[gptalk] Re: [gptalk]Office 2007 and Group Policy

  • From: "Darren Mar-Elia" <darren@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 06:57:41 -0700

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--- Begin Message ---
  • From: "Darren Mar-Elia" <darren@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2007 06:57:41 -0700
Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the BDD primarily for deploying images? It
doesn't support doing incremental software installations, does it?

 

 

From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of John Cook
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2007 6:47 AM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gptalk] Re: [gptalk]Office 2007 and Group Policy

 

Google BDD
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/desktopdeployment/bdd/2007/default.mspx 

 

John W. Cook 
Systems Administrator 
Partnership For Strong Families 
315 SE 2nd Ave 
Gainesville, Fl 32601 
Office (352) 393-2741 x320 
Cell     (352) 215-6944 
Fax     (352) 393-2746 
MCSE, MCP+I,CompTIA A+, N+ 

  _____  

From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Salandra, Justin A.
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2007 9:24 AM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gptalk] Re: [gptalk]Office 2007 and Group Policy

 

What is BDD?

 

Justin A. Salandra

MCSE Windows 2000 & 2003

Network and Technology Services Manager

Catholic Healthcare System

646.505.3681 - office

917.455.0110 - cell

 <mailto:jasalandra@xxxxxxxxxxx> jasalandra@xxxxxxxxxxx

 

  _____  

From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of John Cook
Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2007 6:12 PM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gptalk] Re: [gptalk]Office 2007 and Group Policy

 

Have you looked into BDD?
Sent to you from the home of the NCAA National Champion Florida Gators.  

-----Original Message-----
From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thu Mar 22 16:31:43 2007
Subject: [gptalk] Re: [gptalk]Office 2007 and Group Policy

Does anyone know if Microsoft has made on progress on being able to push out
Office 2007 via group policy?  I know you can do it, but you have to use an
XML file to customize the install, what tools exist to create this file? If
you don't know the XML language how can you make these customizations? Also,
the MSP files do not get installed when you push out through group policy,
even though MS says they are supposed to.  They only get applied if you
manually install Office.  If you push out through GPO only the XML file will
make changes, nothing else.



Has Microsoft done this to force people to have to invest in SMS?  Why take
away the ability to use MST files so that you can 1) have outlook
pre-configured for when people login and 2) have the ability to make the
install place icons on the desktop to make the end user use the product with
more ease?



Does MS really think that end users will be able to setup an outlook
profile?  Did they take away the ability to put icons in the desktop
automatically during an install because they want everyone to have a clean
desktop?  Who are they to tell me how I want my end users experience to be
like.



As you can probably tell I am really irritated with this, but I have no ear
to talk into at Mircosoft and I am sure some of you do.  As of now I will
not be installing Office 2007 in my environment until they can fix this.



Justin A. Salandra

MCSE Windows 2000 & 2003

Network and Technology Services Manager

Catholic Healthcare System

646.505.3681 - office

917.455.0110 - cell

jasalandra@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jasalandra@xxxxxxxxxxx>



________________________________

From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Darren Mar-Elia
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 5:45 PM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gptalk] Re: [SPAM] Re: Push out Visio 2007 via Group Policy



Justin-

Further to this, I was reading some docs. Did you put your MSP files in the
Updates folder when you deployed them? They need to be in the folder called
"Updates" in order to get picked up.



From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Salandra, Justin A.
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 1:25 PM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gptalk] Re: [SPAM] Re: Push out Visio 2007 via Group Policy



Well it works great via Interactive installations, just the Group Policy
piece doesn't work great.



Justin A. Salandra

MCSE Windows 2000 & 2003

Network and Technology Services Manager

Catholic Healthcare System

646.505.3681 - office

917.455.0110 - cell

jasalandra@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jasalandra@xxxxxxxxxxx>



________________________________

From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Darren Mar-Elia
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 12:29 PM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gptalk] Re: [SPAM] Re: Push out Visio 2007 via Group Policy



All very good questions Justin and I don't yet have any good answers. My
understanding of how MSPs are supposed to work in the context of Office 2007
GP is that you first install what you want using the Office 2007 bits with a
custom config.xml, then you apply MSPs to further customize the install.
However, I know that you're not the only one who hasn't been able to make
this work. I have told the Group Policy product team about this issue and
they agreed to talk with the Office product team. Hopefully we will all get
some better guidance on this in the future because as it stands right now,
the Office team really screwed this up.









From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Salandra, Justin A.
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 9:18 AM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gptalk] Re: [SPAM] Re: Push out Visio 2007 via Group Policy



I don't want to have to make programming changes to config.xml to do
everything, I should be able to use the Office Customization Tool.  How will
you pre-configure Outlook to use your exchange server and the currently
logged in user when they double click on it?



Justin A. Salandra

MCSE Windows 2000 & 2003

Network and Technology Services Manager

Catholic Healthcare System

646.505.3681 - office

917.455.0110 - cell

jasalandra@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jasalandra@xxxxxxxxxxx>



________________________________

From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of tools@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 11:17 AM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [SPAM] [gptalk] Re: Push out Visio 2007 via Group Policy
Importance: Low



Justin-

What are you trying to customize exactly? I did manage to install Office
2007 via GP using a config.xml file that excluded all apps except
Powerpoint, Excel, Word and Outlook. I've attached the file below so you can
see what it looks like:



- <Configuration Product="Ultimater">

- <!--

 <Display Level="full" CompletionNotice="yes" SuppressModal="no"
AcceptEula="no" />

  -->

- <!--

 <Logging Type="standard" Path="%temp%" Template="Microsoft Office Ultimate
Setup(*).txt" />

  -->

  <PIDKEY Value="####-####-#####-#####-#####" />

  <USERNAME Value="User" />

  <COMPANYNAME Value="SDM Softwware" />

- <!--

 <INSTALLLOCATION Value="%programfiles%\Microsoft Office" />

  -->

- <!--

 <LIS CACHEACTION="CacheOnly" />

  -->

- <!--

 <SOURCELIST Value="\\server1\share\Office12;\\server2\share\Office12" />

  -->

- <!--

 <DistributionPoint Location="\\server\share\Office12" />

  -->

  <OptionState Id="AccessFiles" State="absent" Children="force" />

  <OptionState Id="GrooveFiles" State="absent" Children="force" />

  <OptionState Id="PubPrimary" State="absent" Children="force" />

  <OptionState Id="OneNoteFiles" State="absent" Children="force" />

  <OptionState Id="XDOCSFiles" State="absent" Children="force" />

- <!--

 <Setting Id="Reboot" Value="IfNeeded" />

  -->

- <!--

 <Command Path="msiexec.exe" Args="/i \\server\share\my.msi" QuietArg="/q"
ChainPosition="after" Execute="install" />

  -->

  </Configuration>





From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Salandra, Justin A.
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 7:21 AM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gptalk] Re: Push out Visio 2007 via Group Policy



I will try that when the restore finishes.





Justin A. Salandra

MCSE Windows 2000 & 2003

Network and Technology Services Manager

Catholic Healthcare System

646.505.3681 - office

917.455.0110 - cell

jasalandra@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jasalandra@xxxxxxxxxxx>



________________________________

From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Darren Mar-Elia
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 10:05 AM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gptalk] Re: Push out Visio 2007 via Group Policy



Since you didn't do an admin install in the first place, how about just
using the msiexec <package location> /p <patch location) form of the
command?





From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Salandra, Justin A.
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 6:58 AM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gptalk] Re: Push out Visio 2007 via Group Policy



I tried the msiexec /a /p command and was unable to re-deploy the
application.  Got a MsiDatabaseCall failure.



Justin A. Salandra

MCSE Windows 2000 & 2003

Network and Technology Services Manager

Catholic Healthcare System

646.505.3681 - office

917.455.0110 - cell

jasalandra@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jasalandra@xxxxxxxxxxx>



________________________________

From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Salandra, Justin A.
Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2007 8:00 PM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gptalk] Re: Push out Visio 2007 via Group Policy



I agree that is how it worked.  I have done it many times.  I cannpt figure
out how to apply the .msp to the network installation point, (the area where
we copied the install files to)



Would it be done using the msiexec command?



If so, would you still use the /a command?



Msiexec /a \\server\share\visio\visiopro.ww\visioww.msi
<file:///\\server\share\visio\visiopro.ww\visioww.msi>  /p
\\server\share\visio\updates\file.msp



________________________________

From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Darren Mar-Elia
Sent: Friday, January 26, 2007 3:05 PM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gptalk] Re: Push out Visio 2007 via Group Policy



Normally, the way it works prior to Office 2007 is this. Let's say you want
to deploy Office 2003 via GP. You create an admin install point, create any
MSTs and then deploy the package. Then, along comes a path. You patch the
install point using msiexec /p with the .msp file and then you issue a
re-deploy. That is what I was told is the proper order for these Office 2007
msps, but again, I haven't tried it.





From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Salandra, Justin A.
Sent: Friday, January 26, 2007 11:54 AM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gptalk] Re: Push out Visio 2007 via Group Policy



Since you can't add an .msp to a GPO, how do you get it to run
automatically?



I am not sure I understand this "needs to get applied after the initial
install and then you do a re-deploy on the package in GP to get your
previously installed clients to pick it up."  The initial install is via
GPO, so you are saying apply the policy, then run the .msp and then
re-deploy the policy?  That sounds wired. 



There has got to be a better way.



Justin A. Salandra

MCSE Windows 2000 & 2003

Network and Technology Services Manager

Catholic Healthcare System

646.505.3681 - office

917.455.0110 - cell

jasalandra@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jasalandra@xxxxxxxxxxx>



________________________________

From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Darren Mar-Elia
Sent: Friday, January 26, 2007 1:49 PM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gptalk] Re: Push out Visio 2007 via Group Policy



What I just learned is that the MSP needs to get applied after the initial
install and then you do a re-deploy on the package in GP to get your
previously installed clients to pick it up. I know it sounds hokey. I was
just on a call with the MS GP team and they are going to try and get the
Office team to document this better.  I will post something here when I find
it out.  Also, just in case, because I don't know if you mentioned it, but
Office 2007 does not support per-user Software Installation at all. Just so
you know.





From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Salandra, Justin A.
Sent: Friday, January 26, 2007 10:12 AM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gptalk] Re: Push out Visio 2007 via Group Policy



When modifying the config.xml I was able to enter in the license info,
however the .msp that I created and placed in the Updates folder did
nothing.  When I ran the .msp manually it appeared to do what I wanted, like
placing the icon on the desktop.



Is there a way to run the msiexec command to update the VisProWW.msi file
with the updates from the .msp.  Apparently, all the statements from
Microsoft that anything in this folder will be installed and applied during
initial install is false.  Unless this statement is if installing it
manually and not via Group Policy.



Justin A. Salandra

MCSE Windows 2000 & 2003

Network and Technology Services Manager

Catholic Healthcare System

646.505.3681 - office

917.455.0110 - cell

jasalandra@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jasalandra@xxxxxxxxxxx>



________________________________

From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Darren Mar-Elia
Sent: Friday, January 26, 2007 10:36 AM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gptalk] Re: Push out Visio 2007 via Group Policy



Right. If you go to the archive for this list, Michael Pietrzak had posted
some items about this. I don't believe the .msp buys you anything in terms
of customization. I hope to test some of this today, however.



From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Salandra, Justin A.
Sent: Friday, January 26, 2007 7:31 AM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gptalk] Re: Push out Visio 2007 via Group Policy



What about using the setup.exe /admin switch to create the .msp file?  I
read that if you leave the .msp file in the Updates folder of the folder
structure on the network share that it will apply it during installation.  I
am not sure I believe this works, because an installation of Visio 2007
pushed out but once I opened the product it asked me for the CD Key which I
had already put in the .msp file that I created.



Justin A. Salandra

MCSE Windows 2000 & 2003

Network and Technology Services Manager

Catholic Healthcare System

646.505.3681 - office

917.455.0110 - cell

jasalandra@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jasalandra@xxxxxxxxxxx>



________________________________

From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Darren Mar-Elia
Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2007 4:50 PM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gptalk] Re: Push out Visio 2007 via Group Policy



Good question Justin. Actually it is possible to deploy Office 2007 through
GP but it has completely changed. You no longer create an admin install
point. You just copy the CD  bits to the share. And, it no longer supports
transforms. You have a file called config.xml that support minimal
customization that you put in the install directory along with the bits.
Really a step back actually. MS used to have a technet article describing
this but the pulled it recently. However, thanks to the wonders of Google,
you can still find it cached at

 
http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:kLaHkfhp8PoJ:technet2.microsoft.com/Off
ice/en-us/library/efd0ee45-9605-42d3-9798-3b698fff3e081033.mspx+config.xml+o
ffice+2007+"Group+Policy"&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1
<http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:kLaHkfhp8PoJ:technet2.microsoft.com/Of
fice/en-us/library/efd0ee45-9605-42d3-9798-3b698fff3e081033.mspx+config.xml+
office+2007+%22Group+Policy%22
<http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:kLaHkfhp8PoJ:technet2.microsoft.com/Of
fice/en-us/library/efd0ee45-9605-42d3-9798-3b698fff3e081033.mspx+config.xml+
office+2007+%22Group+Policy%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1>
&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1>



Darren



From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Salandra, Justin A.
Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2007 11:26 AM
To: gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gptalk] Push out Visio 2007 via Group Policy



Does anyone know who the Office 2007 products can be pushed out via group
policy?  How do you create an administrative installation point?  How to you
include customizations?



Justin A. Salandra

MCSE Windows 2000 & 2003

Network and Technology Services Manager

Catholic Healthcare System

646.505.3681 - office

917.455.0110 - cell

jasalandra@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jasalandra@xxxxxxxxxxx>

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