User's Guide

Information about how to use this product, including detailed technical information and instructions for performing common tasks.

This information is available in PDF format.

• The Documentation Library, available in the Symantec Management Console on the Help menu.
• The Documentation Web site, available at the following URL:
   http://www.altiris.com/Support/Documentation.aspx
• The Product Support page, which available at the following URL:
  http://www.symantec.com/business/support/all_products.jsp
  When you open your product's support page, look for the Documentation link on the right side of the page.

Help

Help is available at the solution level and at the suite level.

This information is available in HTML help format.

The Documentation Library, which is available in the Symantec Management Console on the Help menu.

Context-sensitive help is available for most screens in the Symantec Management Console.

You can open context-sensitive help in the following ways:

• The F1 key
• The Context command, which is available in the Symantec Management Console on the Help menu.

Symantec Management Platform Release Notes

This information is available as an article in the Knowledge Base.

https://kb.altiris.com/article.asp?article=45141&p=1

You can also search for the product name under Release Notes.

Installing the Symantec Management Platform products

This information is available as an article in the Knowledge Base.

https://kb.altiris.com/article.asp?article=45732&p=1

Altiris 7 Planning and Implementation Guide

This information is available as an article in the Knowledge Base.

https://kb.altiris.com/article.asp?article=45803&p=1

Knowledge Base

http://kb.altiris.com/

Symantec Connect

(formerly Altiris Juice)

http://www.symantec.com/connect/endpoint-management-virtualization

Online Forums

http://forums.altiris.com/

Prerequisites for rolling out the DeskView Agent

Before rolling out any DeskView agents, make sure that you have all available Notification Server hotfixes installed. Check for updates in the Symantec Installation Manager.

Rolling out the recommended DeskView Agent does not work for some systems

The Install Recommended DeskView Agent policy does not work on certain systems, for instance:

• ESPRIMO Mobile U9210
• ESPRIMO Mobile X9510
• ESPRIMO P5730
• LIFEBOOK P8020

You can either use the DeskView Agent 6.23.xxxx - Install policy or you can import an updated Best Fit file (availabe via the knowledge base article 46040) as documented in the manual.

Rollout of DeskView Agent

DeskView Client 5.x upgrade is no longer supported

If you try to update the DeskView Client version 5.x that is installed on the client computer using the DeskView Agent install policy, the installation fails with error 1603. To resolve this issue, run the DeskView Agent install policy once more on a schedule, or run it manually on the client computer.

Systemdata and multiple monitors on notebooks

Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system is no longer supported

DeskFlash tools blocked on Vista

Because of reliability reasons, DeskFlash will be blocked on ESPRIMO vPro computers running Microsoft Windows Vista without Service Pack 1 installed and with less than 2 GB RAM. To solve this issue, install Service Pack 1.

Unable to collect BIOS inventory from LIFEBOOK notebooks if BIOS password was set through F2 menu

If the BIOS password was set using the F2 menu on the client computer, the DeskView Agent cannot collect the BIOS and boot order inventory from such computers because the password is not known to the DeskView Agent. This applies to LIFEBOOK notebooks only. For the DeskView Agent to collect BIOS inventory from these computers, in the Symantec Management Console, run the BIOS Settings task with the correct password set.

Uninstalling DeskView for Business Clients does not remove some items

When you have DeskView for Business Clients, DeskView for Displays, and DeskView for Servers installed together, and you uninstall DeskView for Business Clients, some DeskView items in the Symantec Management Console and some files on the Notification Server computer are not removed.

"Overwrite existing archive" option in the Archive BIOS task

If you choose to specify the name of the BIOS archive file manually and uncheck "Overwrite existing archive", and if a file with the same name already exists on the Notification Server computer, the task will create a new file with a modified name.

The task-based policies do not display any errors

The task-based policies always return the "Completed" status. This status shows that the policy has run on the client computer.

If you want to see errors, log on to the client computer and, in the Altiris Agent UI, on the Task Status tab, click Task history.

The action items in the resource manager are not automatically applied to the selected computer

You must assign the target to the task manually.

Running DeskView tools on Vista

You can run the DeskView tools on Microsoft Windows Vista operating system using only the system account or, depending on security settings, a built-in administrator account. When using the system account, make sure that network locations are accessible for DeskUpdate and DeskFlash tools.

Microcode update is not possible on certain systems

On desktop systems the microcode update fails. As a workaround you can run the “Update BIOS ” task with a BIOS update file which includes microcode patches.

DeskView Serial Numbers tool can fail on ESPRIMO Mobile notebooks.

Depending on the BIOS version of the client computer, DeskView Serial Numbers tool can fail. Check for the latest BIOS version.

Driver Update may not work when using certain Driver & Utilities CDs or DVDs

The DeskUpdate tool does not work with old Driver & Utilities CDs or DVDs. You can either use the Web update option or get the latest Drivers & Utilities DVD.

Real-Time Console Infrastructure Known Issues in this Release

Fujitsu Siemens Computers DeskView installs Real-Time Console Infrastructure 7.0 SP1.

For the list of Real-Time Console Infrastructure known issues in this release, see article 44492.