Deploying Skype 6.3 to the Enterprise via GPO

For a while now Skype have offered a MSI, a ADM template and a nifty little guide on Enterprise Deployment considerations but so far I haven’t found a decent guide which shows how to bring all of these components together to get Skype out there on your client PCs.

In this guide I will be looking to, deploy Skype 6.3 to my clients using GPO/MSI, remove the desktop shortcut, remove its ability to auto launch on login, restrict access to file transfers, put in proxy settings and prevent automated updates (among a few other things that can be done through GPO).

A few things you will need

1. A read of the Enterprise Deployment guide (its from 2010 but is still valid) – http://www.skype.com/go/administrators.guide
2. The MSI – http://www.skype.com/go/getskype-msi (updated May 2016)
3. The ADM template (right click save target as) – http://download.skype.com/share/security/Skype-v1.7.adm
4. The Orca tool MSI editor tool (part of the Windows 7 SDK) – a guide to installing it can be found here https://myworldofit.net/?p=1368

After a few requests the transform file (pre created as specified above) is now available in the ZIP file below

  Skype 6 Transform (986 bytes, 2,932 hits)

The screen shot sequence below shows how to get everything rolling.