Deployment Solution

Hi

I have been playing around with making an information box that shows that deployment is ongoing.

But i have not been successfull so far. I have tried both vbscript and powershell.

Har anyone else done any similar work?

The problem i am trying to address is that after the image is rolled out and the computer has joined the domain some users log on to the computer even though not all the software is finished deploying.

Krgds

Endo

Tasks are not designed to run asynchronously, so you can make a pop-up box, but the next task wont fire until the previous is exited.

In theory, you could schedule a task that is a custom script that pops up a message AND deploys your software, but then you've lost nearly all of the functionality of the NS.

What you might do instead though is to lock the keyboard and mouse, so that the computer can NOT be used until it's done, and then make your last task an unlock.  It's a thought.  Several people used to do this during deployment so no one could actually mess-up the deployment of an image.

We use a background image which has big hazzard symbols on it with text saying "Maintenance Mode". After all the software is deployed to the machine, we remove the login screen backdrop, join to the domain and reboot.

Works a treat as the only people who can possibly login before the final reboot are the it staff who know the local administrator password.

Kind Regards,

Ian./

Hi Endo -has anything above helped?

Once we have deployed the base image, we have an auto admin login and then launch an HTA that runs a periodic sql query on the DS database (6.9) to show the current job assigned to the machine.

It also asks the user to not touch the machine ect ect.

The wallpaper is a good idea too. We make our corporate wallpaper the desktop background as the last job of the buildchain (and then reboot the machine) so you can easily visually tell when the reimage has finished.

Hi Rhys,

I like the HTA script idea -gives the rollout guys the confidence that something is happening.

One of the issues with just having the background wallpaper is with long post-image software deployment cycles  you have no idea if a machine is at the start or end of the software phase.

Being patient is hard.... ;-)

Your HTA would make a good Juice write up.

Kind Regards,
Ian./

HTA files work well within a WinPE environment too - and if you use the HTA to run a series of tasks, you can update the user with status messages as you go. 

Not a bad idea. I'll look at doing it!

You can find it here:

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/showing-build-status-deployment-solution-69

Hope someone finds it useful.

Cheers

Rhys

Thanks for the input. I will be testing both the background image and also the "jobs information"

Thanks for sharing.

Hi GTDendo,

I'm going to mark Rhys' answer as the solution to this one as it supplies exactly what you asked for in this post.

Good Luck!

Kind Regards,
Ian./