Long story short:
I have approx 30 PCs of assorted configurations that I need to make identical softwarewise and do this every year. It is for a school so big buck options are really not likely.
Anyone know of a program that I can use to install XP, office 2010, and a few other programs all at one shot rather than going from PC to PC and spending weeks doing it.
BTW there is no internet access on any of these PCs, but they are on an internal network with a "server" on it.
clonezilla... image from the server (or usb, cd, etc)
100% free and widely supported
But, Windows server? use GPO to create and deploy applications through the network
yes it's an old windows server, running some version of windows server. I think win2k server, but not 100% sure
I would go with clonezilla for ease I suppose. create a "master image" with all the software & drivers needed for all machines. then using clonezilla, create the IMG file and restore to the rest of the machines. 10 minutes max per client.
All you'll have to do after running the image, is rename the PC and join to the network.
Except that they're different hardware configs... that's a nasty little monkeywrench to throw into it.
scardeal wrote:Except that they're different hardware configs... that's a nasty little monkeywrench to throw into it.
not at all.. you can inject drivers with clonezilla.
The only problem I see with the Clonezilla approach is licensing. How does that work?
it's 100% open source under the GPL code:
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html
meaning, it can not be sold.
No I mean the Windows licensing. I guess this could work with VLKs?
GameboyRMH wrote:No I mean the Windows licensing. I guess this could work with VLKs?
As long as you own the licenses(Oem tags, office keys), it should not be an issue. You can always change the product keys on the machine at a later date.
Microsoft Deployment Toolkit. Its free from Microsoft and there is a lot of information on how to use it available.
If you use Win7 or Vista, Operating Systems are installed fresh each time, as are patches and the software packages you need to install. This allows you to keep it up to date on the fly, including drivers.
XP uses a captured XP install, but otherwise it works the same with the software.
Clonezilla works great (I sue it) but each system needs to be nearly identical hardware wise. Are your PCs the "same" hardware? (or at least very close?)
Otherwise I would make the servers a boot server and have the PCs go ask it for the system load and then use net-install for all the applications. Or something.
turboswede wrote:Microsoft Deployment Toolkit. Its free from Microsoft and there is a lot of information on how to use it available.
If you use Win7 or Vista, Operating Systems are installed fresh each time, as are patches and the software packages you need to install. This allows you to keep it up to date on the fly, including drivers.
XP uses a captured XP install, but otherwise it works the same with the software.
+1 on this too
These guys. Its their whole business.
Call and ask for Zach and tell him Arnie sent you. He will hook you up. I was just at his house tonight grillin and chillin.
93gsxturbo wrote:These guys. Its their whole business.
Call and ask for Zach and tell him Arnie sent you. He will hook you up. I was just at his house tonight grillin and chillin.
looking at their site it looks promising. We'll download the trial and see how well it works. Then if it works well, we'll give your buddy a call,
