Is there a tool or method to build an inventory of the version of Adobe Reader installed on computers in a domain?
This would allow specific targeting of Adobe Reader updates to the computers who needed it, say from version 9 to version 10.
- If I deployed an Adobe Reader X MSI to all computers, would the MSI continue to be transferred to each computer every day where the MSI checks the version of Adobe Reader installed?
- Is there a different method GPO software installations use to check the version before transferring the MSI files over the network and installing them?
- Is the MSI file cached on the computer?
Answer
How many installations are you talking about?
You can build an inventory using the psinfo.exe and findstr.exe commands from Microsoft:
psinfo.exe \\computername -s | findstr.exe -i "adobe" > computername.txt
Output:
Adobe AIR 1.5.0.7220
Adobe Flash Player 11 ActiveX 11.0.1.152
Adobe Flash Player 11 Plugin 11.0.1.152
Adobe Reader 9.4.6 9.4.6
From there you can group a list of people who need an upgrade.
Possible next steps:
- If just a few people, visit their desk and install
- If more than just a few, publish an app via a GPO, and send an email to manually launch. Then audit and repeat.
- If lots, set the GPO to push
You may want to invest some time in a CMDB like Open-Audit and auditing will not be an issue.
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : Steve , Answer Author : RobW