Prerequisites
- A share drive that is accessible from within your network
- An installer for the software in question, and some knowledge of how to run it from the command line
- Knowledge of basic Batch scripting
- A Domain Admin account for running the scripts
- a copy of the Microsoft PSTools suite available here
- Must have the BOSSDesk Assistant installed on your machine.
Background
For this tutorial we will be creating a script to install the popular free tool "Notepad++", but the resulting script can be easily modified to install other programs. We will be using a combination of tools to push an installer file from a share drive onto an end-user's machine. All of these operations will be executed from the computer that clicked on the remote tool, with the permissions of the currently logged in user, so we recommend utilizing a Domain Admin. By cleverly using some system tools, the installers themselves will be run on the target remote machine, but initiated from the local machine.
Setting up the Deploy Script
- First, create a folder on your share drive specifically for the install media we will be using (such as the MSI file)
- Move the Installer into this folder, along with any additional files if needed
- Unzip the PSTools folder and place the unzipped version on the share drive as well
- Create a .bat file and open it for editing in your preferred editor
- A sample file is provided here to show what the contents should look like:examplebatch.txt
- Once you have constructed and tested your deploy script to your satisfaction, Upload it to another folder on your share drive.
Creating the Remote Tool
- In BOSSDesk, go to Settings>Remote Tools.
- Click Create New.
- Give the tool a name (this is for labeling purposes and does not affect functionality)
- in the "Command" field, place the full path to the batch file on the share drive (or if you have created a placeholder you can use that)
- click the "Insert Placeholders" button (this expands your options)
- click in the "Argument" Field
- Click the "CI Name" button under placeholders to insert a placeholder to be used as an argument.
- Check the "bulk command" box and save the tool.
Using the tool
for information on using the remote tools, see this article https://forum.bossdesk.io/t/remote-tools/24
