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Is it possible to instantly deploy a certain piece of software by creating a GPO in Active Directory? I realize it's possible to do this but only after rebooting the computer, and that is something we don't always want to do, especially since some of the software I want to deploy on servers.

What are the options?

One thing to note is that most of our users do NOT have admin rights as I am talking not only about servers but also about workstations in the classrooms.

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No. Iti s not - first, the clients have to ask for the group policy, and they update only every x hours.

For non - admins - no real solution exists. Immediate software distribution is mostly an administrative oversight (except in special cases).

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what about scripts? is there a way to execute one on a bunch of pc's all at once? then I can install the msi via that script – HannesFostie May 21 '10 at 9:48
Yes, but the best you could do it tie the install into a LOGON script that runs when people log on. Pls you need to STILL wait for GPO to update - which you can trigger via command line from a central machine, but it has to be done FOR every machine. Unless you go to every machine and execute it manually. – TomTom May 21 '10 at 10:01
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@HannesFostie If you require real-time deployment of software/scripts you'll need to look at a dedicated solution. We're using Altiris Deployment, other products such as Kbox/KACE, VNC Manager perform similar tasks. You could even roll-your-own and script something to iterate your domain, running psexec to install the MSI. – jscott May 21 '10 at 10:17
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You certainly can use PSEXEC to install something that doesn't require a reboot, remotely, under a different user account than the logged in user, with elevated privileges.

Note: GPO assignment is much cleaner, because it doesn't leave you with the separate administrative task of tracking which machines have the software and which need it.

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Here's an article that pretty much explains how this could work. Of course 'best practice' is always going to be rebooting the machine via a combination of /force.

http://www.windowsecurity.com/articles/How-Force-Remote-Group-Policy-Processing.html

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