Posted by Shawn Anderson on Wed, Sep 01, 2010
Prior to remotely installing Office 2010 to your company, you'll want to run the admin tool, also known as the Office Customization Tool.
We have a video which demonstrates using the Office Customization Wizard. We'll also show a step-by-step below.
Copy your Office 2010 setup disc to a folder on your workstation and open a command window. Change directories (cd) to your setup.exe location and run the following:
setup.exe /admin
The customization tool will open up.
Like most customization tools, there is too much to go through here, but we'd like to focus on the customizations that will make it easier for deployment without bothering your users as well as to disable some common "phone-home" features. (While these might be helpful features, some companies have policies against such feedback).
Hit the important areas to you, but be sure to select the "Microsoft Office 2010" selection, which contains some settings that are important.
After you've entered your volume license key, disabled the auto-start wizard, and disabled the phone-home settings, you're ready to make other changes as well.
Take the time to walk around the tool and see if there are other settings that would be helpful to you. If you have a SharePoint server this is a good way to customize the URL for your document library, etc. If you have an Exchange server this is also a fast way to ensure that all installations of Outlook point to the correct server.
A huge thanks out to the developers at Microsoft who continue to make this tool available. It helps those of us who rely on Microsoft Office everyday.
Do you need to deploy Microsoft Office to all your computers? Use PDQ Deploy, a free software deployment tool from Admin Arsenal.
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Posted by Shane Corellian on Fri, Aug 20, 2010
Photo by Lingaraj G J
We have a client that uses Microsoft SCCM to manage about 1,700 computers. The problem is that 130 of these computers needed to have the U.S. Government Configuration Baseline (USGCB) - formerly known as FDCC - version 2.4. These 130 computers had the 2.1 version of USGCB which still uses Vista Service Pack 1.
Performing the "USGCB Migration" to version 2.4 is a rather cumbersome exercise considering all of the updated applications and OS configuration changes it needs to make. The process (using SCCM) can take a few days even when the SCCM Service Windows are ignored. Many users were experiencing computers rebooting in the middle of the day as a result of the migration.
In an effort to minimize the reboots during the day (all the Migrations were started in the evening but due to SCCM polling and HW scan intervals the migration process always spilled into the work day) we used the new PDQ Deploy to quickly deploy applications that comprised the various parts of the Migration without having to wait for next Machine Policy or Advertisement. We started with the biggest reboot offender, Windows Vista SP2.
We simply ran a query in Admin Arsenal showing all machines that had Service Pack 1 of Vista and then, in the evening, deployed SP 2 with the following arguments:
/quiet /warnrestart:120
Within 3 hours almost all of the 130 computers had successfully installed Service Pack 2. We then deployed another "package" which was simply a CMD file which forced a hardware scan. (This client is not allowed to modify the set schedules that scans are run with SCCM). Using Roger Zander's suggestions the CMD file ran one command which utilizes WMI to initiate an SCCM hardware scan.
WMIC /namespace:\\root\ccm path sms_client CALL TriggerSchedule "{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001}" /NOINTERACTIVE
This was, to say the least, very painless.
Use PDQ Deploy. It is free and fully functional only from Admin Arsenal.
Posted by Shawn Anderson on Wed, Aug 11, 2010
This is the last in a series of posts dedicated to Adobe Reader. The first post discussed how to customize Adobe Reader for your company, the second discussed how to deploy Adobe Reader to your entire company, and today we'll tackle the last portion - patching Adobe basebuild from 9.3.0 to 9.3.3.
If you don't already have the Adobe Reader 9.3.3, the patch must be obtained directly from Adobe.
Step 1: Open PDQ Deploy and select the Adobe Reader patch.
NOTE: If you are at the base build version of 9.3.0, you will need to install the 9.3.2 patch before applying 9.3.3.
Step 2: Select the target computers for the software deployment
There are three methods to select targerts:
- Import (from a text file)
- Active Directory
- Admin Arsenal
Step 3: Select the account to initiate the installation
This can be an Active Directory or a local account.
Step 4: Verify your settings and deploy
Much like the instructions on a shampoo bottle, if you are deploying 9.3.2 first, then wash, rinse, repeat. This will get you to the latest secure version of 9.3.3.
If you haven't taken the time to join Adobe's mailing list for security patch notification, I suggest you do so. This is a different list than their marketing distros.
You can sign up for their patch notification when you enter into your EULA to distribute Adobe Reader. The same notifications are also available for Adobe Flash and other Adobe products.
Since Adobe Reader is such a widely used application we get many requests from users on how to remotely install the program. Here is a video that demonstrates deploying the Adobe Reader 9.3.3 patch.
Note: For optimal viewing select HD playback.
If you have a software application that you would like us to demonstrate deployments in a step-by-step blog and video, shoot us the request.
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Posted by Shawn Anderson on Mon, Aug 09, 2010
There are three methods that Adobe provides for deploying Adobe Reader to all of your computers:
- EXE - (AdbeRdr933_en_US.exe)
- MSI - (AcroRead.msi)
- MST - (AcroRead.mst)
The self contained version of Adobe Reader simply deploys the application as packaged by Adobe with no ability to customize. If you want to simply push Adobe Reader with all defaults, use this method. The /sAll and /rs switches make the install silent for all products and suppress required reboots, respectively.
The .MSI version of Adobe Reader is obtained by extracting it from the EXE. With the MSI you have a little more flexibility in certain aspects, like suppressing EULA acceptance.
The .MST (transform file) requires the AcroRead.msi and is created using the Adobe Customization Wizard. This method and its associated benefits were demonstrated in last weeks blog "Adobe Reader 9.3 - The Adobe Customization Wizard".
Here are the three examples of deploying Adobe Reader 9.3.
Example 1: The self contained Adobe Reader file.
Example 2: The .MSI installation.
Example 3: The .MST (transform) installation.
Simply open PDQ Deploy and select your .MSI in the "Installer File to Deploy" field. You call your .mst file in the Parameters field (TRANSFORMS="AcroRead.mst").
Complete the next three steps within PDQ Deploy (select targets, verify administrative account, and deploy). It's that simple.
Here's a video of deploying Adobe Reader 9.3 using PDQ Deploy.
Last of all - patching. We've noticed something decidedly odd about Adobe 9.3.3. If you install using the EXE you will install the latest security patches, up to 9.3.3. However, by extracting and using the MSI you will only be installing the base version of 9.3.0.
Be sure to patch your systems, and note that if you are at 9.3.0, you must first install 9.3.2 and then 9.3.3. The instructions for this will be posted on our next blog.
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Posted by Shawn Anderson on Fri, Aug 06, 2010
Many organizations prefer to customize their installations of Adobe Reader. This is made possible by the Adobe Customization Wizard. While it is a somewhat involved process, it's actually pretty straight forward once you get the hang of it. (Watch video).
Here are some benefits of deploying a customized Adobe Reader vs. the out-of-the-box version.
- No Google toolbar
- Disable auto updates (and other phone-home options)
- Disable Acrobat purchase links
- Force installation in silent mode
- So much more I don't feel like listing them all
Let's begin.
Step 1: Download and install the customization wizard
The file is named CustWiz90_en_US.exe and is available from the Adobe website. Install the application accepting all defaults.
Step 2: Extract files for customization
Open a command window and cd to the location of AdbeRdr933_en_US.exe. Enter the following in the cmd window:
AdbeRdr933_en_US.exe -nos_ne
The necessary files are now extracted. It's here that you could start scratching your head. Adobe isn't very clear about where they stored your new extracted files. The location is:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Adobe\Reader 9.3\Setup Files\Reader9
Step 3: Use Adobe Customization Wizard
From Start > Programs open the newly installed Adobe Customization Wizard. Select open and navigate to the AcroRead.msi (path above).
You will see the following window.
It's time to make your modifications. There are too many to list here, but tip-toe around and see what jumps out at you.
Four sections to pay close attention to are:
- Personalization Options
- Shortcuts
- EULA
- Online and Acrobat.com
The EULA is nice to customize as it prevents a user from needing to accept it when Adobe Reader is first started. I like the shortcuts because it allows me to remove the desktop and start menu icons. (Those icons have always been clutter to me).
The most important of these four options (to your humble blogger, that is) would be the Online and Acrobat.com. This page allows you to remove Acrobat.com solicitations and also allows an IT adminsitrator to prevent each Reader installation from attempting to update itself. In larger organizations this is important. While security updates are critical, it's a mess to have hundreds of computers phoning home to Adobe every week to see if updates are available.
I also like to disable all of Acrobat.com access.
There's a bunch to see in this wizard so don't get lost in the weeds. We have a walk through video which shows the Adobe Customization Wizard in action.
You can deploy software for free using PDQ Deploy. The newest IT tool from Admin Arsenal.
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Posted by Shane Corellian on Wed, Aug 04, 2010
You'd think that Apple would want to make QuickTime Player very easy to deploy. It is obvious that packaging the Windows QuickTime installation is an afterthought in Cupertino. Deploying QuickTimeInstaller.exe using the standard arguments, /quiet /norestart (let alone the custom arguments that I wanted to provide) showed a successful installation. However, when running QuickTime on the target system the following error popped up:
The issue here is that the QuickTimeInstaller.exe isn't installing Apple Application Support.
Using PDQ Deploy you can successfully install QuickTime 7.6.6.
Here are the steps I took to deploy...
- Played Gogol Bordello on my iPod. Loud.
- Downloaded QuickTime 7.6.6 for Windows and placed it on a file server.
- Extracted the contents of the QuickTimeInstaller.exe file by running
QuickTimeInstaller.exe /extract
and deleting all extracted files except for AppleApplicationSupport.msi and QuickTime.msi.
- Created a file called QuickTimeDeploy.cm with these two lines:
AppleApplicationSupport.msi /qn
QuickTime.msi ALLUSERS=1 DESKTOP_SHORTCUTS=0 QTTASKRUNFLAGS=0 REGSRCH_INSTALL_ASU=0 /qn
- Deployed it with PDQ Deploy.
This is a good reminder to always test your installations on a few machines before you deploy to your entire organization.
If you already deployed QuickTime 7.6 to your organization and your users are now seeing this error, you can quickly deploy just the AppleApplicationSupport.msi file and the problem should be resolved.
Download PDQ Deploy. It's free, fully functional and basically kicks ass.
Posted by Shawn Anderson on Tue, Aug 03, 2010
We are pleased to announce the newest addition to our product line for Windows System Administrators – PDQ Deploy.
PDQ Deploy provides a fast, and easy way to meet basic software deployment needs. And it’s FREE! With PDQ Deploy you can:
- Deploy MSI, MSP, MSU, EXE and Batch installers
- Use with or without Active Directory
- Remotely deploy to multiple computers at the same time
- Use different authentication for different deployments
- Save installations for future use
- Troubleshoot failed deployments
You can watch an introductory video of PDQ Deploy here.
Our goal is to get PDQ Deploy into as many Sys Admins’ hands, as possible. So download a copy today and start to see all the things you can do with software deployment. And did we mention that it’s FREE?!?
Please let us know what you think! We are always open to your ideas for improving our products.
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Posted by Shawn Anderson on Fri, Jun 25, 2010
Slashdot reports on a Slate article discussing the massive two year drop in the desktop computer purchases.
Flight of Desktops, from Slates Farhad Manjoopulls numbers from Forrester research which show 48% of consumer households used desktops only two years ago (2008), while 2010 numbers are at 32%. Projections are currently at a 2015 desktop number of around 18%.
I am not surprised at the consumer numbers, but I do wonder what the corporate side looks like. Mr. Manjoo does hit on cloud computing, which while infant is still a viable solution.
I am very curious to see where systems management is heading for mobile computing. Managing desktops and laptops used to be the core of systems management, but that's not the case today.
It's exciting to see the number of businesses that are starting to jump into mobile computing by replacing blackberry's with iPhones or Androids.
Integrating these mobile computing devices is going to be fun from a systems management point of view.
As iPhones and other smart devices start to utilize corporate infrastructure such as file shares, printers, email, etc., we'll see a huge jump in managing these systems along with other servers, workstations, and peripheral devices. Common tasks, such as updating patches, reporting on which apps are used, and overall security will be a huge challenge.
Thanks to Mr. Manjoo (and Forrester Research). The next few years promise to be filled with challenges as these mobile devices are introduced into our business infrastructres.
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Posted by Shawn Anderson on Fri, Jun 18, 2010
Adobe has patched Flash and in the coming weeks will also release a patch for its Reader product.
While deploying these patches to all your computers is relatively simple, obtaining the patch first requires you to enter into a distribution agreement with Adobe. It's fairly easy to do but sometimes a step-by-step is helpful.
First things first - the Adobe website is designed for those who wish to patch the system that they are using at the moment - something that you don't want to do if you are looking to install the patch to every one of your dozens, hundreds, or thousands of computers.
Go to www.adobe.com and select the Adobe Flash button. (If you want to deploy more than just Flash you can do so in a later step).
The next screen is the most important. It's here that you tell Adobe that your time is far too important to sneaker-net this deployment. Select the Distribute Flash Player link.
The next screen allows us to accept the Adobe distribution agreement. Every organization needs to fill this out. Even though Flash and Reader are no-cost products, each organization needs to have an agreement to obtain the products and patches.
The last screen for today's post allows you to select the product(s) that you wish to obtain. If you also need to grab the Adobe Reader patches then this is a good time to do so.
Fill out the form and submit it for Adobe approval. They advertise acceptance within a few business days but my experience is that they are much faster.
Fill out the rest of the form and submit. The ball is now in Adobe's court. You'll receive an acceptance email from them shortly (a couple of days at most).
It may be a crimp in your style to stop midstream, but that's how the game is played. Not to worry, Adobe is pretty fast at approving these requests. The email that you receive will provide your download link for the .exe and .msi files.
We invite you to use our free software deployment tool to deploy Adobe Flash. PDQ Deploy is in beta now and we hope to have the first full release in July 2010.
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Posted by Shane Corellian on Wed, Jun 16, 2010
Photo by Jean-Michel Folon
It still amazes me how many system administrators don't feel the need to understand the under-pinnings of Systems Management. I push a button and software gets installed on a remote computer. I run an inventory scan and suddenly I have a list of installed software.
I'm constantly reminded of the Sidney Harris cartoon "Then a miracle occurs". How did that software get installed? Where does SCCM extract the list of installed software on each machine? How does Admin Arsenal know if a laptop has a smart-card reader?
If I have a prayer of performing any meaningful troubleshooting when problems occur, then it is essential to understand the How, Where, and What of the my environment.
You can, very quickly, determine if a person troubleshooting a problem has a good understanding of their environment. If they don't understand what's going on under the hood, then their troubleshooting amounts to little more than memorization. If "problem A" occurs, then "solution A" is the answer. "See, it's clearly written in this KB article." But what happens when the correct answer isn't, in fact, "solution A" ? What happens when the problem doesn't even have a description in the knowledge base?
I know, for example, that Tivoli retrieves its Installed Software list from two sources: A) Data stored in the "Uninstall" key of the registry; and B) Signature data where software names, publishers and versions are mapped using a file name and its corresponding file size.
If some software that I am expecting to see listed as being installed doesn't show up in an inventory report, then I should know exactly WHERE (on the target computer) that data is supposed to be found. I will be able, therefore, to troubleshoot more effectively. If I know HOW the scanned data is expected to move from the registry of the target computer to its ultimate entry in a database, then I can more effectively determine when and where any errors are occurring during transit.
My next few blog posts will be about some of the under-workings of common systems management tools.
Follow me on Twitter @ShaneCorellian