Problem Deploying Using Group Policy Software Installation

[Guest]

Hi,

I tried deploying Windows Defender using Group Policy Software Installation
and is facing a problem.

Before the current release (Build 1347), there is no problem deploying
Windows Defender. When I tried to deploy Build 1347, some Windows XP machine
just would not finish deploying. The Installing Managed Software dialog box
stays there forever. All the machines have the same specification (same
hardware) and same software installed. I deployed Windows Defender from a
Distributed File System path.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

 

[Bill Sanderson MVP]

I think you might need to enable Windows Installer logging on a target
machine and collect the log to see what's going on here:

(For Windows XP clients: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314852/)
Remember to turn it off again after collecting the log file--it will eat
temp space.

 

[Bill Sanderson MVP]

Hmm--forgot my boilerplate.

Windows Defender is not designed for managed networks--where such deployment
is the norm. It is explicitly not manageable. In this kind of environment,
Microsoft Forefront Client Security is the appropriate product:

http://www.microsoft.com/forefront/clientsecurity/default.mspx

 

[Guest]

Even thought Windows Defender is not designed for managed networks, how come
the previous version has no such problem?

Anyway, if I can produce the Windows Installer log file for you, can you
please resolve the problem?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Bill Sanderson MVP]

I can't make any such guarantee--I'm just another user, and certainly no
expert at .msi-based installation routines. That's the route I can think of
to pursue--but the beta is unsupported--except on a peer-to-peer basis here.
I don't know what might have changed in 1347--or what might have changed on
your installation platform machines between the two builds.

--

 

[Guest]

Hmmm... the weird thing is, after having this problem, reverting to older
version also causes the same problem. The system just displays the dialog
"Installing Managed Software ....".

If I log on into the system and install Windows Defender manually, the
installation continues on normally without any problem.

And as mentioned in the first post, all the computers are having the same
software and hardware installed but only some of them are having this problem
(minority).

Thanks.

 

[Bill Sanderson MVP]

So--this tends toward the second part of what I was saying--what's changed
on your installation platform....

Actually--here's an idea: Perhaps the block is a difficulty in uninstalling
the version of Windows Defender or Microsoft Antispyware already in place on
the given machines. So--attempting a silent uninstall, or just checking
that process manually on one of the problem machines, followed by a re-test
of the deployment script, might be worth trying.

--

 

[Guest]

I tried uninstalling Windows Defender on the affected machines and restart.
Same problem... sigh.

 

[Bill Sanderson MVP]

I'm out of simple ideas, I think--I'd go for the MSI log.

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