How do I install software applications on a domain? [closed]

Question

5± workstations/users.

Do I log in to the user's workstation and user account (standard user of the DOMAIN), then just install the software application as usual?

Or do I log into that same workstation using MY Administrator level account (of DOMAIN)? Then install as usual? Seems some of the software says admin rights needed to install. But I don't want to give admin rights to the users (employees) to install themselves. I need to do this.

How do I install the serial numbers and activate these applications if I use my Admin account to install? When a standard user logs in and then goes to use their software I installed under admin account... it will try to ACTIVATE AGAIN...which isn't good. This would happen for every standard user. So how do you prevent that from happening. thank you.

Answer 1

I am familiar with this problem -

When a standard user logs in and then goes to use their software I installed under admin account... it will try to ACTIVATE AGAIN...

Instead of install under the domain admin account, what I have done to dodge this problem is

1. Gather the required person and commit them to finishing the software installation task with you (or just get their login password if you're all comfortable like that)
2. Make their domain account a local administrator on the terminal
3. Log them out, log them in (to apply the new permission)
4. Install the software with their newly promoted admin credential
5. Remove their account from local admin group
6. Log them out, log them in (to restore their previous permissions)

Done. It's a workaround wherein you give them rights to install the software themselves but you maintain your sense of security by only promoting and demoting their permission level under your brief supervision.

My experience continues to be that most software is not designed in this way, but occasionally it is so this is how I get around the problem.

To scale this problem to many more computers, systems like System Center Configuration Manager (Windows Deployment software) allow users to execute Task Sequences that you setup previously. It's a managed way of allowing them to distribute their own software because you build packages and configuration etc... it's only worth mentioning but since you're doing this on ~5 machines, I'd go with the more manual method I outlined.