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I am a newbie with AD and I was wondering if there was an easy way to deploy a single XML file (license file) to all computers in a Windows Server 2003 AD environment?

Do I have to create an MSI file and Assign or Publish it? In the past I have used psexec and distributed files over the network, but it is hard to keep track with 150+ computers in various states of use while making sure every one got the file.

Ben Pilbrow
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Logman
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1 Answers1

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An MSI file is a bit overkill to just deploy a single file. I'd probably use Group Policy Preferences or even just a simple startup script instead.

Be aware that to use the Group Policy Preferences, you must first deploy the Client Side Extensions so that may rule this option out for you.

Probably the easiest option is to modify your startup script (or create one if you don't already have one) to just copy the file to the machine if it doesn't already exist. If the file changes periodically, you could also write something to the registry to keep track of the current version on the system and update if necessary.

Ben Pilbrow
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  • Thanks, simple solution using the logon script. And for mentioning the Group Policy Prefs. – Logman Aug 03 '11 at 16:37
  • a couple thoughts after using this technique: found a couple people with older versions of software, when they logged on the script would fail because the path was not correct. And some users were using personal logon accounts within our Terminal services, which resulted in the file trying to be uploaded to our terminal server which of course did not need the license. Resulting in the above cmd window staying open prompting users. – Logman Aug 11 '11 at 14:40