Using Systems Management Server to Deploy Windows 95

Whether you are upgrading ten or ten thousand clients to Windows 95, Systems Management Server allows you to perform an automatic upgrade with no intervention from you or the user.

For an overall deployment plan, see the general and detailed discussions provided in Chapter 1, "Deployment Planning Basics," and Chapter 2, "Deployment Strategy and Details." This section provides specific information about how Systems Management Server tools help you in planning for and automating the Windows 95 rollout to your company.

The first step in the upgrade process is to determine which of your computers are appropriate for upgrading to Windows 95. Using Systems Management Server, query the SQL Server database to locate all computers that match the upgrade specifications. A predefined query included in Systems Management Server examines the CPU, the operating system, the available hard disk space, the installed RAM, and so on. You can use this query as is or modify it to include additional criteria important to your installation.

After identifying the target computers, you are ready to roll out Windows 95 to target computers. The following is an overview of the steps involved in deploying Windows 95 with Systems Management Server.

• Create and share a package source directory for the Windows 95 files. This directory can be on any server that can be shared with the network.
• Copy the appropriate files from the Windows 95 compact disc to the new package source directory.

  If you are copying from the compact disc, you can use the Server-based Setup (netsetup) to copy all files to the source directory. For information, see Chapter 4, "Server-Based Setup for Windows 95." If you are copying from a server that already contains an installation created using Server-based Setup, you can use xcopy to copy the files and the directory structure.

• From the Systems Management Server 1.0a compact disc, copy the following files to the package source directory:
  • WIN95.INF file from SMS\LOGON.SRV\MSTEST
  • DOS2W95.EXE file from SMS\LOGON.SRV\MSTEST (if you are setting up clients that run MS-DOS)
• Review the INF file for your configuration, and make appropriate changes (such as changing the time zone).
• Create a package containing the Windows 95 source directory.
• To install Windows 95 on one or more clients, create a mandatory job to distribute the package to the clients.
• Send the job to the target computer.