Software Installation Via Group Policy

J

Jason

I have set up group policy to deploy Adobe Reader 7.0 msi
onto all computers within the domain - no problems.
Next task was to upgrade this to 7.0.1 - i apply the msi
file to upgrade the existing one - no problem.

The problem arrises however that when a new computer joins
the domain, it tries to install the upgrade msi file before
the full package msi file, therefore failing to install
anything. Is there any way in which i can change the order
in whihc it will deploy, other than creating a seperate GPO
object and putting it down the list?

Thanks for your help in advance

Jason
 
A

Andrew Mitchell

Jason said:
I have set up group policy to deploy Adobe Reader 7.0 msi
onto all computers within the domain - no problems.
Next task was to upgrade this to 7.0.1 - i apply the msi
file to upgrade the existing one - no problem.

The problem arrises however that when a new computer joins
the domain, it tries to install the upgrade msi file before
the full package msi file, therefore failing to install
anything. Is there any way in which i can change the order
in whihc it will deploy, other than creating a seperate GPO
object and putting it down the list?

Thanks for your help in advance

From
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/standard/
proddocs/en-us/Default.asp?
url=/resources/documentation/windowsserv/2003/standard/proddocs/en-
us/upgradeApps.asp

To upgrade an application
Open Group Policy Software Installation.
In the details pane, right-click the new Windows Installer upgrade package
(that is, not the package to be upgraded).
Click Properties, and then click the Upgrades tab.
Click Add to create or add to the list of packages that you want to upgrade
with the new upgrade package.
In the Add Upgrade Package dialog box, under Choose a package from, do one
of the following:
Click Current Group Policy object (GPO).
Click A specific GPO, click Browse, and then click the Group Policy object
that you want to upgrade.
Review the list of packages under Package to upgrade, which lists all of
the other packages that are assigned or published within the selected Group
Policy object.
Click the package that you want to upgrade, and then do one of the
following:
To replace an application with a completely different application (perhaps
an application from a different vendor), click Uninstall the existing
package, then install the upgrade package.
To install a newer version of the same product while retaining the user's
application preferences, document type associations, and so on, click
Package can upgrade over the existing package.
(Optional) To make the upgrade mandatory, on the Upgrades tab, select the
Required upgrade for existing packages check box.
Notes

To complete this procedure, you must be logged on as a member of the Domain
Administrators security group, the Enterprise Administrators security
group, or the Group Policy Creator Owners security group.
Before you can perform this procedure, you must first assign or publish the
upgrade package.
Depending on the Group Policy object, the list of packages under Package to
upgrade might have zero or more entries.
If this is an upgrade under Computer Configuration in the Group Policy
console tree, the Required upgrade for existing packages check box is
selected and unavailable because packages can only be assigned to
computers, not published.
 
J

Jason

i have done all of this, and it works fine, but only for
machines with the initial package installed.
If i have a new pc join the domain it will try to install
the update msi, instead of the origional msi and then the
update msi..

With the new pc trying to install the update package first,
it's failing saying there's nothing for it to update.

it should install the package first and then the update.

Any ideas?
 
A

Andrew Mitchell

Jason said:
i have done all of this, and it works fine, but only for
machines with the initial package installed.
If i have a new pc join the domain it will try to install
the update msi, instead of the origional msi and then the
update msi..

With the new pc trying to install the update package first,
it's failing saying there's nothing for it to update.

it should install the package first and then the update.

Any ideas?

You need to change the link order of the GPO's in the GPMC.
Make sure the full package has a higher priority (lower number in GPMC) than
the upgrade.
 

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