Installing Win XP SP3 silent to many users ?

Snow-Munki · 15 Dec 2008 at 09:45

Hi,

Need to push out Win XP SP3 to about 250 laptops and was wondering what you guys do ?

We currently use Wsus and ran some test, but basically if a user restarts / shutdowns while the file is being installed or downloaded it cause a few issues after !

What other ways do you guys use, problem is most of the machines are laptops so can't guarantee they are in the office at all times.

Thanks.

linktoinsanity · 15 Dec 2008 at 12:42

The way I'd recommend doing it would be to just take a computer/laptop away, install sp3 and give it back, although I know that probably isn't the best way of doing it. My uni generally used to update the systems on its network overnight (I don't know what they used to do it, sorry) is that an option for you?

mr.bond · 15 Dec 2008 at 12:49

WSUS is the way to go mate in all honesty. Set it up to perform the update 1 minute after the machine boots.

Email your users and advise them this will happen next time they plug in and power up. Leave the policy in place for a month or two so you know you've got all machines.

Snow-Munki · 15 Dec 2008 at 13:17

most of our users have laptops so doing ot overnight isn't really an option as they either take it home or store the machine in cupboards / drawers.

Using Wsus is fine but I know certain users will just log in to check their email and then try to log out quickly. Wsus will go a bit mental if that is the case ( found it would say installing updates for ages !! ) We've had a few users ignoring the installing updates screen and just switch of their laptop as they were in a hurry !!