I’m planning to deploy Bigfix Client v9.5.3 on customer’s network via GPO. Does the .msi version of the client have the intelligence to detect an existing installation of the instance or it would reapply once we upload the and publish it per computer through GPO?
The MSI is just an installer. I don’t believe it will install over itself but I’ve never tried it in a GPO. There are some people who use it this way however. @jgstew have you deployed this way?
We deploy via loginscript, and we do some rudimentary detection in powershell.
I.e. if the client is already installed there is no need to even download the MSi, which does have it’s usual detection method, and if the service is installed but not running we start the service.
How are you planning to run the MSI via GPO?
Good thread, though I would personally recommend powershell over bat.
@mwolff You can create a distribution point and then assign the package for Software distribution though GPO. You can refer this: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/887405/how-to-use-windows-installer-and-group-policy-to-deploy-the-vpmodule-m
@AlexaVonTess thanks for the details so far. Can you share me the in-detailed step for the process please?
If you use the GPO Software Installation option it will reinstall the first time that that machine reboots even if it has the latest version. Note that the installation will only happen during the startup processing of the GPO and the computer will need to be on the network to install. The client will not install via GPO if the computer is not on the network during boot. So it will help to ensure that BigFix is installed if someone uninstalls it. The best way is to use a script to deploy.