Score:-2

How can I install some software on 25+ windows home laptops?

it flag

I work for a school. The kids do have laptops. The laptops are not guaranteed to be turned on at the same time. The laptops might be in the school or at home with the kids.

Idea: The desired state can be configured on some website (might be SaaS or on premise installation). I install some agent once on each laptop and target it to the service.

At some point on this website I configure

  • add google chrome
  • add a desktop shortcut
  • ...

The Agent on the Laptops compare their current state to the website and synchronize the state. f.e.: install google chrome, add the shortcut

And on the website I can check which laptops are in the desired state

State of research:

Ansible? I cant reach the laptops guaranteed from internet. I dont want to install an ssh server on kids laptops

Score:1
cn flag

You are aware of InTune? Done. Read documentation, set up.

Score:0
co flag

I'm familiar with the problem of managing remote laptops, unfortunately. Because of the remote issue, installing software from your location across whatever data connection the remote users have doesn't really work well with the type of software we were using (Altiris, which was purchased by Symantec, but any agent-based thing that talks to your network and downloads software installs from there would probably behave similarly). The way the users described this working was "Any time you come in to the office and plug your laptop in it reboots nine or ten times."

Specific product or service recommendations are off-topic, but yes, you probably need some kind of cloud-based mobile device management service. I would avoid rolling your own if possible (and if your budget permits) and go with software designed to do what you're asking.

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it flag

OCS Inventory
https://ocsinventory-ng.org/

PHP/mariaDB server
agent installed on windows

Score:0
au flag

That's doable. You'd have to use the local task scheduler to setup a task that gets triggered at each logon and downloads your script from the internet. The script would do the rest (verify if file exist, else copy file/install file). You'd use the system account as executor.

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