How can I use VisualBuild in this environment?

[a_t_jackson]

Our main product comprises several client-server applications. We use Visual Builder for creating each application, which normally ship as a suite of standard installers which clients deploy on their PCs.

For another product we provide a Win2k PC with all our applications pre-installed (a master image is replicated on all HDD shipped from the factory).

Creating the master image is a pain. At the moment one guy manually builds the image by running each of our application installers onto a clean Win2K OS, and then making a few other registry hacks. This must be frequently repeated during the QA process as applications are re-released.

Ideally I want a script that silently gets each installer (or just EXEs / DLLs etc) from VSS and deploys / runs on the clean HDD, and also makes the other registry changes. But I don't want VSS or VisBuilder on the master image. So can a have a script run remotely? Any other ideas?

[kinook]

You may be able to achieve a remote initialization by creating a build project and running it from another machine with VisBuildPro on it that:

1) Gets the necessary files out of SourceSafe, either onto the remote box, or
1a) Uses the Copy Files action to deploy the install executables to the remote box.
2) Remotely execute the installers via psExec -- see the Server.bld sample. Things are a little tricker if the application you want to run remotely needs to display a GUI -- see 'Tutorials -> Samples -> Server.bld Sample' in the manual http://www.kinook.com/VisBuildPro/Manual/ for more details.
3) Use the Write Registry action to remotely update the registry (supported in version 5.0). Of course, the Remote Registry service will need to be running on the remote computer.
4) Some of the built-in actions also support processing on a remote computer (for instance, COM+ and Service).