Fastpush and Windows Group Policy Start-up Scripts

Joanne wrote in and asked about using the Start-up Script function of Active Directory's Group Policy:

> "'REG' is not recongised as an internal or external command....

As far as I can remember, REG is supplied in an 'out of the box' install of XP, but it's part of the Resource Kit for Windows 2000.

To be honest, I'm surprised that Fastpush can operate in a GPO Start-Up script as it's designed to push the VNC system to a remote client.


You don't need to have the full version of Fastpush in a start-up script. All you need are the registry settings and to copy the files to the right place.

To get a file that REGEDIT can understand, set up a working copy of VNC and then use the EXPORT option of REGEDIT to save your settings. Save that as something like MYVNC-1.REG or similar.

Then, all you need is a small-ish batch file that will put the VNC files in the right place. You can pull the actual code out of Fastpush to do that.

Off the top of my head, you'd need the code that finds the C:\WINNT or C:\WINDOWS folder. At a push you could cheat and say:

IF EXIST C:\WINDOWS\*.* set source=c:\Windows
IF EXIST C:\WINNT\*.* set source=c:\winnt

You then need to copy the VNC installation files from another UNC - which I guess could be from the Policy itself.

Once the files have been copied into the right locations, use REGEDIT /S \\server\shared\MYVNC-1.REG to pull the settings in.

Finally (!!) use the SC command from Fastpush - again you may want to call that from \\server\share\SC.EXE to install and start VNC.

The Icons are optional, but again you could tweak the code from Fastpush to do that for you.

Alternatively, if you're feeling clever, you could try WinInstallLE from the Windows 2000 server to make a snapshot and then create an MSI of VNC. You may want to check www.appdeploy.com for tips and tricks on that.