My understanding is that you can deploy software without advertising and NOT as a part of an OS deployment, as long as the program is set to "Allow this program to installed..." I am not clear in regards to Modify Collection Properties > Variables. I have a package for all clients. Package id is PS10003A. In the variable I entered: name: MANDATORY001 VALUE: PS10003A:Install Set to highest priority, But it does not seem to install (installs OK by advertising) and the program itself is set to run as silent install (msiexec /i DeskViewClient.msi /qn /l+ c:\temp\dvsetup.log) What am I doing wrong? do I need to define the variable in a different place as well? and what if I wanted to add another package? I looked here, http://www.windows-noob.com/forums/index.php?/topic/1402-deploying-multiple-packages-with-os-ts/page__fromsearch__1, still not working... -- Onions have layers, so does SCCM, and both will make you cry..

My understanding is that you can deploy software without advertising and NOT as a part of an OS deployment, as long as the program is set to "Allow this program to installed..." Your understanding is wrong. You can install software (that is not explicitly advertised) during an tasksequence (but not outside the task sequence). http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb680842.aspx: "Use the Install Software task sequence step to specify a Configuration Manager 2007 package and program to install as part of the task sequence ..."

the one thing I do not see in the article, is whether or not it must be a part of an OS deployment. It does not say it can't or can.-- Onions have layers, so does SCCM, and both will make you cry..

What would be so difficult to test that? Create a custom task sequence, add a single install software step (or install multiple software steps) and advertise it to a collection that contains a test PC (see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb680842.aspx for creating the variables). Monitor execmgr.log and smsts.log and you'll get a result within less than 10 minutes. I'll tell you the result in case you don't have time to test that: it will work even outside OSD.