Preparing Clients to Receive the Advertisements

The computers that you are going to advertise to need to be ready for the advertisement. During the Windows 2000 upgrade, the computer needs to restart several times. If this can occur automatically, the entire upgrade can be accomplished without input from users.

Some users put a boot password on their computer. This password is required by the computer itself; and therefore, cannot be circumvented by software. Until this password is entered, the computer will not restart, and the Windows 2000 upgrade cannot continue. Therefore, make sure to advise users to temporarily disable their boot passwords. If this is not possible, someone must be present during the upgrade. The same issue holds true if the computer stops for confirmation during restart because of hardware configuration changes or other issues.

Give users advance notice of the upgrade so that they can be sure to close all documents. If users know that the upgrade is imminent, they will also be more inclined to get any training they require, perform backups, and prepare any programs they are responsible for.

If you are advertising the package with an assignment to run overnight or over a weekend, any Windows 95 or Windows 98 client computers need a user logged on in order for the advertisement to start automatically. These users might want to use a secure screen saver to prevent others from using their computer while they are away. Windows NT client computers do not have to have a user logged on for the advertisements to start.

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