Windows 7 deployment - USB installation and software

[PitbullTerje]

Hi, i have a problem/dilemma regarding win7-OSD and installation of applications thorugh USB.

 

 

The environment looks like this:

• 1 Primary site
  
• 30 DPs
  
• 150 sites without DP(many with a 2mb WAN-link)
  
• 40 local applications, besides the standard ones installed during ordinary task sequence, advertised to computers based on Adgroup membership
  

The computers runs Win XP at the moment, but we´re in a migration project to update to Win7.

At the 30 sites with a DP, everything works fine. The OS is installed with all the standard applications that every computer should have, and the rest is installed based on AD-group membership over the LAN from the DP at the site.

 

But the problem is the other 150 sites, were we have like 5 users at each site. Some of these users runs very big local applications, ranging from 1 to 5gb in size. Since we doesnt have a budget to send a DP or BDP to every single one of these site, the best solution seems to be to prep a USBflashdrive to do the OSD. My understanding is that there is a limit of 32gb falshdrive as installation media? You cant use an external USB-drive at like 200gb as OSD standalone media, am i right?

 

Since alla our applications combined sums up to 80gb, i cannot get all the applications onto the USB drive at 32gb, so my thought is to install the biggest of the non standard applications during the OSD via this method, http://www.windows-n...-task-sequence/ . This way, the users have to download like 500mb of data over WAN instead of 7gb, and they can start working with all their applications much faster.

 

BUT, since the computer is still a member of the AD group for the bigger applications(thats already been installed during OSD), the applications is being advertised to the client, which is OK, but its being downloaded once again despite the fact that the application has already been installed during OSD.

 

So basically i want to install an application based on AD-group membership during OSD task, and i want the application to still be advertised to the client, but i DONT want it to download the 7gb of data once again, since the application is allready installed. Is there a way to do this? Can i set a flag during the OSD application installation so that SCCM understands that this application is already installed, and doesnt download it all over again? Or is there a way to prestage the local cache on the client with media from the USB, so that when the advertisement kicks in, the installation files is already in place and the clients doesnt have to download GBs of data over WAN?

 

Or maybe I´m overcomlicating things? Maybe there´s a simpler solution to this problem? Any advice is welcome!

 

 

Thanks in advance!

[Lucid]

Just tossing this out there since if it were me I'd just look at getting the sweep done and everyone onto Windows 7... It sounds like you may want to focus on your collection queries. Perhaps set it so that the query includes a check against Hardware inventory date, and if it's less than 3 days old, don't let the resource object get added. Theoretically your new installs would report their hardware inventory by then (depending on how you have things set up). So then, if your query is set so that it doesn't add a machine if it's already got your app, that small delay would give things enough time to synch up. Of course, you'd only want to set this on the apps you knew were going on the machines via OSD because otherwise you may have apps you want to get installed, that wouldn't for 3 days (or whatever number you picked).

 

Just a thought, and hopefully someone else can chime in...

[PitbullTerje]

Just tossing this out there since if it were me I'd just look at getting the sweep done and everyone onto Windows 7... It sounds like you may want to focus on your collection queries. Perhaps set it so that the query includes a check against Hardware inventory date, and if it's less than 3 days old, don't let the resource object get added. Theoretically your new installs would report their hardware inventory by then (depending on how you have things set up). So then, if your query is set so that it doesn't add a machine if it's already got your app, that small delay would give things enough time to synch up. Of course, you'd only want to set this on the apps you knew were going on the machines via OSD because otherwise you may have apps you want to get installed, that wouldn't for 3 days (or whatever number you picked).

 

Just a thought, and hopefully someone else can chime in...

 

Thanks for the reply!

 

Solving it with collection membership is something thats crossed my mind too, but in my mind the ideal is if its possible to have the application advertised to the computer, but in some way flag the advertsiment as succesfull since the application is already installed(altough not via advertisement, but via custom OSD task). That way i can keep the collections the way they are, and it allows the support organisation to reinstall applications via run advertised programs when needed(with all the custom switches whe have assigned). If the computer doesnt have the advertisement, the support have to reinstall the application manually, or wait for the computer to join the collection where the application is advertised(if I for example create 2 collections per application, 1 that contains the computers that has the application in Add/remove programs, 1 that doesnt)