Applications to Install

Applications to Install

During setup, you can choose to install standard productivity applications such as Microsoft® Office, as well as custom applications. If certain core applications need to be available to users at all times, you can install them along with the operating system. If you are automating installations by using WDS or Sysprep, you can install the applications on the disk image that you create; if you are doing unattended installations by using answer files, you can include applications and make them available from your distribution folder.

If you use Active Directory, you can use the Software Installation and Maintenance feature of IntelliMirror to make applications available to users. You can assign critical applications to users and publish applications users might need to access.

Publishing an application

When you publish applications, users can install the application by using Add or Remove Programs in Control Panel. For more information about using Software Installation and Maintenance to make applications available to your users, see the Distributed Systems Guide of the Microsoft® Windows®* 2000 Server Resource Kit*.

Assigning an application to a user

When you assign an application to a user, it appears to the user that the application is already installed, and a shortcut appears in the user's Start menu. When the user clicks the shortcut, the application is installed from a server share.

Automating deployment and upgrades

You can also use Systems Management Server (SMS) to automate the deployment and upgrade applications during and after installing the operating system. SMS is a good option for large-scale software-deployment projects because SMS can be set to run when it will cause minimal interruption to your business, such as at night or on weekends. For more information about SMS, see the documentation included with SMS.