I thought this was the right place to ask, let me know if somewhere else was better.
I have a classroom in a public school with around 30 PCs (windows) I need to install software on (python and codium). They are all the same PCs. In the past there was a management system but due to some licensing issues that does not work anymore.
How its been done before: Go to each and every PC and setup everything manually, or do it once and mirror the HDD 30 times … both ways very time consuming.
I thought there might be a better way to do this, do you have any idea?
PowerShell is the way to go here, either through winrm or psexec
This is the answer for such a small group of machines. Have chatgpt write a script that runs X on every device in a list. Then have X be the install from a network share.
Then, with the script it made, double check every line and confirm it didn’t make shit up.
Look into psexec, MS bought it & the rest of that suite of tools, long ago and last I looked, still supported them. (Yep. Still do)
They were easily scripted, perfect for managing small labs, or OUs.
More here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/psexec
Id make sure winrm is setup and use Ansible.
Or install and configure ssh and use powershell
If it can’t cost anything, and time is not too much of an issue, you might want to use winget or chocolatey. If there’s packages, you can write the script quite easily, then run it on every machine.
Me as a potato would use https://ninite.com/ for python and figure out a silent install for codium and make a batch script to install them.
I would also look into setting up a https://fogproject.org/ server to image windows devices if you have no money or resources.
Are they domain joined? You could always use active directory to do a mass install. I like RZget from Ruckzuck but I’m sure there are plenty of similar tools.
Another option is to use SSH and clusterssh to run commands on each machine. Its more of a Linux solution but it should work assuming you willing to go around and add the same public key to each machine.
Sccm or Intune
Not free though
Crazy levels of work required…
USB Rubber Ducky or similar
Now that’s a solution I’ve never thought of