Hi Guys,
As time passed by, I got a bit pre-occupied with stuff happening in both my personal and work life so I could not blog for a while. I thought it would be nice for a change to blog about the setup of specific features in Windows Server except for just troubleshooting problems.
This article is discussing how to deploy and install .msi packages from your Windows Server through the use of a single GPO (Group Policy Object).
What probably interests me most of this option, is that you can also remove the software should it cause any issues.
So how I am going to explain this is in a step by step format to set this up easily without any hassles.
To kickstart this process, log onto your Domain Controller with an Administrative account.
Make sure your MSI package you wish to deploy is located on the server and is shared. Read and Execute permissions must also be assigned to the folder for the users you wish to install the selected update on.
Next,
Click on Start and navigate to All Programs -> Administrative Tools -> Group Policy Management.
Right Click on your domain and click on Create and Link GPO Here.
You will be prompted to enter a name for the desired GPO. Name it something like MSI Deployment Firefox.msi.
Right Click on the GPO and select Edit. Group Policy Editor will now open.
Here we basically have two options:
Computer Configuration: This will install the software for a specific computer no matter which user is using the computer.
User Configuration: This will install the software for only specific users on the domain once they log on.
For this tutorial we shall take the User Configuration Option.
Under User Configuration browse to Policies -> Software Settings -> Software Installation
Right Click Software Installation and select New and then Package.
Next, browse to your MSI file and choose it.
Note: Please navigate to the network path of this file for example \\DC\Software\MSI\Firefox.msi.
Next you will be given 3 options:
Published: A program can be published for one or more users. This program will be added to the Add or Remove Programs list and the user will be able to install it from there.
Assigned: A program can be assigned per-user or per-machine. If its assigned per-user, it will be installed when the user logs on. However, if its assigned per-machine then the program will be installed for all users when the machine starts.
Advanced: This option can be chosen for more advanced options.
For the purposes of this tutorial, we will choose Advanced.
After you choose advanced, a dialogue box will appear with a Name Textbox. This name you can make just what you want. By default it is the name of the .msi package.
If you click on the deployment Tab, under the first two radio buttons, you will see that you can choose between Published or Assigned deployment. For this tutorial we will choose Assigned because we want the software to install at logon automatically.
Move down to the Deployment Options checkboxes.
You will now see three checkboxes you can modify:
Uninstall this application when it falls out of the scope of management: This is the option that you would select if you want the program to be uninstalled if the Group Policy is removed.
Do not display this package in the Add/Remove Programs control panel: If you want the application not to appear in the Add/Remove Programs control panel.
Install this application at logon: If you want this program to be installed at logon.
You can now set the Installation user interface option to your desire.
The rest of dialogue box you can leave as default and click on OK.
Now you can close Group Policy Editor and add your preffered users to your Security Filtering. Run gpupdate /force on the server and ask users to reboot and the softare should install.
And that is how we do it.
I hope this has been informative for you and would like to thank you for viewing.
Best Regards,
Sakkie
"Everybody's a genius, but if you judge a fish by it's ability to climb a tree, it will spend it's whole life believing it is stupid."
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