When IT departments talk about Active Directory, they usually think of servers, enterprise back-end application environments, infrastructure, or security. However, one of the hidden gems of Active Directory and Windows 2003 has been its capability to help the administrators of client systems (such as desktop, laptop, and mobile users) better manage and administer client systems from a centralized location and with common network tools. Windows Server 2003 enables administrators of client systems to select the appropriate method of administration to reduce or automate repetitive tasks and to provide task scalability to reduce the overall number of workstation visits or issues. This chapter covers administrative tools and concepts that can be used to install and manage Microsoft Windows XP Professional workstations. Topics such as deploying desktops and keeping the operating system up to date are covered. Also, remote administration and remote application installation are described in this chapter. Many of the tools and concepts used in this chapter apply to Windows 2000 Professional workstations, but we assume that the desktop OS is Windows XP. |