How to Install Software on Multiple Computers Securely

Need to Install Software on Multiple Computers

Downloading and installing software on a personal computer is indeed a breeze for individual users. But for business users, things can get complicated. Business users with multiple PCs often want to deploy the same software on all of their computers to access the same data and work with the same configuration.

So you might ask if there is an easy way to manage work, such as installing software on multiple computers at the same time. The answer is yes.

Reliable Third-Party Software to Install Software on Multiple Computers

If you want to install the same software on multiple computers, you can install the software on your C drive and then create a system backup with third-party software - AOMEI Backupper Standard. Then use Image Deployment Software – AOMEI Image Deploy to help you install the software on multiple computers at the same time.

AOMEI Backupper Standard is a trustworthy and reliable backup software used all over the world. It can help you backup your system or disk in a very short time. And it provides additional features such as daily/weekly/monthly backups, full or incremental backups, etc.

AOMEI Image Deploy is a free image deployment and network cloning software that supports deploying or restoring an image to multiple computers over a network. Here are its advantages:

• It is free and easy to use.
• It supports multiple operating systems, including Windows 7, 8, 10, 11 and Server 2003, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2019, 2022.
• The server machine can monitor the process in real time.
• The server machine can batch preset the names of client computers. To preset IP addresses, you need to upgrade to AOMEI Image Deploy Technician.

🎉 Useful tips:
If you don't want to install two software, you can try AOMEI Backupper Technician or Technician Plus. They both embed AOMEI Image Deploy tool and backup function. What's more, the standalone AOMEI Image Deploy only supports BIOS booting, while the integrated AOMEI Image Deploy in AOMEI Backupper Technician/Technician Plus supports both BIOS and UEFI booting.

Detailed Steps to Install Software on Multiple Computers Remotely

Preparation for installing the software on multiple computers simultaneously:

• Select a computer to be the server computer and make sure all computers are on the same LAN. The server computer needs to be a fully functional machine with a Windows system.
• Make sure that the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) of the server computer is complete. If it is incomplete or the system is older than Windows 7, download Windows AIK/ADK.
• Verify that the client computer's network card supports network boot (PXE boot).

How to Install the Same Software on Multiple Computers

In fact, no one can directly copy installed software and programs to other computers. However, the two tools mentioned above can help you to do this job. It can easily deploy the entire system directly to a generic computer along with all the installed software on the C drive. To install the same software on multiple computers with the same hardware, use the following steps.

✨ Note: To deploy system images to computers with different hardware (such as different CPUs or motherboards), please upgrade to AOMEI Image Deploy Technician to enjoy the "Universal Restore" feature.

1. Download AOMEI Backupper Standard on the server computer and use it to create bootable media. You need a bootable disk to create a system image without SID.

2. Press "Win + R" and type "sysprep" to find Sysprep.exe. Run it and select "Enter System Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE) ", check the "Generalize" option, and select "Shutdown". This step is used to remove the SID from the server computer, thus avoiding compatibility issues after deployment.

3. Boot the server computer from the bootable USB you just made and create a complete system image with AOMEI Backupper. You need to place the image in a NAS or network share folder that is on the same network segment of the same LAN as the server computer and all client computers.

4. Start the server computer normally. Download, install and start AOMEI Image Deploy for free.

5. Create a bootable WinPE ISO file for the client computer. Select "Create WinPE automatically" or "Create bootable WinPE ISO manually" and click "Next".

✨ Note: To deploy image over network, there must be a DHCP server on your LAN. If no, please tick the checkbox before "Enable DHCP".

6. Use the WinPE ISO file to boot your client computer. Once AOMEI Image Deploy shows "The service has started, waiting for connect...", start all client computers from the network and wait for them to boot successfully.

• Enter the BIOS by clicking on a specific key (usually F2 or ESC).
• Go to the "Boot" tab and press "+" to move "Network Boot" to the first option.

7. You will see the IP addresses and connection status of the client computers. Then, tick the checkbox before “I confirm all the client computers which need to be deployed are online” and click “Next”.

8. Specify the image file and configure the deployment settings. Finally, click "Start Deploy".

• Click "Browse" and find the image file you have saved on a network share or NAS.
• Select the online computer you want to deploy the image to. You can check "All" to select all of them.
• Enter the target disk number. If you keep only one disk in all client computers, the disk number should be "0".
• Manually enter the number of computers to be deployed at a time. Here, the number of computers to be deployed each time is "10".
• Click on "Settings" in the lower left corner and set a prefix name for the computers to be deployed, if desired.

9. View the image deployment progress on the server computer and wait. You can choose to shut down or restart the client computer when the deployment is complete.

Conclusion

Now you know how to install software on multiple computers at the same time - you need to first install the software you need on your C drive, then create a system image backup with a trusted and reliable backup software (such as AOMEI Backupper), and finally restore the system backup to multiple computers using the AOMEI Image Deploy.