Putting XP image on 35 PCs - are you experienced ?

HW_Hack

I work at a large high school we have both Mac labs and PC labs. Specifically we have 3 PC labs each one with about 35 - 40 PCs.

I'm new so this is my first time thru this - I'm also a big believer in keeping the OS (XP Pro in this case) up to date with patches. The previous guy was not. But now MS has their Genuine Adavantage Program which I'm sure puts some magic number on a validated machine.

Now of course we will build the master image with new software - remove old software - update drivers - and patch the OS. We will then blast that image on the PCs in the lab. I have some special control SW that keeps the kids from mucking things up - AND - I can configure that software to do weekly or monthly updates of OS or anti-virus.

Now the question - I've installed the MS GAP + Updates on the master image system and now 35 differnet PCs will contact the MS website ... will MS refuse to deal with 35 "identical" machines looking for updates ??

Anyone been here before ??

THANKS !!!!!!!!

kryyst

HW_Hack wrote:

I work at a large high school we have both Mac labs and PC labs. Specifically we have 3 PC labs each one with about 35 - 40 PCs.

I'm new so this is my first time thru this - I'm also a big believer in keeping the OS (XP Pro in this case) up to date with patches. The previous guy was not. But now MS has their Genuine Adavantage Program which I'm sure puts some magic number on a validated machine.

Now of course we will build the master image with new software - remove old software - update drivers - and patch the OS. We will then blast that image on the PCs in the lab. I have some special control SW that keeps the kids from mucking things up - AND - I can configure that software to do weekly or monthly updates of OS or anti-virus.

Now the question - I've installed the MS GAP + Updates on the master image system and now 35 differnet PCs will contact the MS website ... will MS refuse to deal with 35 "identical" machines looking for updates ??

Anyone been here before ??

THANKS !!!!!!!!

That would depend. Is the version of windows you are using a corporate one or did you basically buy individual copies for every machine. If it's corporate you will be fine, if not they will be able to keep updating until MS puts out a new Validation check.

Instead what you should be doing is setting up a primary windows server running Windows 2003 and have it handle all the updates through the Microsoft Server Update Services.

SobeHall

Military does exactly what you are talking about but they use a corporate version of windows, and all the machines are managed remotely through windows server 2003.

HW_Hack

Thanks - Good information - I'll have to find out what the license model is.

As to the server I'm rebuilding a Win2000 server - perhaps that can be used for OS updates in the future

Back to work

kryyst

HW_Hack wrote:

Thanks - Good information - I'll have to find out what the license model is.

As to the server I'm rebuilding a Win2000 server - perhaps that can be used for OS updates in the future

Back to work

Unfortunately not. The new WSUS won't run on windows 2000, it requires windows 2003. I found that out the hardway. It'll kinda run on 2000 but just doesn't work right and lead to more frustration then the little bit it worked.

GrayFox

If you just want faster downlaods of the updates just setup squid proxy it will cache the updates along with all the other web traffic for you.

stoopid

I have a part 2 to his question - what if each machine had its own copy of Office? Obviously each copy would have a different activation code. Any way around this? Typically I like keeping things with each machine, but in this case it wouldn't matter to the customer or me so long as they had a licensed copy for each machine in case of an audit.