think-cell deployment works

1. Evaluation phase: The Worklet opens the HKLM uninstall keys at SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall and SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall, enumerates each subkey, and matches DisplayName against the string think-cell. Both 64-bit and 32-bit registry views are scanned, so the check works the same on x64 and x86 Windows. If a match is found, the Worklet exits 0 and the endpoint is marked compliant. If no match is found, the Worklet exits 2 and the endpoint is flagged for remediation.

2. Remediation phase: The script validates that the licenseKey Shared Secret and the setup_think-cell.msi payload are both available, then creates the WorkletCache directory at ${env:ProgramData}\amagent\WorkletCache\WSE-856. It copies the MSI from the payload, launches msiexec.exe with the argument list /i, /l*v, /qn, /norestart, LICENSEKEY=$licenseKey, and waits up to installTimeout seconds for the process to exit. Exit codes 0 and 3010 are treated as success; everything else throws, logs to think-cell_install.log, and deletes the installer before exiting.

think-cell deployment requirements

• Active think-cell subscription with a valid license key. The Worklet does not provision licenses; it activates an existing seat.

• Automox Shared Secret named licenseKey containing your think-cell license string. Store it as a secret, not a plain parameter, so the value never appears in activity output.

• The think-cell MSI uploaded to the Worklet payload section with the exact filename setup_think-cell.msi. The remediation script references that filename literally.

• Microsoft PowerPoint installed on the endpoint. think-cell is a PowerPoint add-in; the MSI registers the COM components but PowerPoint must be present for the ribbon to load.

• Local administrator context for the Automox agent. The default agent context already runs as SYSTEM, which has rights to write to Program Files\think cell, HKLM, and the WorkletCache directory.

• Optional installTimeout parameter (default 300 seconds). Raise it on slow links or virtualized endpoints where MSI extraction routinely takes longer than five minutes.

Expected state after think-cell deployment

After a successful run, think-cell appears in Settings → Apps → Installed apps and in the registry under HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall as a DisplayName matching think-cell. The plug-in files land under C:\Program Files\think-cell\ on 64-bit Windows, and the PowerPoint COM add-in is registered for all users. On the next launch of PowerPoint, the think-cell tab is present in the ribbon and the activation prompt is suppressed because the license key was passed at install time.

Validate the install on a pilot endpoint with Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -match 'think-cell'} | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion, InstallDate. For audit evidence, capture think-cell_install.log from ProgramData\amagent\WorkletCache\WSE-856 alongside the Automox policy run identifier; the verbose MSI log records every action ID and return code from the installer transaction. Subsequent Worklet runs will detect the existing install during the evaluation phase and exit 0 without re-running msiexec, so the policy is idempotent and safe to keep on a recurring schedule.