The easiest way to deploy software on a network
One way to do it is with to create a group policy on AD and apply it to the group of machines desired. In my home lab i practiced using a program called PDQ deploy and is is very easy to use.
I followed the following steps:
- Created a shared folder on the server were i copied the install file. I used the Appzilla FTP client for this practice.
- Installed PDQ on the server and entered the network credentials.
- Clicked on create new package and the user friendly PDQ deployment wizard guided me through it.
- Pointed it to the Appzilla file on the shared folder.
- Selected the target computer. In this case it was cliente01.
- Added the /S switch for silent install on the command line option to prevent the installation from hanging. The command line was “FileZilla_3.64.0_win64_sponsored2-setup.exe /S”.
Problem i needed to fix
Normally you press deploy and it will work but mine deployment was failing. It displayed the error “The network name cannot be found”. So i figured it out that it was a firewall issue on the client PC. I quickly searched the documentation and found that it was related to the SMB protocol so i went to the client PC and created a inbound rule on the firewall opening SMB ports 139 and 445. I tried again and it worked perfectly.
Skills practiced: Software deployment on networked computers and firewall configuration.
There are other external deployment programs available but i recommend this one. It is quicker and easier than setting up a group policy. Available at https://www.pdq.com
Filezilla successfully installed remotely on the client PC using PDQ deploy.