Deploying software

[SumJuan]

Hi all

I'm deploying various bits of software gpo and it's all working okay but I'm
after some confirmation about one area which is with alterations to mst's.

With Office XP / 2003 I have an MST which is being applied but when I alter
it nothing gets changed even if I redeploy the application. I tested this by
removing the Excel shortcut from the start menu and also creating a new
folder on it and when the test machine was rebooted I saw that it was
applying the software settings but it didn't acutally apply the changes (I'm
not sure but I think the folder on the start menu wasn't created because it
was empty).

My real question is this .... if I need to make changes to an MST and get
the changes out to all users, do I have to make a new package within the gpo
and delete the 'old' one or should the Excel shortcut be removed just by
redploying the 'old' one? I'm really not sure why the shortcut wasn't
removed and the folder wasn't created.

Hopefully this makes sense ;-)


thanks

 

[Dmitry Korolyov [MVP]]

I think you can make changes and then redeploy the package assigned in GPO.
Since Windows Installer uses quite intelligent mechanism for installation,
it won't just reinstall everything by copying all the files again but
instead will deploy new setting. Such redeployment won't take much time.

Alternatively, you can use Custom Maintenance Wizard from ORK to create a
maintenance package and then deploy it.

--
Dmitry Korolyov [[email protected]]
MVP: Windows Server - Active Directory


Hi all

I'm deploying various bits of software gpo and it's all working okay but
I'm
after some confirmation about one area which is with alterations to mst's.

With Office XP / 2003 I have an MST which is being applied but when I
alter
it nothing gets changed even if I redeploy the application. I tested this
by
removing the Excel shortcut from the start menu and also creating a new
folder on it and when the test machine was rebooted I saw that it was
applying the software settings but it didn't acutally apply the changes
(I'm
not sure but I think the folder on the start menu wasn't created because
it
was empty).

My real question is this .... if I need to make changes to an MST and get
the changes out to all users, do I have to make a new package within the
gpo
and delete the 'old' one or should the Excel shortcut be removed just by
redploying the 'old' one? I'm really not sure why the shortcut wasn't
removed and the folder wasn't created.

Hopefully this makes sense ;-)


thanks

 

[SumJuan]

Thanks for the reply Dimitri but when I used the 'Redeploy Application' in
GPO it didn't change anything at all. The Excel shortcut wasn't removed and
the new folder on the Start Menu/All Programs wasn't created making me think
I did something wrong.

Any ideas how I do this?


I think you can make changes and then redeploy the package assigned in GPO.
Since Windows Installer uses quite intelligent mechanism for installation,
it won't just reinstall everything by copying all the files again but
instead will deploy new setting. Such redeployment won't take much time.

Alternatively, you can use Custom Maintenance Wizard from ORK to create a
maintenance package and then deploy it.

--
Dmitry Korolyov [[email protected]]
MVP: Windows Server - Active Directory


Hi all

I'm deploying various bits of software gpo and it's all working okay but I'm
after some confirmation about one area which is with alterations to mst's.

With Office XP / 2003 I have an MST which is being applied but when I alter
it nothing gets changed even if I redeploy the application. I tested this by
removing the Excel shortcut from the start menu and also creating a new
folder on it and when the test machine was rebooted I saw that it was
applying the software settings but it didn't acutally apply the changes (I'm
not sure but I think the folder on the start menu wasn't created because it
was empty).

My real question is this .... if I need to make changes to an MST and get
the changes out to all users, do I have to make a new package within the gpo
and delete the 'old' one or should the Excel shortcut be removed just by
redploying the 'old' one? I'm really not sure why the shortcut wasn't
removed and the folder wasn't created.

Hopefully this makes sense ;-)


thanks