When you use SMS to deliver a new operating system, there are special considerations that do not apply when you are delivering an application. Most of these considerations stem from the fact that the computer needs to be restarted as part of the installation process.
When an operating system Setup job is run, the computer is restarted at the end of the upgrade process. The user must log back on to the network after the computer is restarted.
Client computers will be restarted during the upgrade process. In some cases, an application might be running on the client computer when the job to upgrade the operating system starts. If the application has unsaved, altered data files open when it is time for the upgrade program to restart the system, the program will require input from the user before it restarts the system. If a user is not present to provide this input, the job is delayed until the user is present to provide the input.
Once a computer has been upgraded to a new operating system, the SMS software components residing on it locally must be upgraded. For upgrades from MS-DOS, Windows 95, or any 16-bit Windows operating system, the user's SMS client components will be upgraded the next time the user logs on to the new operating system if the user has a logon script that runs the SMSLS.BAT file. Users who do not have such a logon script must connect to the SMS logon server and run the RUNSMS.BAT file manually. If you are upgrading from an earlier version of Windows NT, the SMS component is upgraded automatically by SMSRUN.
Note Because operating system upgrade jobs require the computer to be restarted when the upgrade is completed, any other mandatory SMS jobs scheduled on the client computer immediately after the operating system upgrade will not occur at the scheduled time. Therefore, be sure to leave adequate time between scheduling a mandatory operating system upgrade job and any other mandatory SMS jobs (such as application installations) on the same client computer.
At some point during each operating system upgrade job, control of the upgrade process is handed off from SMS to the Setup program of the operating system being upgraded. If the operating system Setup program fails after this point for any reason, the failure will not be reported back to SMS, and SMS will report the job client status as completed.
When you create and send operating system upgrade jobs, you should plan and test the process on a small sample of client computers before attempting to distribute the job to a large number of client computers. This will give you the opportunity to identify errors in scripting components that are specific to the operating system, while the impact is minimal.
When upgrading a computer running Windows NT, the computer must retain the same role. For example, if the computer uses Windows NT Workstation, it cannot be upgraded to Windows NT Server. You must do a clean installation to change the role of a computer.
Before upgrading an operating system for a client computer with more than one operating system: