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I have 100 windows 7 boxes which connected together with switch, and don't have internet access. I need to deploy some files (~1G) to every machine. Is there a fast way to do this, especially with script? And maybe have a verification process. I have admin access.

This is how I do this for now:

  • On machine 1, share that folder to everyone
  • Go to machine 2, open explorer, go to \\<machine 1 IP>\c$\path\to folder\
  • Windows prompt to ask login credential, enter id: < machine 1 IP>\< admin account>, eg: 192.168.0.1\administrator, and enter pwd
  • Copy and paste the file (this won't take to long since it's gig Ethernet)
  • Jump on machine 3 and repeat

This way I have to enter id/pwd 100 times and go to each machine. I am looking for a way to reduce the repetitive typing and I can work on machine 1 to finish the deployment process. Can the community advise? Thanks.

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1  
Are your 100 Windows 7 boxes on a domain? – Tom O'Connor Mar 2 '11 at 9:00
Nope, there's no domain controller. I guess those are just using default home network settings. – Stan Mar 2 '11 at 12:35
2  
Ouch. For manageability in future, I'd strongly suggest you put them on a domain if possible. – Tom O'Connor Mar 2 '11 at 13:24

1 Answer

up vote 3 down vote accepted

Its rough because its a batch script, I'm sure some someone will come along with some fancy perl and do it in two lines.

First. You'll need a list of devices or their IP's in a text file (machines.txt in the example). Format with one IP/Machine name per line.

Second. Create CopyFiles.bat

Dump the following in and amend for your specific purposes.

for /f "delims= tokens=1" %%a in (machines.txt) DO call :process %%a

:process
set node=%1
net use X: /D /Y
NET USE X: \\%node%\c$\PATH /user:USERNAME PASSWORD
Copy C:\FILESLOCATION\*.* X:\

I haven't tested it, but it should get you close.

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+1 just pointing out the (hopefully) obvious but this would be run from machine #1, which would map/push the file to each machine in the iteration (oh and don't put machine #1 in the machines.txt file). – gravyface Mar 2 '11 at 13:49
This will deploy in sequence. Would it be better to do in parallel to utilize maximum bandwidth? and how? – Stan Mar 2 '11 at 14:14
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Errr - make two copies of the copyfiles.bat and do half the machines with one and half the machines with the other? And +1'd to gravyface for pointing out the missing bits from my original post. – Patrick Mar 2 '11 at 14:27
You're not going to be doing anything in parallel using a BAT script. The question is, will this be fast enough to meet your needs? It does meet your stated requirements in your question. – mfinni Mar 2 '11 at 14:28
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Fastcopy might not be any faster than using built-in copy.exe for a network copy. Also, since this is Windows 7, you can use the multi-threaded version of robocopy, which will speed things up, I imagine. – mfinni Mar 2 '11 at 18:38
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