SMSINST: Guidelines for Using Systems Management Server Installer (180918)

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Microsoft Product Support Services provides guidelines for Systems Management Server Installer use, repackaging, and installation, but cannot provide installation scripts testing or installation validation. When you use Systems Management Server Installer to deploy applications, we recommend that you first test the installation in a lab environment on hardware and software client configurations similar to that in your production environment. This is a prerequisite for a successful rollout.

Guidelines

Do not use Systems Management Server Installer to repackage operating system service packs or operating system upgrades.

Do not use Systems Management Server Installer to upgrade or deploy Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 Internet Explorer provides an automated setup with custom configuration options instead. See the Internet Explorer 4.0 documentation for more details.

Do not use Systems Management Server Installer to install applications that make changes on specific computer hardware or software setups. An example of this would be network configuration changes that require bindings to be reviewed and then re-applied after the changes that you want are made. In such a case, a programmatic method should be used instead.

Avoid using Systems Management Server Installer to repackage an application if the original Setup program makes any modifications to shared files or to network files.

Do not use Systems Management Server Installer to add printers, or to change video settings.

Do not use Systems Management Server Installer to add, to change, or to modify hardware or device drivers.

185339 For additional information about how to use Systems Management Server Installer, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about automating network and printer configuration tasks, or on installing or reconfiguring drivers programmatically, see the Microsoft Software Development Kit (SDK) and Driver Development Kit (DDK) documentation.