[gptalk] Re: [gptalk]Office 2007 and Group Policy
- From: "Darren Mar-Elia" <darren@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <gptalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2007 15:45:39 -0700
A couple of us GP MVPs (specifically myself and Jeremy Moskowitz) brought this
up with the Group Policy product team a couple of times now and we revisited it
at the MVP Summit last week. The bottom line is that this was not the GP
product team that did this, but rather the Office Product Team. And, what they
really did, I think, was not consciously try to break GPSI-based deployments of
Office, but rather they simply were ignorant to that particular method of
deployment that many customers use. That’s not really an excuse in my book,
but I think that was what happened. Bottom line is that we have brought this
issue up, it has been taken up by the GP team and they are working with the
Office team to try and get something to happen. What that something is I
can’t say but I am hopeful.
In the meantime, editing XML files is not necessarily any harder than editing
an HTML file. I personally use Visual Studio but there are a ton of XML editors
out there. Frankly, its probably worth while to get up to speed on XML since
more and more MS config. stuff is going to rely on it going forward.
Also, with respect to Outlook profiles, one possible solution down the line, is
that it is very likely that the old DesktopStandard PolicyMaker extensions will
make their way into Windows in the not too distant future, and when that
happens, the ability to drive down very detailed Outlook profiles (and other
Office customizations) will be in GP out of the box.
Darren
From: gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:gptalk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of John Cook
Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2007 3:12 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/Office/en-us/library/efd0ee45-9605-42d3-9798-3b698fff3e081033.mspx+config.xml+office+2007+"Group+Policy"&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1
<http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:kLaHkfhp8PoJ:technet2.microsoft.com/Office/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/Office/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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