Deployment Solution

I am currently deploying Altiris 6.x with a GPO that that runs a windows startup script.  It has worked flawlessly for Windows XP, now that we are deploying Windows 7 we are trying to make sure that the same script works, but it does not..... Has anyone deployed Altiris vis GPO to Windows 7 x64 with any success?  Any suggestions or comment preferably helpful ones are appreciated...... 

Thanks

Neil Davis

For Win 7 be aware that any Windows Startup Scripts need an ADMIN level account to complete. Call it a feature of the UAC system that is in Win7. Is it just a one time startup to install the Altiris Client? If so, then consider putting the client install as a FirstLogonCmmand item in the Unattend.XML and have the system auto-logon the first time to and admin account. Also it should be noted that we run a second FirstLogonCommand to stop the DAgent Service so the system has time to finish the install of the Windows OS and wont run commands when it can't third command which is put last on the FirstLogonCommand list, which is to do a Shutdown -r -t 0. We don't install anything else during FirstLogonCommands, but in case we had to in the future we left space for it.

For those curious about XP to Win7. Runonce is not FirstLogonCommand and is only configurable in the unattend.XML file for this procedure. Has worked solid everytime we used it as the built it Scripted OS system in DS 6.9 would work on one machine and fail on the next with no reason. So we turned it into a scripting engine and life has been easy every since. Can't say 7.1 is a clean and easy, but I digress.

For our scripted install in 6.9 we did the following:

1. Boot to PXE with WinPE and let it sit waiting for a job. (Yellow triangle on new computer unless you have initial deployments listed)
2. Change the Computer Name in the console to what you want it to be, if you need it to be different. (XML has token entry to pull this when unattend install is run)
3. Drop OS Install Job onto system.

Process within OS Install Job:

1. Run Diskpart Script to wipe drive and partition to clean state
2. Altiris checks the system via Condition for the job searching to a matching Laptop Model for specific driver scripts and to verify the laptop is an approved model. (assuming successful below would follow)
3. Run Replace Tokens Script to copy default Unattend.XML from source location to temp directory on DS with u%id%.xml as the destination file replacing TOKEN variable with script for that machine.
4. Run Copy Drivers Script to copy drivers for the laptop to a Drivers directory on the C: of the computer. Noting that these drivers were determined earlier via the laptop condition check on the job.
5. Run Script to create directory on C: for DAgent and copy DAgent.msi to that folder.
6. Copy directory on DS to C: of laptop for any Pre_Windows Patches referenced in the Unattend.XML for updates (makes updating much easier with Windows Updates hassle)
7. Run Script for Windows OS Install with flags for /Unattend and /reboot (if you need more info I can help there)

After that the system will come up with and OS and DAgent installed waiting for the next jobs to run. For use we run a few other clean up scripts and have it generate an e-mail letting our team know that computer has completed the OS phase and has been powered down to be put in storage until needed. From there our Applications and configuration phase is sent to the computer and will run the next time it fires up as we set auto-logon. Makes life really slick to just pre-image laptops or desktops. Then have someone that is not in the ALtiris system setup the machine at the desk. From there an e-mail is sent indicating that the setup of a user account is ready for the machine, as we don't run our systems on a domain.

If you have any questions, then please feel free to ask. The process we use can easily be adapted to a domained system or other needs.