emaynard

I was slowly (through experience) coming to that realization - that FOG (actually Windows) doesn't like the way these files have to be run. Figured it was likely permission related. I will check into your suggestions. As always, thanks for the advice ssx.

I know that the main FOG wiki and ssx4life "Supported Snapins" page mentions that VBS scripts require that you link to cscript in the Run Snapin With field, but I do not see any mention of CMD or BAT files. I have a CMD file that I am trying to load on a PC and I tried unsuccessfully both with and with out a link to C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe Is there a best practice for loading these kinds of files as snapins?

morganw - I guess I just figured that re-imaging would be my "uninstall" since these are shared PCs that I am managing and there is no real need to persist any of the data, but I am concerned about the impact that strategy might have on bandwidth. I agree it would no doubt be high maintenance, but if there was a way to easily share flexible wrapper "blueprints" then it could be a crowd-sourced effort. I check on AlternateTo.net and found a handful of free apps like VMWare's Thinap, but none are open source. I will check into the AppDeploy tool. VMLite VirtualApps Studio alternatives - AlternativeTo.net

I just think that it is somewhat inefficient to have to config the same basic installs on each unique FOG install. Granted, I think that the functionality for doing so should be there for advanced installations or those who choose to use it, but I think that the "package" concept just make sense. I can understand vendors not being crazy about their files being re-packaged, but perhaps their is a way to handle this like you suggest by "wrapping" the installer in command line options. Sort of like SFX meets FOG snapins.

morganw - I was thinking of doing that, but then I starting to second guess myself and question if I shouldn't just be building individual Snapins for each product. ssx4life - Once again, you come to the rescue with good advice. I have actually been making good use of AppDeploy.com as well as putting SFX Maker to work creating installers for several apps I would have installed from CD in the past. Personally, I wouldn't mind giving up a little control if it's gonna save me some time, but if I have to invest in adding in an AutoIT script then I'm probably going to need to wrap that with SXF and that seems like it might just be more work, which is obviously what I am trying to avoid Anyways, I think after reflecting on it some more, FOG Snapins = Ninite-like functionality only from locally based files. I wonder if anyone has given any thought to allowing admins to optionally point to the latest files on a vendors website. Sort of like packages on Linux based machines?

I am able to run Ninite as a Fog Snap-in, but it appears that the only way to run this completely unattended is to upgrade to the Pro version. There is a "Finish" dialog at the end of the installation that prompts you before moving on to the next FOG snapin. Is anyone else using this tool (or something similar) to chain together some of your more basic and common installations with FOG? I like the idea of simply checking off apps as an initial deployment tool, but it might not be that practical for upgrades. Or does everybody pretty much just roll their own individual Snapins to keep things modular? Again, looking for best practices type of advice for a small (~100 PCs) 3 basic image setting. -Eric

Curious what tools FOG server admins use to manage registry settings? Looking for some best practices for making these changes using snapins. Do you create batch files, AutoIT scripts/exe's, VB scripts, etc... ? thanks in advance, Eric

Wow! I am going to need some time to digest all this info and try out some of your suggestions. many many thanks. Just to provide answers to your questions: NO hardware changes. NO BIOS upgrades. I did remove all the pre-installed junk (can InstallRite do this maybe?) applications I can't recall the exact steps I took in re-sealing the image, but I am pretty certain that it was using the -mini and -reseal options. Pretty certain that I did *not* use Factory in the process. I will get back to you on the info you requested to be posted. -Eric

I should have probably mentioned that these computers are at 5 different locations and it would be very desirable for me travel-wise if I could manage Windows security and general application updates on these boxes using images - perhaps once a month. I think FOG can handle adding the hostname and AD membership for me, but I have to be able to have them basically up and running after each re-imaging with as little Windows setup as req'd. Or if there is any, hopefully it can be scripted. thanks again, Eric

SSX, since you offered, i am going to pick your brain. I read your post on DSL Reports and I think that I may have broken the triad. Here is my situation: I have 30 Acer Desktops that I want to use FOG to maintain. Initially, I sysprep'd and used CloneZilla to replicate the Acer provided XP image to all the desktops. In my sysprep.inf file, I used the SLP key that is at this in the TechNet article you linked to in hopes of preserving the OEM activation on all the PCs. It appeared to work as I did not receive any kind of activation messages. Now, I have run into a problem after setting up FOG and attempting to re-image (with updates applied) where sysprep is stating "grace period has been reached" and it appears to force me into re-running the full Windows setup including inputing the product key. The COA on these units was for Vista Business OEM, but I purchased with OEM XP downgrade discs. So, my question is if I am going to have to somehow capture (convert?) the OEM image on the DVDs into a (sysprep'd?) FOG image so that I can keep the triad you mention in the DSL Report forum post. Do you know of any shortcuts to this process as I would rather not have to start over if not necessary? Your willingness to share advice/experience is greatly appreciated. -Eric

ssx, I assume that Royalty keys are something different than the SLP keys referenced at the Wikipedia article titled System Locked Preinstallation - Wikipedia. (can't post links yet per vBulletin) Secondly, is there a way to use FOG and sysprep and feed a unique COA to each host? thanks, Eric