For those of you that have a bunch of workstations to install Pervasive on, there is an easy way to do this using Group Policy Objects and Active Directory. The steps are outlined below. (This will be old news to those of you who are Windows Server Net Admins.)
 
1) Download and install Group Policy Management, SP1 from Microsoft's website to a Windows XP computer.
2) On your server, create a share and give permissions to your users: \\servername\MSI. Create a directory under MSI called Pervasive.
3) Copy the Pervasive client installation files for Windows to \\servername\MSI\Pervasive you just created. On my cdrom the directory is \WinNT_2000\clients\win32.
4) Open the Group Policy Management Console on your Windows XP computer as a domain administrator.
5) Expand your domain and Right-click on Group Policy Objects, select New, then name your new GPO.
6) In the right side panel, find your new GPO, right-click on it and select edit.
7) The Group Policy editor opens. Right-click on Software Installation under Computer Configuration=>Software Settings. Choose New=>Package.
- Find the MSI file, "Pervasive.SQL Client.msi", as your target. This file should be located at \\servername\MSI\Pervasive\Pervasive.SQL Client.msi.
9) Choose Assigned as the installation type.
10) Return to your Group Policy Management application.
11) Find the OU (organizational Unit) for the computers you wish to deploy Pervasive to.
12) Right-Click on the OU and select "Link an existing GPO...".
13) Choose your newly created GPO and click OK.
14) In the right-side window, right-click on your linked GPO and choose Enforced.
15) Return to the Group Policy Objects in the GPM application and click on your newly created GPO.
16) On the right side under Security Filtering, add the computer objects you want to deploy Pervasive on. You can create a 'group' of computers or name each computer in the list.
 
At this point you are done. If you wish to test this on your own computer first, Open a CMD window and type gpupdate and press return. Reboot your computer. The software will install at boot before login.
 
It is not necessary to remove the Pervasive 7 client to install Pervasive 8.