Forum Discussion
Skype Room Systems v2 - first impressions
Just wanted to share the issues we faced in our organisation as this could be useful for others:
1. It is not possible to capture the image with SRS application. We need that in order to deploy the image via SCCM. If you follow the instructions in this KB - https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt790558.aspx you will be able to install Win 10 and SRS application, but you won't be able to capture that image - resulting image will not have SRS application. We have support ticket opened for that since the end of June and no progress so far
2. The only option to get SRS application updates is Windows Store. There is no standalone msi package. The package in this KB - https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt790558.aspx is not a SRS application - it is a set of files for image deployment actually. Again if you want to deploy new SRS application via SCCM you can't do that.
3. Microsoft Premier Support has no idea what is Skype Room System. Every time you open a ticket you will have to explain that this is Surface Pro device and that Microsoft develops SRS software for it. Then you ticket will go back and forth between different Microsoft team as (again!) they have no idea what SRS is.
4. Microsoft just announced that Surface Pro 4 is not available, while Surface Pro 5 will become available in the end of September only. If you want to purchase SRS now you can't do that!
Hello Pavel,
Surface Pro new generation could be very interesting with the fanless mode, i noticed the SRS2 was really using the fan during a call. We didn't invest in one yet.
Did you try to get the boot on PXE with the USB image and automate the last steps of the installation ?
- Some good news posted today :)
Check out the blog post from David Groom at https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Skype-for-Business-Blog/Skype-Room-Systems-v2-3-0-10-0-Update/ba-p/95091
"For companies building their own SRS v2 images, we'll post a 3.0.10.0 standalone MSI shortly. The standalone MSI will be linked for download from the "Prepare the insallation image" article on Technet here." - That's imho one of the biggest problems, the missing fix/feature list. Most of the users who deploy SRSv2 want a kb article or something where we can get the latest infos about whats new/fixed in the appropriate release.
we got today update 3.10.0 but not aware of improvements inside.
And still we have some issue with the sharing second screen
Hello Christophe!
So far, we tried OSD with PXE and Stand-Alone media.
What exactly you mean wen you say about last steps automation?
Actually, we're working with Pavel together on this project.
So far we made many attempts to make SRS "somehow" ready for enterprise deployment through SCCM, but no luck yet.
Please find a few highlights below:
1) We captured reference Image with SRS application already installed. After deployment OS from this Image, the OS itself, CM Client, Domain Join and Windows activation are working smoothly, but SRS application just disappears from the Image. We still have source files in FS at C:\Rigel.
2) We tried to use these source files to restore the app.
We ran InstallSkype.ps1 script - no luck.
We tried with full installation by Config.cmd script - no luck.
After system restart we still see there is no SRS application. I guess this is because the installation scripts identifies that SRS is already installed (may be according to reg keys or files/folders in FS).
3) We cannot plan normal product lifecycle with SCCM (without Windows Store). Unfortunately, there is no MSI/EXE available when MS updates app in Windows Store.
4) When I observed SRS source scripts, I couls see that installation is aimed mostly for local account "Skype". I really like how this local account works for end user. (You only have SRS Interface and nothing more. No credential prompt, no possibility to do something wrong.)
Ideally would be nice to have installer which prompts for account name and install/configure SRS in the same way as for Skype.
Our next step - deploy clean Win10 on a Surface and try to install SRS manually with scripts, but this not ideal solution. We would not like to make reverse-engineering each time where there is an update :)
