ARCHIVED: In Windows Active Directory, how can I assign or publish a .MSI file?
Note: This information is intended for registered local support providers (LSPs) at Indiana University. If you are an IU LSP and have questions regarding this content, email UITS Tier 2 Support; otherwise, contact your campus Support Center.
With Active Directory group policies, you can do far
more than just restrict and set certain registry entries. You can
set startup or shutdown scripts for computers, set login and logout scripts
for users, redirect folders like My Documents
, publish
applications, and more. You have three main options for assigning and
publishing applications:
- Assign to a user
- Assign to a computer
- Publish to a user
When you assign an application to a user, its icons are set up and the
software is installed on first use. If you assign to a computer, it will be
installed the next time the computer starts. If you publish an application,
the user has the option of installing the application via the
Add/Remove Programs
control panel applet. The user cannot
uninstall any deployed application. Only published applications can be
uninstalled, because they are optional.
Note: At Indiana University, you should assign software installation through group policy objects (GPOs) to computers. Assigning software to users can be very time-consuming and unpredictable. For more information, see ARCHIVED: In the IU Active Directory, how should I deploy software?
You can publish or assign applications to any GPO, which means you can assign applications per domain, per site, or per organizational unit (OU). To publish or assign an application to a GPO:
- Start the Active Directory Users and Computers Microsoft Management Console snap-in. To do this, click and select , then , and then .
- Right-click the domain, OU, or site, and select . Then select the tab.
- From a Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 computer, click (skip to the next step if using a Windows 2000 system).
- Select the GPO to which you wish to assign or publish the
application:
- From a Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 computer, right-click either or , depending on whether you want the application to be assigned to a user or a computer.
- From a Windows 2000 computer, click and then select either or , depending on whether you want the application to be assigned to a user or a computer.
- Select , then .
- Right-click and, from the context menu, select , then .
- Select the MSI file you wish to deploy, for example:
\\bl-uits-titanic\data\winzip\winzip.msi
Make sure you specify a network path that the users or computers can access, or they will be unable to install the software. - Click . You will be able to select either or . Select the appropriate option (normally ), and click .
The program will now appear under the "Software installation" branch, and will be assigned or published to any users or computers who have the GPO applied to them.
This article was adapted from article 13918 in John Savill's FAQ for Windows.
This is document akck in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2021-09-07 17:10:52.