I work at a University and we have something like 15 main softwares that are included on our "Gold" Windows 7 Images. After that there is a long tail orf probably another 40 or 50 softwares that are installed on only a handful (sometimes only 1) of machines.
I look forward to bothering all of you people quite often as I attempt to create a customized silent installer for as many of these titles as possible. :D
Currently I include as much software as possible on the Gold image, and then capture the .WIM for that system which is then included in a win7 Source CD which is deployed from the K1 with scripted installs.
Of course this doesn't work out for all of our needs, and so I end up created other custom scripted installs, or less frequently have installed the needed software as a post-installation task.
I would like to get to the point where I install most of the softwares as a post-installation task as it increases the ease in maintaining the software.
And thus ends this random brain-dump, thanks!
John - jverbosk 12 years ago
I find AutoIT to be the "last resort" sollution (or even a No-No!), but that's only my own thoughts.
Most applications have some sort of deployment method, there is only a matter of finding them.
If the installer isn't an MSI, I usually run the installer with /?, /help or have a look at the properties to find out what kind of installer it is and then google the bastard. If all else fails, I snapshot the installation and create an MSI.
Good luck! - andemats 12 years ago
Why don't you setup a list of Labels and deploy the software by using Managed Installation? - Aaron Cool 12 years ago