Deploy Software via GPO

[ICTNUT]

Hi All,

 

Looking to find out how you guys deploy software throught the school via GPO.

 

This is something I want to get up and running at our place but have not really gone into it that much.

 

Looking for experiences, ease of use, how you handle legacy non .MSI files (i.e. old .exe's)

 

Any help would be great.

[tosca925]

I mainly use .MSI install through GPO, if the osftware don't come witha msi then itry and create one with relevant snapshot software. I have about 85% success in creating custom MSI's

[ICTNUT]

Tosca:

 

I am planning to deploy the software directly to the machinces and not the users, now correct me if I am wrong but my understanding is that when the PC is booted at some point during the boot up process the GP will kick in and the assigned software is installed, correct?

 

If this is the case are the installs then silent?

 

Also what are you using to create your own MSI's

[tosca925]

I am planning to deploy the software directly to the machinces and not the users, now correct me if I am wrong but my understanding is that when the PC is booted at some point during the boot up process the GP will kick in and the assigned software is installed, correct?

 

Yes this is correct, and you can only install direct to the machines anyway.

 

If this is the case are the installs then silent?

Yes, just before you get the log in box appear you will see a small windows type box that says somthing like 'installing managed software (software title) '

 

Also what are you using to create your own MSI's

WinINSTALL LE s what i use, i normally get a 80% succes rate in creating msi packages with this.

 

 

Have a look at tis site. I picked up loads from here. http://www.appdeploy.com/

[Ric_]

I am planning to deploy the software directly to the machinces and not the users, now correct me if I am wrong but my understanding is that when the PC is booted at some point during the boot up process the GP will kick in and the assigned software is installed, correct?

 

Yes this is correct, and you can only install direct to the machines anyway.

You can also install on a per user basis which publishes the apps but I have not had much success with this and there seems little point IMHO.

 

Also what are you using to create your own MSI's

WinINSTALL LE s what i use, i normally get a 80% succes rate in creating msi packages with this.

 

 

Have a look at tis site. I picked up loads from here. http://www.appdeploy.com/

 

You were getting 85% success at the start of the topic. Must have been a bad week

[tosca925]

I knew it was 80 something..........lol

[ICTNUT]

@Tosca:

 

Thanks for the link i'll look into it over the week and see what I can come up with.

 

I'll shout if I need any further points in the right direction.

 

Have never used Wininstall LE ($49.99) is this the same Wininstall LE that comes with windows 2000 server in the valueadded folder (that ones free)

[kingswood]

We deploy Office via MSI in a GPO and it works great. I used an administrative install so that the volume license code and needed components were there, and it works great.

 

Good luck!

 

Paul

[tosca925]

Have never used Wininstall LE ($49.99) is this the same Wininstall LE that comes with windows 2000 server in the valueadded folder (that ones free)

 

The old 2000 version was free, but they have updated the 2003 version quite a bit, hence why they are charging for it......................!

[Gatt]

Now that my AD has been sorted and a new GPO in place for the pupils, my next task is to rebuild the PCs

 

I plan to do as much of this via Group Policy

The only thing I will need to do is create a Base WinXP (SP2) image to roll out to the machines via a Sysprep'd Ghost Image, then use GP to install the required applications

 

I know that Office can be configured using the Resource Kit to create custom MST files to automate the install and have all the settings in place

 

My question is - how easy is it to do this for other MSI-based installs?

[ChrisH]

I have a few tips for installing awkward ones as well like studio 2004 which doesnt act kindly to being repackaged. I have put a little rough info on the wiki about it.

As for doing captured setups I dont like Winstall LE as you have to tweak the capture quite a bit yourself to get it working. There is a version of Admin studio on microsofts website where the capture wizard will run after the 30 day day which is more intelligent. You then of course need to edit it with something else if you need to. I have like wise the best followed by Flexnet admin studio (installshield studio) but these have very hefty price tags.

 

I am like http://www.advancedinstaller.com/ which was posted by someone last week for doing packages from scratch but it doesnt allow you to import an MSI but you could probably get round that in some cases by picking bits out of an admin install.

[ChrisH]

@ Gatt missed your last bit.

 

Transforms are basically changes or addition to the base MSI. You wont find many programs that will come with the tools like office for a custom installation but basic stuff like writing the registry keys that hold the serial key etc are easy to start with until you find your feet a little more. Its also a safer way to tweak base packages without ruining the original.

[Gatt]

Thanks for that Chris, will look into it more - I may end up deploying to the base install, imaging that to Ghost, and deploy via ghostcasting,

 

probably easier and can still use GPO to deploy updates in the future

 

[ChrisH]

As pointed out by ajbritton recently you should always deploy from an admin install of the MSI because when a file gets corrupt it can just go and fetch that one file rather than the whole cab file.

Luckily the majority of my MSIs were done with Winstall LE and I omitted to compress them.

[apeo]

Does anyone use a method to log which machines the msi is pushed to (via gpo) which logs which machines installed successfully and possibly more important those that were unsuccessful? Also how do you deal with annoying packages that require various permissions on certain folders (such as the app folder)? Currently I have a scrip using cacls to do this.

[ChrisH]

I do the same with a script apeo but you can alter the MSI to give the folders permissions as well on installation.

[contink]

Does anyone use a method to log which machines the msi is pushed to (via gpo) which logs which machines installed successfully and possibly more important those that were unsuccessful? Also how do you deal with annoying packages that require various permissions on certain folders (such as the app folder)? Currently I have a scrip using cacls to do this.

I found that stuff like 2simple did a lot of this "no access" rubbish on their standard MSI's and in the end I tried the tech support after a year or just having a ghost image to update and redistribute every so often.

 

Turns out you can alter the GPO for a linked installer but you have to go round the houses and edit as a domain admin on one of the target XP machines. That sorts out the permissions for folders, etc..