Software Deployment

Ok, we're struggling a little with Altiris and AutoCAD and the 260 byte Windows path limitations. I'm wondering if anyone else has come to the same situation, or better yet, found a good answer.

The default Altiris NS 6 agent path is 101 characters (bytes) long.

The deepest total file+path name in AutoCAD 2008 Mechanical is 168 characters deep.

This combined total causes a failure in package replication. (duh).

I assigned an alternate path for the package on the package server.

That resolved the replication from the package source to the package servers.

I assigned an alternate path for the package on the client.

That did not resolve the replication to the client.

Altiris documentation says that alternate paths on the client are handled by downloading the package to the standard location first and _then_ copying the files out to the alternate file location.

So from what I can find so far, the only solution is to shorten the altiris agent path by installing it to the root of the install partition on the client and not specifying an alternate path on the client.

Is that what other people are finding? or did I miss something obvious and make this a lot more complicated than it really is?

I'd really appreciate any input.

Thanks.