MathType 6.x for Windows
Network Administrator's Manual

Last Updated: April 2012

About this document

This document is designed to familiarize site license customers and network administrators on the different types of installations of MathType, and to introduce some specialized features designed to make the installation of MathType on multiple computers as manageable as possible.

In this Document
 

• Installation Overview
• What Gets Installed
• Silent Installation
• MathType Shared Network Setup

Installation Overview

The MathType installer has been designed to run from one of two disk types. It can be run from a CD or from a single, self extracting executable (for download). Additionally, MathType is capable of performing two different types of installations described as follows:

• Standard Installation
  Used when installing MathType directly onto the computer where it will be used. This installs MathType in its entirety so that it can be run independently with no need for a network connection. On computers where multiple user accounts exist, the MathType application is available to all users.
   
• Shared Network Setup
  Used when setting up MathType to run from a shared location on a network server. In instances where user disk space must be preserved, or if a need exists for application-use metering, a shared network setup will be most useful. Details of a shared network setup are expressed in the section MathType Shared Network Setup.

MathType setup will only overwrite existing files if their versions are the same or older than what are provided by the setup. These version-installed files include DLL, EXE, and TTF. File types that do not contain version data are always overwritten by the setup.

MathType6.log is written to the user's Windows Temporary Files folder. It contains detailed information pertaining to the most recent execution of the MathType setup. Information found in the MathType6.log file is:

• All installed files and their locations
• All tasks performed (e.g. OLE Registration, Font Installation etc.)
• All messages presented to the user
• All error or warning messages presented to the user
• Messages displayed in the progress meter dialog

This same file is also used when performing an uninstall of MathType.

What Gets Installed

The majority of files installed by the setup are placed into a folder located at C:\Program Files\MathType. This is the default location presented in the main selection dialog at the beginning of installation. In this folder are the following:

• Fonts folder
• Language folder
• MathPage folder
• Office Support folder
• Preferences folder
• System folder
• Translators folder
• MathType.exe
• MT6.dsc (Hidden file)
• MT6enu.cnt (Hidden file)
• Setup.exe
• Setup.inf (Hidden file)

Other files installed by the MathType setup are placed into other locations. The MathType setup will need write access to these locations for installation to complete successfully. And therefore, prior to installation, must be unlocked. These files and their locations are described below.

Silent Installation

Systems administrators for site licensees typically use network deployment tools to install MathType on many machines at an institution.  To facilitate this, it is possible to perform a silent installation that suppresses all dialogs, including registration. No pre-packaged silent installer or .msi is currently available for MathType.  But the information in this section describes several options for performing silent installations.

A silent installation involves three steps:

1. Preparing a disk image where product key and registration information has been pre-entered.
2. Invoking the MathType Setup program with command-line parameters to carry out the installation
3. Pushing the installation out to workstation using your deployment tools

Due to security considerations, detailed information about carrying out these steps is only available upon request.  Please email to Design Science Technical Support, and provide your site license key.

MathType Shared Network Setup

MathType setup supports a Shared Network Installation which allows MathType to be installed onto a shared, network volume (server) enabling local network users to run MathType from the server. This installation has two parts; That which is installed on the network volume and that which is installed onto the user's computer.

• Network volume
  • Known as the Server-side Shared Network Setup
  • Complete MathType installation
  • Installation source files for local network users
     
• Local network computers
  • Known as the Client-side Shared Network Setup.
  • This setup will install the minimal set of files onto the network user's computer.
  • MathType.exe will not be installed since it resides on the shared network volume.

To install a shared network setup, follow these steps:

1. Copy the contents of the MathType CD onto the server.
   Copy the entire contents of the MathType CD to a location on your network server where all users have access. This folder is referred to as the "Source Folder" and can be set to "read only" once copying is complete.
    
2. Run a standard installation of MathType on the server.
   As mentioned in the Installation Overview of this document, there are a number of files that are installed to locations other than the MathType Application folder. It is important that setup has write access to these locations in order to complete this step successfully. Review the files and locations listed above and unlock directories as appropriate prior to installing MathType.
   
   Setup must be run on the server in order to appropriately set up the MathType destination folder. Install MathType into a location that is accessible to your network users, making sure NOT to install it into the source folder created in step 1. Doing so will cause the installation to fail. During this installation you will be prompted to personalize your copy of MathType. Enter the name, organization name and registration number as appropriate. The registration number must be a valid site license registration number to prevent problems when executing step 4.
    
3. Create a shortcut to be executed by local network users.
   Create a shortcut to the Setup.exe file located in the Source Folder created in step 1. Place this shortcut in a server volume where your network users will have access to it.
   • Rename this shortcut to "Client-Side Install" (no quotes).
   • Open the Properties of the shortcut and make the following notations:
     • In the Shortcut Tab edit the "Target" box by adding the following to the end of the existing string: -W -DL "<MathTypeDir>" (where MathTypeDir is the location where you installed MathType in step 2).
   • If you normally run The Microsoft Word Startup folder locked, you may consider adding also -C to the string in order to suppress any error messages your network users may get during the client-side installation. Note however that using the -C command-line parameter may prevent one from receiving important valid-macro-errors. Because of this, use this parameter sparingly.
      
4. Run the Client-side Shared Network Setup.
   From a local network user's computer, access and execute the Client-Side Install shortcut created in step 3. This will complete the installation giving the network computer all the appropriate fonts, OLE registration and Start Menu icons necessary to run MathType.
    
5. Test your installation.
   Test by launching MathType from Start/All Programs/MathType and create expressions using each of the templates and toolbar elements.