William Stanek - Windows Server 2012 R2 Storage, Security, & Networking Pocket Consultant

1.In File Explorer, open the folder containing the script or scripts you want to use.

2.In the GPMC, press and hold or right-click the GPO for the site, domain, or organizational unit with which you want to work, and then tap or click Edit to open the policy editor for the GPO.

3.Double-tap or double-click the Windows Settings folder in the User

Configuration\Policies node, and then tap or click Scripts.

4.To work with logon scripts, press and hold or right-click Logon, and then tap or click Properties. To work with logoff scripts, press and hold or right-click Logoff, and then tap or click Properties. This opens a dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 6–4.

FIGURE 6–4Add, edit, and remove user logon scripts by using the Logon Properties dialog box.

5.On the Scripts tab, you can manage command-shell batch scripts ending with the.bat or.cmd extension and scripts that use the Windows Script Host. On the PowerShell Scripts tab, you can manage Windows PowerShell scripts. When working with either tab, tap or click Show Files.

6.Copy the files in the open File Explorer window, and then paste them into

the window that opened when you clicked Show Files.

7.Tap or click Add to open the Add A Script dialog box and assign a script. In the Script Name text box, enter the name of the script you copied to the User\Scripts\Logon or the User\Scripts\Logoff folder for the related policy. In the Script Parameter text box, enter any parameters to pass to the script. Repeat this step to add other scripts.

8.During logon or logoff, scripts are executed in the order in which they’re listed in the Properties dialog box. On the Scripts tab, use the Up and Down buttons to reorder scripts as necessary. Do the same on the PowerShell Scripts tab, on which you can also use the selection list to specify whether Windows PowerShell scripts should run before or after other types of scripts.

9.If you want to edit the script name or parameters later, select the script in the Script For list, and then tap or click Edit. To delete a script, select the script in the Script For list, and then tap or click Remove.

10.To save your changes, tap or click OK.

Group Policy includes basic functionality, called Software Installation policy, for deploying software. Although Software Installation policy is not designed to replace enterprise solutions such as System Center 2012 R2, you can use it to automate the deployment and maintenance of software in just about any size organization if your computers are running the Windows operating system.

In Group Policy, you can deploy software on a per-computer or per-user basis. Per-computer applications are available to all users of a computer and configured under Computer Configuration\Policies\Software Settings\Software Installation. Per-user applications are available to individual users and configured under User Configuration\Policies\Software Settings\Software Installation.

You deploy software in three key ways:

■ Computer assignmentAssigns the software to client computers so that it is installed when the computer starts. This technique requires no user intervention, but it does require a restart to install the software. Installed software is then available to all users on the computer.

■ User assignmentAssigns the software to users so that it is installed when a user logs on. This technique requires no user intervention, but it does require the user to log on to install or advertise the software. The software is associated with the user only and not the computer.

■ User publishingPublishes the software so that users can install it manually through Programs And Features. This technique requires the user to explicitly install software or activate installation. The software is associated with the user only.

When you use user assignment or user publishing, you can advertise the software so that a computer can install the software when it is first used. With advertisements, the software can be installed automatically in the following situations:

■When a user accesses a document that requires the software

■When a user opens a shortcut to the application

■When another application requires a component of the software

When you configure Software Installation policy, you should generally not use existing GPOs. Instead, you should create GPOs that configure software installation, and then link those GPOs to the appropriate containers in Group Policy. When you use this approach, it’s much easier to redeploy software and apply updates.

After you create a GPO for your software deployment, you should set up a distribution point. A distribution point is a shared folder that is available to the computers and users to which you are deploying software. With basic applications, you prepare the distribution point by copying the installer package file and all required application files to the share and configuring permissions so that these files can be accessed. With other applications, you may need to prepare the distribution point by performing an administrative installation to the share. The advantage of an administrative installation is that the software can be updated and redeployed through Software Installation policy.

You can update applications deployed through Software Installation policy by using an update or service pack or by deploying a new version of the application. Each task is performed in a slightly different way.

Software Installation policy uses either Windows Installer Packages (.msi) or ZAW Down-Level Application Packages (.zap). When you use computer assignment, user assignment, or user publishing, you can deploy software by using Windows Installer Packages. When you use user publishing, you can deploy software by using either Windows Installer Packages or ZAW Down-Level Application Packages. With either technique, you must set file permissions on the installer package so that the appropriate computer and user accounts have read access.

Because Software Installation policy is applied only during foreground processing of policy settings, per-computer application deployments are processed at startup and per-user application deployments are processed at logon. You can customize installation by using transform (.mst) files. Transform files modify the installation process according to the settings you defined for specific computers and users.

You can deploy software by following these steps:

1.In the GPMC, press and hold or right-click the GPO you want to use for the deployment, and then tap or click Edit.

2.In the policy editor, open Computer Configuration\Policies\Software Settings\Software Installation or User Configuration\Policies\Software Settings\Software Installation as appropriate for the type of software deployment.

3.Press and hold or right-click Software Installation. On the shortcut menu, tap or click New, and then tap or click Package.

4.In the Open dialog box, go to the network share where your package is located, tap or click the package to select it, and then tap or click Open.