Windows 7 : Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 - Creating and Populating a Deployment Share (part 3) - Populating the Deployment Share - Importing Applications

2.2. Importing Applications

Applications are the next component we'll cover. The folder structure you create for your applications could be department based. Computers in the Research department may need different software installed than a computer going to the Marketing department. Within a department you may want to group applications by job title. Or you can create the folder structure based on the manufacturer; it all depends on how you would like to manage it. An application could also be located in different folders, since it's just going to be a copy of the object, not the application itself. Figure 15 shows a sample folder structure in the Distribution Workbench for your applications. Create folders in the Deployment Workbench's Applications node the same way you created folders in the Operating Systems node (right-click the Applications node and choose New Folder, give it a name, click Next twice, and click Finish on the Confirmation page).

Figure 15. Sample Applications folder structure

To import an application, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the node where you would like to put it (remember, cut and paste works so moving things around later is a piece of cake) and choose New Application to launch the New Application Wizard.

2. On the Application Type page, select the application type.

   There are three types of applications that can be imported, as shown in Figure 16: Application With Source Files, Application Without Source Files Or Elsewhere On The Network, and Application Bundle. The second option allows you to specify a command to run on the target machine or input a universal naming convention path where the application resides (\\Server name\Shared folder name). Use the third option when you want a list of applications to be installed in a specific order. The list acts as a set of dependencies for which application must be installed first, second, third, and so on. For the purposes of this exercise, choose the first option, Application With Source Files, and click Next.

3. On the Details page, you can supply information about the application, including the publisher, application name (this is the name that appears in the Deployment Workbench so you can name it whatever you like), version, and language of the application, as shown in Figure 17. It is important that you try to be consistent here. The name in the workbench is going to be built by a combination of Publisher, Application Name, and Version. Type in Microsoft as the Publisher, Microsoft Office Pro Plus as the Application name, and 2010 as the version, and then click Next.

4. On the Source page (Figure 18), you have to tell the New Application Wizard where the source files for the application are stored. Browse to the folder that contains your application's source files and then click Next. In our case it's the D: drive.

   Figure 16. The Application Type page

   

   Figure 17. The Details page

   

5. On the Destination page (Figure 19), you will see the suggested folder name (which has been built based on the name you used earlier in this wizard). Accept the name "Microsoft Office Pro Plus 2010" and click Next.

   Figure 18. The Source page

   

   Figure 19. The Destination page

   

6. On the Command Details page (Figure 20), you will need to provide the silent command to install this application. The command line to run silent or quiet can be tricky (the command line is unique for each application), but if you can get the application to install on a test machine from the command line silently, that is the command you will use to install the application.

   Since you're adding Microsoft Office Pro Plus 2010 in this example, the command to install it is setup plain and simple. Well, that's not completely true. Microsoft Office 2010 is recognized by MDT and therefore you can make this installation silent in two ways. One is to add/config and point to the config.xmlsetup.exe admin to create an MSP file that you should then store in the Updates folder inside the application. Both these options are available once the application has been imported to the workbench. We will get back to that in just a moment. For now, just type setup.exe as the command line and click Next. file, and the other way is to run

   Figure 20. The Command Details page

   

7. On the Summary page, you will see all the information that will be added for this application: if it is okay, just click Next. Otherwise go back and change the incorrect information. When you click the Next button, the Progress page appears and then the Confirmation page. Click Finish to complete the New Application Wizard. Your application will appear in the Deployment Workbench as shown in Figure 21.

   Now, the application is imported into the Deployment Workbench, but since this is Microsoft Office 2010 and you did not enter a complete silent install command line, you need to open the application to make some adjustments before it is really silent.

8. Browse to the application called Microsoft Office Pro Plus 2010, right-click, and select Properties.

9. As you can see, there is a special tab called Office Products; click on that tab.

   Now you have two options. The first option is to use the XML file. If that is your choice, use the drop-down list at the top where it says Let Office Setup Decide and select ProPlus.

   Now you can specify which options you would like to use, as shown in Figure 22. The other option is to run the OCT (Office Customization Tool) to configure all kinds of settings inside Office. To make this simple, use the first option if you just want Office 2010 to be installed in the simplest way possible. Don't forget to edit the command line on the Details tab to /config ProP1us.WW\config.xm1, as shown in Figure 23.

   Figure 21. Application imported into the Deployment Workbench

   

   Figure 22. Office product settings

   

   Figure 23. Office commandline settings