For our new Server 2016/Windows 10 deployment project, we were fortunate enough to get PDG Deploy Inventory and PDQ Deploy software. This will allow us to push out software and control the machines over the network, with more options that we have with Group Policy.
Although we can deploy .MSI installs with Group Policy, a third of the way through the project we realized that it was much easier to use PDQ Deploy. The following video explains how to use the software to deploy an MSI file out to the a networked machine.
The basic steps:
- Place the MSI into the network install/QPO folder on TPAW-01.
- Right click on the .msi file and select Deploy with PDQ Deploy.
- Save the Deployment package that will get created.
- Test Deployment.
- Push out over the network.
NOTE: You can use the software program called OCRA installed on the TPAW-01 server to edit the .msi file to remove the installation of desktop icons. These will show up under the table called “shortcuts”. Look for the ones that will be placed on the desktop and just delete them, then save the .msi file.