Deploying Service Pack 1 for Windows 7

Posted by Shawn Anderson on Wed, Mar 09, 2011

Windows 7 SP1 has been released. There isn't a lot of chatter about this service pack but it's still a good idea to plan on deploying it to your computers.

Download the service pack from Microsoft (you may need to run the validation tool) and then get the file into your lab. It's always a good idea to test all patches or applications before shotgunning them into production, and that's doubly true for service packs.

If you haven't already installed PDQ Deploy (it's free) do so now.

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 comes in two files, one for 32-bit, the other for 64-bit. You'll find numerous selections to download, simply grab the .EXE versions for stand-alone installations.

Here are the parameters for running the SP installation silently and suppressing any reboots.

Windows6.1-kb976932-nnn.exe [/quiet] [/nodialog] [/norestart]

Where -nnn.exe is the X64 or X86.

Here's a little tip for you. If you right click on the file name of a program you can select "Deploy with PDQ" from the floating menu and PDQ Deploy will open up automatically and populate much of your installer information.

Push out Windows 7 SP1 for FREE

Give your installer a name and enter the parameters listed above. You're window should look something like this.

Deploy Service Pack 1 for Windows 7

At this point you can save your installer and then create some deployments. In PDQ Deploy, the deployments are where you specify which targets should receive the installation.

Here is a video of pushing out Windows 7 Service Pack 1 to all of your computers.

If you have any questions or have video suggestions, please let us know.

Follow me on Twitter @ShawnAnderson

Tags: software deployment, windows 7, software distribution, remote software deployment, pdq deploy, install software remotely

Comments

feature for free version...
in some case, such large updates, like a sp.
would be useful to start the installation at the shutdown for example.
i start the deploy with pdq in realtime like always.... but the installation is "scheduled" at shutdown, startup, or other events of the targets.

Posted @ Thursday, March 10, 2011 2:05 AM by always i

That's a good point about large deployments. I actually prefer to NOT suppress a reboot of a service pack, and as such I like to push them out during a known maintenance window, usually at night. That's where the scheduling ability of PDQ Deploy Pro comes in very handy.

Thanks for the comment.

Posted @ Thursday, March 10, 2011 11:21 AM by Shawn Anderson

i think, that the real innovation would be the 'scheduling at the targets', rather than at the deploybench.
without a maintenance window, it much better to push the deploy in realtime to online targets, and when they shutdown, trigger the installation.

Posted @ Friday, March 11, 2011 2:18 AM by always i

This is especially useful when you also install very light applications like java or flash player, installations that require to be successful, to kill the processes of the browsers. Imagine the scenario, i deploy the java or flash, a user working with a webapp and ... zap ... the browser disappears and they lost all their work.

Posted @ Friday, March 11, 2011 7:35 AM by always i

Interesting thoughts on killing processes prior to deployment. You can do that with PDQ Deploy Pro, since you can have multiple actions in the installer.

Thanks again for the thoughts and comments.

Posted @ Friday, March 11, 2011 8:57 AM by Shawn Anderson

The point is not so much - taskkill / f / im jqs.exe / im iexplore.exe / im firefox.exe -
but the possibility to start the installation at targets event, like the shutdown.
the very beauty of pdq for me, is the the agentless realtime deploy.
But some thing is better not to install when the workstation is in use.
Lately I've been using with satisfaction pdq, to directly create deploy task at target with with Schtasks.exe

Posted @ Friday, March 11, 2011 10:56 AM by always i

I like this idea of scheduling the installation from the target for a later time or event. I've added it to our development task list to research its feasibility.

Posted @ Friday, March 11, 2011 3:58 PM by Adam Ruth

Hi Adam, I knew that this idea would have caught your attention.
I am waiting to the next beta to try the 'multiple identities' for PRO, and the 'redeploy ALL to failed computer' ;)

Posted @ Saturday, March 12, 2011 5:36 AM by always the same italian fans

The downside to schedule-at-shutdown is that for mobile devices, people may just four-second-button it. At my last shop, probably half the 100 Windows users would do that or come interrupt the helpdesk guys to complain about it, or both. And we'd never get patched.

I agree with scheduled maintenance, even if a lot of shops don't get it. :)

Posted @ Thursday, April 14, 2011 11:19 AM by Rob

Follow Us

Subscribe by Email

Sys Admin Sites We Like

Most Popular Posts

Latest Posts

Posts by Month

Browse by Tag

Deploying Service Pack 1 for Windows 7

Comments