Google Earth install via GPO? Can it be done in v6?

[Ben_Stanton]

Hi guys,

 

I have put this off and off and off but now need to get Google Earth rolled out via GPO. I know this has been a hassle in the past and I have searched and tried the recommended method but it is all different now.

 

The last posts I can find are back in 2009. Google Earth has obviously changed since then - I cannot download the full setup .exe to start with.

 

How are people doing it with v6 or even v5?

 

Any help MUCHLY APPRECIATED!

[FN-GM]

I didnt know they had version 6.

 

anyway we send 5.2 out via group policy. Using this MSI - Google Earth 5.2 MSI (Build Date November 8th 2010)

 

Not sure on V6 i have not looked into it. This guy will know - View Profile: Michael - EduGeek.net

[Ben_Stanton]

Wow, thanks FN-GM. I don't have to bugger about with mst or anything? Literally roll it out?

 

Thanks a bunch I'll go try it now!

[FN-GM]

Wow, thanks FN-GM. I don't have to bugger about with mst or anything? Literally roll it out?

 

Thanks a bunch I'll go try it now!

 

Nope i didnt mess with an MST. I just sent it right out.

 

I would do this though - http://www.edugeek.net/forums/educational-software/24877-google-earth-flight-sim.html

Edited December 1, 2010 by FN-GM

[Ben_Stanton]

Top man. Will give that a bash now.

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[FN-GM]

Cheers,

 

Let me know how you get on!

[sted]

as im off today (cant get the car out of the garage without pulling the rear bumper off and even if i could i dont think its sensible to drive) ive just made a test msi of 6 and am about to test it on a vm

 

give me 30 mins i will see if it works and if i can find somewhere to upload it to i will post a copy online or failing that instructions

[Ben_Stanton]

Nice one sted - i'll hold off for an hour if not, I will have ot go ahead with the version 5 as above.

 

Top man/men

[FN-GM]

as im off today (cant get the car out of the garage without pulling the rear bumper off and even if i could i dont think its sensible to drive) ive just made a test msi of 6 and am about to test it on a vm

 

give me 30 mins i will see if it works and if i can find somewhere to upload it to i will post a copy online or failing that instructions

 

I would also be interested please

[DrCheese]

I cheat with this, I copied the files that it installed up to a network share and just made a shortcut to that.

[sted]

sorry its taken so long my test server was ok but though it was may (took me ages to work that out lol) then the vm i run on that for xp couldnt handle google earth, then i had issues with teh spare laptop (again time i think and not typing in the right dns server) then another vm (virtualbox not ms virtual pc) wrong dns server (i would use dhcp but then with my normal router it borks other things). i now have it working though depending on the pc spec it may complain about not being able to run id dire4ct x mode on 1st run) it also requires a hole punching in the firewall same as v5. Im currently uploading a zip file to my webspace but as i have 512k upload max and its 40mb may take a while. For anyone who would rather do it themselves heres what i did

 

on a reference pc (or at least one you are an admin on)

clear out your users temp files

download small exe installer from google

go to the temp folder (c:\documents and settings\whoever\application data\temp\random name or c:\users\whoever\app data\temp\randomname) while its installing it on the reference pc grab a copy of this folder

rename the copy of the folder something more sensible and move to your deployment share

in the folder copy google earth.msi so you have a straight copy

open google earth.msi in orca

in the property table add a row of ALLUSERS and give it a value of 1

go to file and summary information and in the languages field delete everything but 1033

test deploy it to a workstation

and that should be it. You may or may not want to run it on a test workstation and copy app data bits to local/mandatory/ roaming profiles to stop first run junk (its 1 screen with a tick box) so to me isnt a big deal staff with roaming/local profiles will see it once and tick the go away box pupils have mandatory so i will just copy it across to my profile

 

 

update files here please only download it once per person i have a fair bit of allowed traffic but it is a big file

http://www.stedscarpics.net/edugeek/Google%20Earth%206.zip

Edited December 1, 2010 by sted
file uploaded

[Ben_Stanton]

Great job sted.

 

Just rolled it out to the first ICT suit with no problem. Only hardware letting me down, so can only get activex to work - not openGL.

 

Thanks again, much appreciated! It's now set for the other ICT suits overnight

[FN-GM]

Well school has closed so i didnt get chance to test deploy this. Will try again tomorrow.

[networkingNut]

sorry its taken so long my test server was ok but though it was may (took me ages to work that out lol) then the vm i run on that for xp couldnt handle google earth, then i had issues with teh spare laptop (again time i think and not typing in the right dns server) then another vm (virtualbox not ms virtual pc) wrong dns server (i would use dhcp but then with my normal router it borks other things). i now have it working though depending on the pc spec it may complain about not being able to run id dire4ct x mode on 1st run) it also requires a hole punching in the firewall same as v5. Im currently uploading a zip file to my webspace but as i have 512k upload max and its 40mb may take a while. For anyone who would rather do it themselves heres what i did

 

on a reference pc (or at least one you are an admin on)

clear out your users temp files

download small exe installer from google

go to the temp folder (c:\documents and settings\whoever\application data\temp\random name or c:\users\whoever\app data\temp\randomname) while its installing it on the reference pc grab a copy of this folder

rename the copy of the folder something more sensible and move to your deployment share

in the folder copy google earth.msi so you have a straight copy

open google earth.msi in orca

in the property table add a row of ALLUSERS and give it a value of 1

go to file and summary information and in the languages field delete everything but 1033

test deploy it to a workstation

and that should be it. You may or may not want to run it on a test workstation and copy app data bits to local/mandatory/ roaming profiles to stop first run junk (its 1 screen with a tick box) so to me isnt a big deal staff with roaming/local profiles will see it once and tick the go away box pupils have mandatory so i will just copy it across to my profile

 

 

update files here please only download it once per person i have a fair bit of allowed traffic but it is a big file

http://www.stedscarpics.net/edugeek/Google%20Earth%206.zip

 

I have done the edits to the MSI as above (using ORCA) but whenever I use it as a student I get an error "Cannot determine if you have permission to use this database". You can click on OK and it appears to work (Except streetview). The Man is showing in the top right for street view but whenever you howevr over streets the road are no highlighted blue, even roads on which I know there is streetview,

 

I have also downloaded the upadted files from above and whenever I use those to roll it out I get an error saying "Could not contact the image server to download new images."

 

Does anyone have any idea as to what is causing the problem?

[cpjitservices]

I did it this way,

 

Download and install the standard google earth to your machine, download EMCO MSI Packager and package it as a .MSI

 

Infact I'll upload my MSI which is rolled out to over 200 PC's and I'll post the address

[cpjitservices]

Google Earth.msi - 4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download

 

Just stick it in A GPO and roll it straight out - no tweaking needed!!!!!

[networkingNut]

I did it this way,

 

Download and install the standard google earth to your machine, download EMCO MSI Packager and package it as a .MSI

 

Infact I'll upload my MSI which is rolled out to over 200 PC's and I'll post the address

 

If you could do that would be great. I honestry cant see where I am going wrong. 5.2 was easy to do

 

In terms of Google 6 I have removed the languages except 1033 with ORCA and added an ALLUSERS row at the bottom of the property table I have then given it a value of One. Even though I am still getting all these errors.

[networkingNut]

Google Earth.msi - 4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download

 

Just stick it in A GPO and roll it straight out - no tweaking needed!!!!!

 

Thanks for that. Whenever I try and add it to group policy we get the error. "Unable to deploy the package, the package does not support a Windows Compatible Platform." In have changed the summary option to 1033, but apart from that I just placed it onto a network share and I got the above error

 

Any ideas why. Its Server 2003 with XP pro clients I am trying to deploy with

 

Thanks

 

Update: After looking again at the Google Earth forums it appears to be related to the proxy settings.

 

http://earth.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=ts.cs&ts=1210422

 

However, even after adding:

 

•maps.google.com

•auth.keyhole.com

 

To our whitelist it still comes up with the same error.

 

Did anyone have to input the proxy settings directly into the MSI, in order to resolve this?

nN

Edited August 9, 2011 by networkingNut
The error Appears to be proxy related

[cpjitservices]

No probs peeps, just click thanks and add to my rep, how is it rolling out on your networks - all working ????

[networkingNut]

It is rolling out fine Thank you. After not having any luck with the adding the initial two URL's to the whitelist I checked the website history of a student account and it appears that there are several subdomains that it needs access to. As a result and deliberation I added *. Google.com the white list and touch wood all is now working correctly.

 

Thanks everyone.

 

Next Task to figure out how to copy a file to multiple machines VIA GPO but I will start a new thread for that so not to digress.

 

nN