installing software on lots of laptops

[Admiral208]

Hi all,

what would be the best way to install all our schools software on 32 new laptops without me having to sit at each one for an hour?

they have already got XP installed, just no software.

i have used 'Ghost' to copy hard drives in desktop PC's before but not sure what the best way for a laptop would be.

any thoughts or ideas???

Thanks

James

[j17sparky]

RIS or Ghost

[tomscaper]

It shouldn't make any difference using Ghost to deploy OS and software, you might have trouble if the drivers for that specific machine are not on your ghost image, so just create a new one on one of the laptops and then use it on the rest.

We use RIS to deploy XP and then group policy to deploy the software, when we get new machines we often have to add the network drivers for some machines.

[witch]

I would build one machine so I know everything is where it should be -Image up onto server and down onto the machines using Ghost.

[jamin100]

I would build one machine so I know everything is where it should be -Image up onto server and down onto the machines using Ghost.

Exactly how i do it and have done 80 laptops this week without a problem

[FragglePete]

What they all said. Get hold of Ghost Solutions Suite 8 and get yer head around the Console.

Make Ghost as a RIS option on your server, so you can PXE boot each machine straight to Ghost (no need for Ghost Boot Disks). The universal packet driver should work.

Understand the Console so you can deploy the client to a machine which is all loaded up and preped. Setup an answer file and Console runs Sysprep on the machine, reboots it and starts the Ghost session automatically and pulls off an image to the server.

Then just send the image to a bunch of machines you've just PXE'd boot, let them reboot and you just name each one as it goes through a Windows Mini-Setup and joins the Domain. Voila! PC is ready! (Well almost, we add AV after the machine is ready as a last step)

I've been using Ghost for years, but only this year did I get my head around the console which really made my life sooo much easier over summer.

Pete

[bossman]

What about using Acronis to image first laptop to server and then as deploy onto other laptops (takes about ten minutes each laptop) you can create as many boot discs as needed and shorten the time it takes to upload the image from the server, as long as you have a multiport switch you can image up to 48 from one switch at the same time.