[wpkg-users] Still confused about Pro & Cons of WPKG-Client, WPKG-GP-Client and Startup-Script

[Adam Thorn]

>
>  From what I understand(and have already tested) running WPKG.JS from within a
> startup (or shutdown)-script works well as described here:
> http://wpkg.org/WPKG_with_Active_Directory#Active_Directory_settings.
>
> The drawback with this method is the lack of feedback for the user about what is
> happening. Are there any other limitations as mentioned in the quote above, that

Our rather hacky solution is to call (via group policy shutdown script) 
a powershell script that runs runs "wpkg.js /synchronize /dryrun" and 
parses the output to determine what actions wpkg is going to run. We 
then pop up a dialog box which says something like...

Software updates to apply:
To remove: firefox
To update: chrome
To install: putty

with OK/cancel buttons and a 30 second timeout. If you click ok, the 
powershell runs wpkg.js /synchronize with a bit of feedback (again via 
parsing output of running wpkg.js), and if you click cancel the machine 
just reboots without installing software.

The reason for this is that we're keen to make sure that if a user 
reboots for some reason in the middle of their work, they don't suddenly 
have to unexpectedly wait for an hour for big updates to go on. We still 
have central control so can force updates if we like e.g. by one-off 
group policy scripts. I'll try to dig out a copy of our scripts, but I'm 
having trouble finding them right at this moment..

Adam