Variance is the antithesis of quality and when managing a fleet of workstations keeping consistent predictable behavior is key. This makes the front-line helpdesk support functions simpler; it makes workstation replacement a plug and play operation; it makes software deployments uniform; it makes asset tracking and inventory more accurate.

I have built workstation automation by hand with scripts and a mix of free tools. I have also maintained a System Center 2012 Configuration Manager server. My first experience in workstation imaging was building an unattended install ini file by hand for Windows 2000 and I have automated several OS and application installs over the years. Tools like Configuration Manager make this process much faster not only for the operating system deployment but the software packages and updates as well.

I built several OS images with SCCM and converted it to a USB key installer for the field support team because of the limitations with the WAN connection speeds and it was beyond the remote site program budgets for a distribution point server capital expenditure. This allowed a fast and consistent image to be installed on workstations that would auto provision a user’s desktop experience with GPO policies when connected to the domain.

Building a software library in SCCM is handy to allow some users the ability to install optional software that is correctly configured from a single click menu. Not all software applications can be fully configured inside of SCCMs controls for the complete end user experience and this is where building custom scripts can come in handy. Navision is a Microsoft Dynamics NAV product that needed several end user configuration settings and special files with the install process. I learned a trick using a bat file and 7 Zip to make a single click package. Then I loaded that into the SCCM software library and the result was a member of the Accounting department could use the SCCM software library to self-install a fully configured Navision install without any help from the Help Desk. I used this same 7 Zip bat file trick to build a package for end users to correctly configure home computers for use with a web application. Click myevolvathome for more details.