DBT 11.2 (SR4) has been carefully designed to support installation of multiple copies of the program on a corporate or educational network. If DBT will be used by relatively a smaller number of users who share a large number of computers with other users then you will want to install DBT using a shared activation model. With shared activation, DBT can be installed and accessible on many machines, but may only be run by a limited number of users at one time. (The number of users that may run DBT depends on your license agreement.)
In corporate and educational networks, individual users frequently lack administrative access privileges, meaning a network support professional must generally perform these installations.
Users of prior versions of the Duxbury Braille Translator should know that some details of network installation have changed, so please review these instructions even if you are experienced with DBT installation.
If you want to launch right into your installation, you can follow these links to the two options for installing DBT on your network, or you may want first to view the two brief background topics that follow.
For all of the technology behind the Windows installer (see links below), your task boils down to one essential trick: creating a “server image.” A server image is a customized form of the DBT installer that you create yourself. You then use the server image instead of the original DBT installer on each client computer. The server image is customized to supply automatically answers to the questions you would normally answer during a Simple Installation.
Thus, you can breeze through, clicking only the Next button at each dialog. Better still, you have the option to run the installation without any interaction at all, showing only a progress bar or running completely in the background.
The server image is customized so that it automatically includes in every installation:
• Your license number
• A (standard) user name
• Embosser configuration definitions (optional)
Including embosser definitions can be a big time saver. Be sure to try this feature if you have many installations that use the same embosser or set of embossers.
The DBT installer is a Windows installer package. Using Windows installer technology confers all its standard features: installation, software maintenance and repair, clean software removal, and even installation onto workstations from a central location.
The following external links to Microsoft support resources will help to familiarize you with the Windows installer:
Overview of the Windows Installer Technology
Frequently Asked Questions About Windows Installer
How to resolve Common "Windows Installer" Problems
Command-Line Switches for the Microsoft Windows Installer Tool
Admittedly, installation onto workstations from a central location is an advanced topic and not recommended to the inexperienced. Moreover, the details about how to perform this task vary depending on your edition of the Windows Server operating system. If you would like to know more, we recommend that you look for information on "Software Installation and Maintenance" within the "Distributed Systems Guide" that should come with the Resource Kit for your server OS.