Using FastPush to install UltraVNC on multiple machines at once

OK, so I just posted about why UltraVNC is a good remote desktop solution for those times when other apps don't fit the bill.

Now I'm going to talk a bit about how to use a script named FastPush to automate installation of UltraVNC (or several other VNC flavors) to multiple systems.

In a nutshell, you have to copy or unzip the contents of the FastPush archive to a folder called Fastpush on the root of your C: drive.

If you want to push out domain authentication settings to UltraVNC installations, you will have to use the beta FP8a script. If  this isn't a concern, then you can use the release FP8 version.

Next, you have to edit several .ini files in the FastPush directory tree. In \fastpush\common\Machine.ini, you insert the encoded password you want to use for your VNC installations. This encoded password is gotten by using the regdir utility in the \fastpush\utils directory. The command looks something like:

regdir \\machinename \registry\machine\software\orl\winvnc3\default

This gets you output that looks something like:

C:\Fastpush\utils>regdir \registry\machine\software\orl\winvnc3\default
\registry\machine\software\orl\winvnc3\default
    LockSetting = REG_DWORD 0x00000000
    RemoveWallpaper = REG_DWORD 0x00000000
    Password = REG_BINARY 0x00000008 0xcb5c6608 0xaaf074fd
    AllowShutdown = REG_DWORD 0x00000000
    AllowProperties = REG_DWORD 0x00000001
    AllowEditClients = REG_DWORD 0x00000000

Then you cut and paste the data from the same line after Password = REG_BINARY into the corresponding spot on \fastpush\common\machine.ini.

Next, edit the \fastpush\acl.txt  if you are going to be using domain authentication:

Should look something like this to correspond with the users and groups that need to be able to control systems:

allow    0x00000003    BUILTIN\Administrators
allow    0x00000003    "YOURDOMAIN1\Domain Admins"
allow    0x00000003    "YOURDOMAIN2\Domain Admins"

After that, the FP8a.cmd file needs to be edited with the proper choices. I set it up so that the flavor used by default is UltraVNC and that shortcuts should be copied to the proper places in the Start menu. Made changes to the script so that UltraVNC gets installed in C:\program files\ultravnc. And lastly, I changed the help areas to show the commands with fp8a instead of the older vnc. Or you could just rename the fp8a.cmd file to vnc.cmd - your choice.

You will also need to make a text filed that has all the system names that UltraVNC will be installed to. You can use Net View for this or there's other commands that can be used. If you use Net View the command looks like: net view \\workgroupname > x.txt, where workgroupname is the workgroup or domain that you want to generate the list of systems from. You will then have to use a text editor (I used Word as it has decent find/replace functionality) or write a script to pare down the text so all you see is something like:

SYSTEM1
SERVER1
SYSTEM45
BOBROBOT
WILLSMITH

Then, once all of this is set up, you go to command prompt, change directories to the C:\fastpush directory and enter in the command
for /F "tokens=1" %i in (workstations.txt) do call vnc %i /user yourdomain\domainadminusername password /log
Remember to change workstations.txt in the command to whatever you named the list of PCs. Change call vnc to call fp8a if you did not change the name of the fp8a.cmd file. And lastly don't forget to change the domain, user and password info to what is correct for an admin on your domain before running the command.

You can also use the /remove switch to remove old installations of all flavors of VNC. You will need to modify the fp8a script, however, if you have installed RealVNC 3.3.7 to the default directory, as it installs to C:\program files\realvnc\vnc3 by default and not C:\program files\orl\winvnc3 as is indicated in the script.

If you have problems, you can go to the UltraVNC forums or to the FastPush forums for help with whatever app is giving you troubles.