RE: Deploy SP2 with Active Directory and GPO's?

From: Feng Mao (fengmao_at_online.microsoft.com)
Date: 08/17/04 

Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 09:12:29 GMT

Hi Lee,

Thank you for posting!

In a Windows 2000 or Windows 2003 based domain, Group Policy Objects can be
used to administer client computers and user configurations from a
centralized management location. Group Policy is stored as part of Active
Directory. One of the features of Group Policy is the ability to assign or
publish programs to users or computers in the Windows 2000 or Windows 2003
based domain.

Installing Service Pack 2 for Windows XP on Computers in a Windows 2000 or
Windows 2003 Domain
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

----
1. Create a folder to hold the Service Pack files on a network server. 
Share the folder with appropriate permissions to allow the users and 
computers to read and execute these files.
2. In Command Prompt window, change directory to the one which contains 
XPSP2.exe. Type the command "XPSP2.EXE -x" (without quotation marks) and 
press Enter. It will prompt you to input the path to store the extacted 
Service Pack files. Copy the Service Pack files into the location created 
in the Step 1. You need copy the entire \i386 directory structure. Please 
note that the UPDATE.MSI is located in \i386\update folder.
3. After the installation files have been prepared, the Group Policy Object 
to install the Service Pack can be created. From a Windows XP based 
computer in the domain, log on as a Domain Administrator and start the 
Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in. NOTE: Group Policies can be 
applied to domains, sites, and organizational units. This article 
illustrates how to deploy the Service Pack to all computers in the domain, 
a typical customer scenario. The same steps, however, are used to apply the 
policy to a site or an organizational unit.
4. From the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in, highlight the 
domain at the top of the tree. Right-click the domain and click Properties. 
Click the Group Policy tab. The list shows all Group Policy Objects that 
will be applied at the Domain level. By default, only the Default Domain 
Policy exists.
5. You must decide whether to add the Service Pack installation to the a 
current Group Policy Object, or to create a new Group Policy Object to 
install the Service Pack. This decision must be made based on the current 
and expected future uses of the Group Policy. The steps in this article 
create a new Group Policy Object for the Service Pack installation. 
However, the Service Pack installation can easily be added to an existing 
Group Policy Object by skipping the next step.
6. To create a new Group Policy Object for installing the Service Pack at 
the Domain level, click the New button. Give the new Group Policy Object a 
descriptive name. Use care in selecting the name; if the Group Policy 
Object will be used for more than just installing the Service Pack in the 
future, a name such as "Windows XP Service Pack 2 Installation" may not be 
appropriate.
8. With the new Group Policy Object highlighted, click the Edit button. 
This starts the Group Policy snap-in and lets you edit this Group Policy 
Object. Programs can be assigned to either users or computers. In the case 
of a Service Pack, it makes no sense to assign the package to users. (This 
would imply that the presence of the Service Pack on a computer would 
depend on which user is logged on at the moment; obviously, this is not a 
reasonable scenario.)
9. To assign the service pack to computers, expand the Computer 
Configuration, Software Settings, and Group Policy Object items.
10. Right-click "Software installation" in the Group Policy Object, and 
then click New Package. You are prompted for the path to the Windows 
Installer file (.msi) for this package. Navigate to the network location 
that contains the Windows Installer file, highlight the file, and then 
click Open. 
WARNING: If the Windows Installer file resides on the local hard disk, do 
NOT use a local path! Use a UNC path 
(\\servername\sharename\path\filename.msi) back to the local computer to 
indicate the location of the installation files. Otherwise, client 
computers attempting to install the package will look on their local hard 
disks in the location indicated, and of course will not find the 
installation files there, and the installation will fail.
11. When prompted to choose between Assigned and "Advanced Published or 
Assigned", click Assigned unless you have the experience and need to modify 
the advanced options. You should now see the software package in the left 
pane of the Group Policy snap-in. You should see that the Auto-Install 
property of the package is set to Yes, which indicates that all computers 
in the domain will automatically install this package.
Verification
------------
The Service Pack will be automatically installed on each computer in the 
Domain the next time the computer is restarted. To verify this with a test 
on a Windows XP computer in the domain follow these steps: 
1. Restart the computer that you want to test. It may take several minutes 
for the Service Pack installation to complete. Once the Service Pack 
installation is complete, the workstation will automatically restart itself.
2. Click Start, click Run, and then type "winver" (without the quotation 
marks). This will indicate the version of Windows XP installed on the 
computer and whether Service Pack 2 is installed.
I hope that I have explained the steps clearly and it could be useful.
Have a nice day!
Thanks & Regards,
Feng Mao [MSFT], MCSE 
Microsoft Online Partner Support
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
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| Content-Class: urn:content-classes:message
| From: "Lee" <leemack33@hotmail.com>
| Sender: "Lee" <leemack33@hotmail.com>
| Subject: Deploy SP2 with Active Directory and GPO's?
| Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2004 21:40:02 -0700
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| Any one done this yet, or have an easy path to get SP2 
| deployed to our AD?
| 
| Thanks!
|