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Software Installation (SI) Policy is designed to allow you to deploy Windows Installer packages (.msi files) to users and computers within an AD domain. SI Policy supports two types of installation methods:

• Publishing: Publishing is only available per-user and provides you with a way of publishing applications to the Add/Remove Programs control panel. Users can then optional install an application from there.
• Assignment: Assignment is available per-user or per-computer. Per-computer assignment lets you deploy an application to a computer--that application is automatically installed at the next computer restart. Per-user assignment lets you deploy an application at user logon. If you choose the Install-on-first-use option (available in Win2K and Win2K3/XP), then the full application is not installed, but rather only shortcuts and file extensions that are registered by that application. When the user clicks on one of these registered "entry-points" the application is installed at that time--hence the term "install-on-first-use". In Win2K3 and XP, you have the option of installing the full application at user logon time, which takes longer but ensures that the application is fully ready when the user's desktop appears.

• Auto-install this application by extention activation: This will open the application as soon as a user clicks on an availably registered filetype. For instance, if Word 2002 is being deployed, Word 2002 will be immediately opened when a user selects a .DOC file
• Uninstall this application when it falls out of scope of management: This will revoke the application when the user (or computer) is moved from, say, one OU to another (where the application isn't already being deployed)
• Do not display this package in the Add/Remove Programs control panel: Selecting this option prevents users from being able to uninstall (or repair) applications.

Deploying Software

Software Installation policy lets you manage the lifecycle of software deployment from install, to updating to removal. However, there are a few best practices to keep in mind as you plan your deployments:

• Once a package is deployed, the path to the MSI file cannot be changed without redeploying the application. Use DFS shares to abstract the logical path to the file from physical storage--that way, if you have to add more storage by adding a new server to a DFS link, the path to the MSI won't change. Also note that when you add a package, you must refer to the UNC path to the package (e.g. \\mydomain.com\dfsroot\packages\office.msi), not its physical location (e.g. d:\package\office.msi).
• Once a package is deployed, you can't add or remove any transforms (called "Modifications" in the SI Policy UI) that have been added. So its important to plan on which transforms you need up front.
• If you need apply an MSI patch to an application that has been deployed via SI Policy--the most common example is Office--then you need to perform an administrative install (using the /a option) of that application prior to deploying it. Then, you would apply the patch (.msp file) to that administrative install and perform a redeploy (by right-clicking on the package in the GP Editor) on the previously deployed application in the GP editor. This redeploy will trigger an update of the application on all clients where its installed and they will receive the patched version of the application.
• Keep in mind that Software Installation policy is "keyed" off of the MSI product code of the application. So, if you were to install one version of Office with a given product code and then deployed another version with a different product code, using GP, that second package would cause an uninstall/reinstall of any computers that had previously installed the first version.

Comments:

From karthickvdm@gmail.com [59.144.22.149] - 8/14/06 11:08 AM

From Red Erik [212.162.73.195] - 12/22/05 5:20 AM