Please take the time to help out a complete newbie regarding Windows Server 2003. I recently installed it with the hopes of managing a domain. I've had a few successes at what I've tried, but otherwise a lot of failures. I have pretty much just one problem as of late: I'm simply managing a network at my house. One of the biggest problems I ran into, being the only person here remotely computer literate, is to manage the other three computers. It is simply a chore to go from PC to PC installing the same software over and over again. I had a feeling, there must be an easier way to do this. The networked computers at high school and college all had the same software on them, so I asked myself, how do I do that? Someone suggested Windows Server 2003 to "deploy" certain programs across the domain. The problem I ran into was that Server 2003 used only msi files, and programs like Firefox, Thunderbird, WinRAR/WinZip, a BitTorrent Client, WinAmp (and special codecs like FLAC and MAC and ogg and mpc), Ad-Aware, some kind of virus software, Registry Mechanic--the simple programs that everyone here needs to be happy (and some I insist they use from time to time), Microsoft Office 2003--aren't distributed as msi files. After doing some research, I thought getting InstallShield 10.5 would make things better. It apparently had the ability to make .msi files. I tested the software, downloading Firefox as a .zip and creating an .msi installer, then setting it up in Groupe Policy Object Editor -> User Configuration -> Software Settings -> Software Installation. This, at first, appeared to be effective. When I logged onto a client computer I noticed that the .msi was installing before I logged in. I then clicked on Firefox to see if all had went well, but instead of the program launching, an installer launched. This isn't how I planned things... I had downloaded someone else's Firefox .msi installer and I guess it did what is called a "silent install?" Meaning when it installed while I was logging in, the program installed entirely and I could open it as soon as I was done logging in. Obviously, my limited knowledge of everything, Windows Servere 2003, InstallShield 10.5, .msi in general, is keeping me from doing what I want. Ultimately I'd like to be able to deploy software without having other people make it for me, so I'd like to know where to go from here... I see a lot of "silent install" threads in the Application Switches forum, but when I look at what's posted, nothing there makes sense to me -- like I'm missing some fundamental knowledge everyone else who browses there has. So the questions are: How do I do a silent install to client computers on the domain? If creating .msi files is involved, how do I create them properly, so that they install silently? What do I make of all the info I see on the Application Switches forum? Another problem is that such software is ending up installed on the Server -- is there anyway to make software only get installed on client computers, or to certain users? An unrelated question: is there anyway to remotely control what themes/wallpapers/etc client computers on the domain use? I tried settings this via group policies, but again, all the restrictions I created affected my computer (the domain controller) as well. I couldn't even access my display settings... Is there some way to apply such rules only to certain users? This post was pretty big. I hope someone helps me out. Thanks in advance.