Installing Office Enterprise 2007 via GPO to XP over Office 2003

[Rob Fisher]

I'm trying to install Office Enterprise 2007 via a group policy in our
Windows Server 2003/XP environment over top of an existing non-group policy
installed Office 2003 infrastructure.

I setup a group policy, and finally found the EnterpriseWW.msi file in the
Enterprise.WW folder in the root of the CD. (I wasn't happy when I didn't
see the MSI file if the root of the CD, had to do some digging before I
finally found it.) So, I pointed the Computer section of a managed software
group policy to the .msi, and edited the config.xml and added our VLM key.
(I had to try this twice before I realized the file was commented out. -
Might want to document that..)

I tried to use the Office Customization Tool (OCT) to create a custom
configuration, and apply that to the .msi via the msiexec /p file.msp /a
enterpriseWW.msi, but I'm not sure that it worked... I got a bunch of
unreadable text ... Office 2007.... and more unreadable text. (bug??) - Not
sure that this is suppose to work, this was my first try with this tool and
this command.

So, after I got it all setup, I moved two machines into the test GPO OU.
When I restarted them, Office 2007 was installed via the managed software
installation process. I logged in and found that one machine had everything
installed except Outlook 2007, and Outlook 2003 was still installed. I had
to manually remove it, and rerun the installation manually to get Office 2007
to install. On the other machine, only Outlook 2007 installed, and left
Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access 2003 alone... This wasn't quite the desired
result I was looking for... How do I get Office Enterprise 2007 to install
successfully via Group Policy over top of Office 2003 which was not installed
via a Group Policy?

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Rob,

GPO deployments under the MS Windows installer (MSIexec) aren't able to process .MSP patch files, including those created with the
2007 MS Office Enterprise Customization Tool. It's the Office Setup.exe program that applies the .MSP files in the process.

Office 2007 products use multiple .MSI files. In general, because of limitations of working with .MSP files under GPO, the use of
GPO as a deployment method is being somewhat discouraged by MS for the 2007 Office products except in specific, machine based,
deployments

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/efd0ee45-9605-42d3-9798-3b698fff3e081033.mspx


The use of MS System Management server (SMS), or other method that runs MS Office 2007's setup.exe as the manager for installation
(you can precache the Local Installation Source (LIS\MSOcache) to the workstations to reduce the load of the install [Local
Installation source is mandatory for 2007 Office products]

===========
I'm trying to install Office Enterprise 2007 via a group policy in our
Windows Server 2003/XP environment over top of an existing non-group policy
installed Office 2003 infrastructure.

I setup a group policy, and finally found the EnterpriseWW.msi file in the Enterprise.WW folder in the root of the CD. (I wasn't
happy when I didn't see the MSI file if the root of the CD, had to do some digging before I finally found it.) So, I pointed the
Computer section of a managed software group policy to the .msi, and edited the config.xml and added our VLM key.
(I had to try this twice before I realized the file was commented out. - Might want to document that..)

I tried to use the Office Customization Tool (OCT) to create a custom configuration, and apply that to the .msi via the msiexec /p
file.msp /a
enterpriseWW.msi, but I'm not sure that it worked... I got a bunch of
unreadable text ... Office 2007.... and more unreadable text. (bug??) - Not
sure that this is suppose to work, this was my first try with this tool and
this command.

So, after I got it all setup, I moved two machines into the test GPO OU. When I restarted them, Office 2007 was installed via the
managed software installation process. I logged in and found that one machine had everything installed except Outlook 2007, and
Outlook 2003 was still installed. I had to manually remove it, and rerun the installation manually to get Office 2007 to install.
On the other machine, only Outlook 2007 installed, and left Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access 2003 alone... This wasn't quite the
desired
result I was looking for... How do I get Office Enterprise 2007 to install successfully via Group Policy over top of Office 2003
which was not installed via a Group Policy? >>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Rob,

GPO deployments under the MS Windows installer (MSIexec) aren't able to process .MSP patch files, including those created with the
2007 MS Office Enterprise Customization Tool. It's the Office Setup.exe program that applies the .MSP files in the process.

Office 2007 products use multiple .MSI files. In general, because of limitations of working with .MSP files under GPO, the use of
GPO as a deployment method is being somewhat discouraged by MS for the 2007 Office products except in specific, machine based,
deployments

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/efd0ee45-9605-42d3-9798-3b698fff3e081033.mspx


The use of MS System Management server (SMS), or other method that runs MS Office 2007's setup.exe as the manager for installation
(you can precache the Local Installation Source (LIS\MSOcache) to the workstations to reduce the load of the install [Local
Installation source is mandatory for 2007 Office products]

===========
I'm trying to install Office Enterprise 2007 via a group policy in our
Windows Server 2003/XP environment over top of an existing non-group policy
installed Office 2003 infrastructure.

I setup a group policy, and finally found the EnterpriseWW.msi file in the Enterprise.WW folder in the root of the CD. (I wasn't
happy when I didn't see the MSI file if the root of the CD, had to do some digging before I finally found it.) So, I pointed the
Computer section of a managed software group policy to the .msi, and edited the config.xml and added our VLM key.
(I had to try this twice before I realized the file was commented out. - Might want to document that..)

I tried to use the Office Customization Tool (OCT) to create a custom configuration, and apply that to the .msi via the msiexec /p
file.msp /a
enterpriseWW.msi, but I'm not sure that it worked... I got a bunch of
unreadable text ... Office 2007.... and more unreadable text. (bug??) - Not
sure that this is suppose to work, this was my first try with this tool and
this command.

So, after I got it all setup, I moved two machines into the test GPO OU. When I restarted them, Office 2007 was installed via the
managed software installation process. I logged in and found that one machine had everything installed except Outlook 2007, and
Outlook 2003 was still installed. I had to manually remove it, and rerun the installation manually to get Office 2007 to install.
On the other machine, only Outlook 2007 installed, and left Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access 2003 alone... This wasn't quite the
desired
result I was looking for... How do I get Office Enterprise 2007 to install successfully via Group Policy over top of Office 2003
which was not installed via a Group Policy? >>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Rob,

GPO deployments under the MS Windows installer (MSIexec) aren't able to process .MSP patch files, including those created with the
2007 MS Office Enterprise Customization Tool. It's the Office Setup.exe program that applies the .MSP files in the process.

Office 2007 products use multiple .MSI files. In general, because of limitations of working with .MSP files under GPO, the use of
GPO as a deployment method is being somewhat discouraged by MS for the 2007 Office products except in specific, machine based,
deployments

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/efd0ee45-9605-42d3-9798-3b698fff3e081033.mspx


The use of MS System Management server (SMS), or other method that runs MS Office 2007's setup.exe as the manager for installation
(you can precache the Local Installation Source (LIS\MSOcache) to the workstations to reduce the load of the install [Local
Installation source is mandatory for 2007 Office products]

===========
I'm trying to install Office Enterprise 2007 via a group policy in our
Windows Server 2003/XP environment over top of an existing non-group policy
installed Office 2003 infrastructure.

I setup a group policy, and finally found the EnterpriseWW.msi file in the Enterprise.WW folder in the root of the CD. (I wasn't
happy when I didn't see the MSI file if the root of the CD, had to do some digging before I finally found it.) So, I pointed the
Computer section of a managed software group policy to the .msi, and edited the config.xml and added our VLM key.
(I had to try this twice before I realized the file was commented out. - Might want to document that..)

I tried to use the Office Customization Tool (OCT) to create a custom configuration, and apply that to the .msi via the msiexec /p
file.msp /a
enterpriseWW.msi, but I'm not sure that it worked... I got a bunch of
unreadable text ... Office 2007.... and more unreadable text. (bug??) - Not
sure that this is suppose to work, this was my first try with this tool and
this command.

So, after I got it all setup, I moved two machines into the test GPO OU. When I restarted them, Office 2007 was installed via the
managed software installation process. I logged in and found that one machine had everything installed except Outlook 2007, and
Outlook 2003 was still installed. I had to manually remove it, and rerun the installation manually to get Office 2007 to install.
On the other machine, only Outlook 2007 installed, and left Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access 2003 alone... This wasn't quite the
desired
result I was looking for... How do I get Office Enterprise 2007 to install successfully via Group Policy over top of Office 2003
which was not installed via a Group Policy? >>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Rob,

GPO deployments under the MS Windows installer (MSIexec) aren't able to process .MSP patch files, including those created with the
2007 MS Office Enterprise Customization Tool. It's the Office Setup.exe program that applies the .MSP files in the process.

Office 2007 products use multiple .MSI files. In general, because of limitations of working with .MSP files under GPO, the use of
GPO as a deployment method is being somewhat discouraged by MS for the 2007 Office products except in specific, machine based,
deployments

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/efd0ee45-9605-42d3-9798-3b698fff3e081033.mspx


The use of MS System Management server (SMS), or other method that runs MS Office 2007's setup.exe as the manager for installation
(you can precache the Local Installation Source (LIS\MSOcache) to the workstations to reduce the load of the install [Local
Installation source is mandatory for 2007 Office products]

===========
I'm trying to install Office Enterprise 2007 via a group policy in our
Windows Server 2003/XP environment over top of an existing non-group policy
installed Office 2003 infrastructure.

I setup a group policy, and finally found the EnterpriseWW.msi file in the Enterprise.WW folder in the root of the CD. (I wasn't
happy when I didn't see the MSI file if the root of the CD, had to do some digging before I finally found it.) So, I pointed the
Computer section of a managed software group policy to the .msi, and edited the config.xml and added our VLM key.
(I had to try this twice before I realized the file was commented out. - Might want to document that..)

I tried to use the Office Customization Tool (OCT) to create a custom configuration, and apply that to the .msi via the msiexec /p
file.msp /a
enterpriseWW.msi, but I'm not sure that it worked... I got a bunch of
unreadable text ... Office 2007.... and more unreadable text. (bug??) - Not
sure that this is suppose to work, this was my first try with this tool and
this command.

So, after I got it all setup, I moved two machines into the test GPO OU. When I restarted them, Office 2007 was installed via the
managed software installation process. I logged in and found that one machine had everything installed except Outlook 2007, and
Outlook 2003 was still installed. I had to manually remove it, and rerun the installation manually to get Office 2007 to install.
On the other machine, only Outlook 2007 installed, and left Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access 2003 alone... This wasn't quite the
desired
result I was looking for... How do I get Office Enterprise 2007 to install successfully via Group Policy over top of Office 2003
which was not installed via a Group Policy? >>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[Rob Fisher]

Bob,

Thanks for the incite. I wasn't sure about the MSP files, and how they
applied to MSIs. I'm still curious why the installation didn't go very well
via Group Policy. I'll start fresh and try again.

I wonder if this is the first step by MS to move away from .msi's for
software deployment?

Hi Rob,

GPO deployments under the MS Windows installer (MSIexec) aren't able to process .MSP patch files, including those created with the
2007 MS Office Enterprise Customization Tool. It's the Office Setup.exe program that applies the .MSP files in the process.

Office 2007 products use multiple .MSI files. In general, because of limitations of working with .MSP files under GPO, the use of
GPO as a deployment method is being somewhat discouraged by MS for the 2007 Office products except in specific, machine based,
deployments

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/efd0ee45-9605-42d3-9798-3b698fff3e081033.mspx


The use of MS System Management server (SMS), or other method that runs MS Office 2007's setup.exe as the manager for installation
(you can precache the Local Installation Source (LIS\MSOcache) to the workstations to reduce the load of the install [Local
Installation source is mandatory for 2007 Office products]

===========
I'm trying to install Office Enterprise 2007 via a group policy in our
Windows Server 2003/XP environment over top of an existing non-group policy
installed Office 2003 infrastructure.

I setup a group policy, and finally found the EnterpriseWW.msi file in the Enterprise.WW folder in the root of the CD. (I wasn't
happy when I didn't see the MSI file if the root of the CD, had to do some digging before I finally found it.) So, I pointed the
Computer section of a managed software group policy to the .msi, and edited the config.xml and added our VLM key.
(I had to try this twice before I realized the file was commented out. - Might want to document that..)

I tried to use the Office Customization Tool (OCT) to create a custom configuration, and apply that to the .msi via the msiexec /p
file.msp /a
enterpriseWW.msi, but I'm not sure that it worked... I got a bunch of
unreadable text ... Office 2007.... and more unreadable text. (bug??) - Not
sure that this is suppose to work, this was my first try with this tool and
this command.

So, after I got it all setup, I moved two machines into the test GPO OU. When I restarted them, Office 2007 was installed via the
managed software installation process. I logged in and found that one machine had everything installed except Outlook 2007, and
Outlook 2003 was still installed. I had to manually remove it, and rerun the installation manually to get Office 2007 to install.
On the other machine, only Outlook 2007 installed, and left Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access 2003 alone... This wasn't quite the
desired
result I was looking for... How do I get Office Enterprise 2007 to install successfully via Group Policy over top of Office 2003
which was not installed via a Group Policy? >>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[Rob Fisher]

Bob,

Thanks for the incite. I wasn't sure about the MSP files, and how they
applied to MSIs. I'm still curious why the installation didn't go very well
via Group Policy. I'll start fresh and try again.

I wonder if this is the first step by MS to move away from .msi's for
software deployment?

Hi Rob,

GPO deployments under the MS Windows installer (MSIexec) aren't able to process .MSP patch files, including those created with the
2007 MS Office Enterprise Customization Tool. It's the Office Setup.exe program that applies the .MSP files in the process.

Office 2007 products use multiple .MSI files. In general, because of limitations of working with .MSP files under GPO, the use of
GPO as a deployment method is being somewhat discouraged by MS for the 2007 Office products except in specific, machine based,
deployments

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/efd0ee45-9605-42d3-9798-3b698fff3e081033.mspx


The use of MS System Management server (SMS), or other method that runs MS Office 2007's setup.exe as the manager for installation
(you can precache the Local Installation Source (LIS\MSOcache) to the workstations to reduce the load of the install [Local
Installation source is mandatory for 2007 Office products]

===========
I'm trying to install Office Enterprise 2007 via a group policy in our
Windows Server 2003/XP environment over top of an existing non-group policy
installed Office 2003 infrastructure.

I setup a group policy, and finally found the EnterpriseWW.msi file in the Enterprise.WW folder in the root of the CD. (I wasn't
happy when I didn't see the MSI file if the root of the CD, had to do some digging before I finally found it.) So, I pointed the
Computer section of a managed software group policy to the .msi, and edited the config.xml and added our VLM key.
(I had to try this twice before I realized the file was commented out. - Might want to document that..)

I tried to use the Office Customization Tool (OCT) to create a custom configuration, and apply that to the .msi via the msiexec /p
file.msp /a
enterpriseWW.msi, but I'm not sure that it worked... I got a bunch of
unreadable text ... Office 2007.... and more unreadable text. (bug??) - Not
sure that this is suppose to work, this was my first try with this tool and
this command.

So, after I got it all setup, I moved two machines into the test GPO OU. When I restarted them, Office 2007 was installed via the
managed software installation process. I logged in and found that one machine had everything installed except Outlook 2007, and
Outlook 2003 was still installed. I had to manually remove it, and rerun the installation manually to get Office 2007 to install.
On the other machine, only Outlook 2007 installed, and left Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access 2003 alone... This wasn't quite the
desired
result I was looking for... How do I get Office Enterprise 2007 to install successfully via Group Policy over top of Office 2003
which was not installed via a Group Policy? >>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[Rob Fisher]

Bob,

Thanks for the incite. I wasn't sure about the MSP files, and how they
applied to MSIs. I'm still curious why the installation didn't go very well
via Group Policy. I'll start fresh and try again.

I wonder if this is the first step by MS to move away from .msi's for
software deployment?

Hi Rob,

GPO deployments under the MS Windows installer (MSIexec) aren't able to process .MSP patch files, including those created with the
2007 MS Office Enterprise Customization Tool. It's the Office Setup.exe program that applies the .MSP files in the process.

Office 2007 products use multiple .MSI files. In general, because of limitations of working with .MSP files under GPO, the use of
GPO as a deployment method is being somewhat discouraged by MS for the 2007 Office products except in specific, machine based,
deployments

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/efd0ee45-9605-42d3-9798-3b698fff3e081033.mspx


The use of MS System Management server (SMS), or other method that runs MS Office 2007's setup.exe as the manager for installation
(you can precache the Local Installation Source (LIS\MSOcache) to the workstations to reduce the load of the install [Local
Installation source is mandatory for 2007 Office products]

===========
I'm trying to install Office Enterprise 2007 via a group policy in our
Windows Server 2003/XP environment over top of an existing non-group policy
installed Office 2003 infrastructure.

I setup a group policy, and finally found the EnterpriseWW.msi file in the Enterprise.WW folder in the root of the CD. (I wasn't
happy when I didn't see the MSI file if the root of the CD, had to do some digging before I finally found it.) So, I pointed the
Computer section of a managed software group policy to the .msi, and edited the config.xml and added our VLM key.
(I had to try this twice before I realized the file was commented out. - Might want to document that..)

I tried to use the Office Customization Tool (OCT) to create a custom configuration, and apply that to the .msi via the msiexec /p
file.msp /a
enterpriseWW.msi, but I'm not sure that it worked... I got a bunch of
unreadable text ... Office 2007.... and more unreadable text. (bug??) - Not
sure that this is suppose to work, this was my first try with this tool and
this command.

So, after I got it all setup, I moved two machines into the test GPO OU. When I restarted them, Office 2007 was installed via the
managed software installation process. I logged in and found that one machine had everything installed except Outlook 2007, and
Outlook 2003 was still installed. I had to manually remove it, and rerun the installation manually to get Office 2007 to install.
On the other machine, only Outlook 2007 installed, and left Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access 2003 alone... This wasn't quite the
desired
result I was looking for... How do I get Office Enterprise 2007 to install successfully via Group Policy over top of Office 2003
which was not installed via a Group Policy? >>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[Rob Fisher]

Bob,

Thanks for the incite. I wasn't sure about the MSP files, and how they
applied to MSIs. I'm still curious why the installation didn't go very well
via Group Policy. I'll start fresh and try again.

I wonder if this is the first step by MS to move away from .msi's for
software deployment?

Hi Rob,

GPO deployments under the MS Windows installer (MSIexec) aren't able to process .MSP patch files, including those created with the
2007 MS Office Enterprise Customization Tool. It's the Office Setup.exe program that applies the .MSP files in the process.

Office 2007 products use multiple .MSI files. In general, because of limitations of working with .MSP files under GPO, the use of
GPO as a deployment method is being somewhat discouraged by MS for the 2007 Office products except in specific, machine based,
deployments

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/efd0ee45-9605-42d3-9798-3b698fff3e081033.mspx


The use of MS System Management server (SMS), or other method that runs MS Office 2007's setup.exe as the manager for installation
(you can precache the Local Installation Source (LIS\MSOcache) to the workstations to reduce the load of the install [Local
Installation source is mandatory for 2007 Office products]

===========
I'm trying to install Office Enterprise 2007 via a group policy in our
Windows Server 2003/XP environment over top of an existing non-group policy
installed Office 2003 infrastructure.

I setup a group policy, and finally found the EnterpriseWW.msi file in the Enterprise.WW folder in the root of the CD. (I wasn't
happy when I didn't see the MSI file if the root of the CD, had to do some digging before I finally found it.) So, I pointed the
Computer section of a managed software group policy to the .msi, and edited the config.xml and added our VLM key.
(I had to try this twice before I realized the file was commented out. - Might want to document that..)

I tried to use the Office Customization Tool (OCT) to create a custom configuration, and apply that to the .msi via the msiexec /p
file.msp /a
enterpriseWW.msi, but I'm not sure that it worked... I got a bunch of
unreadable text ... Office 2007.... and more unreadable text. (bug??) - Not
sure that this is suppose to work, this was my first try with this tool and
this command.

So, after I got it all setup, I moved two machines into the test GPO OU. When I restarted them, Office 2007 was installed via the
managed software installation process. I logged in and found that one machine had everything installed except Outlook 2007, and
Outlook 2003 was still installed. I had to manually remove it, and rerun the installation manually to get Office 2007 to install.
On the other machine, only Outlook 2007 installed, and left Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access 2003 alone... This wasn't quite the
desired
result I was looking for... How do I get Office Enterprise 2007 to install successfully via Group Policy over top of Office 2003
which was not installed via a Group Policy? >>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*