Creating an Administrative Installation Point
The most common method of deploying a customized version of Microsoft Office XP to a large number of users is to create an administrative installation point on a network server and have users run Setup from there. This method provides several advantages over installing Office from the Office XP CD, and allows you to do the following:
- Manage one set of Office files from a
central location.
- Create a standard Office configuration
for all users.
- Take advantage of flexible installation options.
For example, set Office features to be
installed on first use, or deploy the Office XP package through
Microsoft Windows® 2000 software installation, or use Systems
Management Server to install Office.
- Manage controlled upgrades of Office in the future.
Running administrative Setup for Office XP
To distribute Office from a network server, you must first install Office on an administrative installation point by running Setup with the /a command-line option. Then you can customize your Office configuration before running Setup on users' computers.
To create an administrative installation point for Office
- Create a share on a network server for the administrative installation point.
The network share must have at least 650 megabytes (MB) of available hard-disk space.
- On a computer that has write access to the share, connect to the server share.
The computer must be running a supported
operating system: Microsoft Windows 2000 or later, Microsoft
Windows NT® 4.0 Service Pack 6a, Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition
(Windows Me), or Microsoft Windows 98.
- On the Start menu, click Run, and then click Browse.
- On the Office XP CD, double-click setup.exe and add /a to the command line.
- Enter the organization name that you want
to define for all users who install Office from this
administrative installation point.
- Enter the server and share you created as
the installation location.
- Enter the 25-character product key and click Next.
You must enter a valid product key when
you create the administrative installation point; users who
install Office XP from this administrative image do not need to
enter the product key when they install Office XP or start an
Office XP application for the first time.
- Accept the end-user license agreement and click Install.
By accepting the agreement here, you are
accepting on behalf of all users who install Office from this
administrative installation point.
Setup copies the files from the Office XP CD to the administrative installation point, extracts the compressed cabinet (CAB) files, and creates a hierarchy of folders in the root folder of the share. The System Files Update is automatically included during an administrative installation.
Note When you install Office XP under Windows 2000 and you set features to run from the network (Run from Network or Run All from Network), you must create your administrative installation point in a subfolder on the share; for example, \\server\share\admin_install_point\setup.exe. If Setup.exe is stored at the root of the share, Office XP features do not run properly.
The following table identifies the location of key files on the Office XP administrative image.
| File |
Location |
| Setup.exe |
Root of the administrative image |
| Office XP MSI file |
Root of the administrative image |
| System Files Update MSI file |
Files\Osp\<LCID> |
| Setup.ini |
Files\Setup |
Setup also modifies the Windows Installer package for Office, identifying it as an administrative installation package and setting the ProductID and COMPANYNAME properties accordingly. After you create the administrative installation point, you make the share available to users by providing them with read access.
When users run Setup to install Office, any Office features that are installed to run from the network use this administrative installation point as the source of Office files, and Offices runs the features over the network from this server. Similarly, for features that are set to be installed on first use, Office copies files from this server when needed. If you install features in one of these two states, then you must keep this network server available to users.
Important When laptop users install Office from an administrative installation point, they must continue to use the network share as the source for tasks such as repairing features and installing on demand. Because files are compressed on the Office XP CD, they cannot use the CD as the source unless they installed from the CD.
When users install Office from the administrative installation point, Setup uses the organization name that you specify as the default. In the Office Custom Installation Wizard, you can create a Windows Installer transform (MST file) that modifies the organization name during installation. This flexibility allows you to create different organization names for different groups of users in your organization.
You can specify the organization name on the Specify Default Path and Organization page of the wizard, or set the COMPANYNAME property on the Modify Setup Properties page. You can also specify an organization name on the Setup command line or in the Setup settings file (Setup.ini), but in this case you must leave the organization name blank when you create the administrative installation point.
Toolbox The Office XP Resource Kit includes the Custom Installation Wizard as part of the core tool set. The Custom Installation Wizard is installed by default when you run the Office XP Resource Kit Setup program. For more information on the wizard, see Custom Installation Wizard in the Toolbox.
Replicating the administrative image
In many organizations, it makes sense to create multiple administrative installation points from which users can install Office — and to which Windows Installer can connect to install or repair Office features. As long as you use relative paths for any customizations that include paths, you can copy the complete folder hierarchy and files from one administrative installation point to multiple servers. If you copy the folders, then each new administrative image that you create has the same default organization name specified in Setup.
You list the paths to the servers that contain replicated administrative installation points on the Identify Additional Servers page of the Custom Installation Wizard.
Including additional files in the Office XP image
Not all the products on the Office XP CD are included when you run Setup in administrative mode. However, you can install these Office XP–related products separately — or you can copy them to your administrative installation point to simplify file management and replication of the administrative image. When users run Office XP Setup, these additional products can be included in the core Office XP installation.
The administrative installation point is also a logical place to store custom files that you create, including transforms (MST files) and Setup settings files (INI files). If you are planning a staged deployment and you create a configuration maintenance file (CMW file) to use after your initial deployment, you can store the CMW file on your administrative installation point, too.
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine
The Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE 2000) allows you to use a local computer as a data source for a SQL Server database, as well as take advantage of enhanced features in Microsoft Access 2002. MSDE 2000 is included in the following Office XP suites:
- Microsoft Office XP Professional
- Microsoft Office Professional with FrontPage
(Enterprise and Select editions)
- Microsoft Office XP Developer
- Microsoft Access 2002 (Enterprise edition)
The Office CD includes an MSDE 2000 folder, but MSDE 2000 is not included when you run administrative Setup. Instead, you must copy the entire MSDE2000 folder from the Office CD to the root of the administrative installation point and install MSDE from there. The MSDE2000 folder contains the MSDE package (SqlRun01.msi) and a separate Setup program (Setup.exe). MSDE 2000 Setup installs MSDE 2000 on users' computers as an instance of the SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine.
To customize the MSDE installation, you modify the Setup.ini file in the MSDE2000 folder. For example, you can set the DISPLAY property to None to install MSDE 2000 silently, or you can specify a unique value for the INSTANCENAME property. For detailed instructions about installing and customizing MSDE 2000, see the Readme.txt file in the MSDE2000 folder.
MSDE 2000 requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 and administrator rights to install; it does not support advertisement with the /jm switch or the IntelliMirror® technology software installation features of Windows 2000. MSDE 2000 installs Microsoft Data Access (MDAC) version 2.6. (Office XP installs only MDAC 2.5.) When MSDE Setup installs MDAC 2.6, the user must restart the computer to complete the installation.
For more information about MSDE 2000 and
Office XP, see the resources on the Technical Information page of
the Microsoft SQL Server Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/SQL/techinfo.
Office XP Web Components
Office XP Web Components are a set of Active X® controls — including Chart, Spreadsheet, and PivotTable® components — that can be used for data analysis and reporting. You can insert Office Web Components into Web pages from Microsoft FrontPage® 2002 or by using tools such as Visual Basic® for Applications. Microsoft Excel 2002 can also save Web pages that include Office Web Components.
Office XP Web Components are included in the core Office XP package as well as the stand-alone editions of Excel, Microsoft Access, and FrontPage. A separate Office Web Components package (Owc10.msi) is also included on the Office XP CD. Customers who want to develop solutions that include Office Web Components before deploying Office XP can install the Office Web Components package separately.
To deploy Office Web Components without installing Office XP
You can also create a separate administrative installation point for Office Web Components, but the procedure differs slightly from the one you use for Office XP.
To create an administrative installation point for Office Web Components
- At the command prompt, type msiexec.exe /a owc.msi.
- When prompted, enter a location for the
administrative installation point.
- Copy the System Files Update from the root of the CD to the root of the administrative installation point.
The System Files Update is located in the
Files\Osp\<lcid> folder.
If you want to customize the Office Web Components installation, modify the Office Web Components Setup.ini file, which is located in the Files\Owc folder. For example, to install Office Web Components silently, set the DISPLAY property to None in the [Options] section of Setup.ini.
For more information about designing solutions with Office Web Components or about using the controls in documents, see the Office Web Components Help file.
Microsoft's SharePoint Team Services and FrontPage Server Extensions 2002
Microsoft's SharePoint™ Team Services and FrontPage Server Extensions 2002 allow you to create and manage Web sites. SharePoint Team Services includes prebuilt team Web sites for team communication. The SharePoint Team Services package (Ows.msi) includes the components for both SharePoint Team Services and FrontPage Server Extensions 2002. No additional client components are required, beyond your usual installation of Internet Explorer 4.0 or later or Netscape Navigator 4 or later.
SharePoint Team Services and FrontPage Server Extensions 2002 are available with the Standard, Professional, Professional with FrontPage, and Enterprise editions of Office XP. They are also available in the stand-alone edition of FrontPage 2002. However, the SharePoint Team Services package is not included when you run Setup to create an Office XP administrative installation point. Instead, you must install SharePoint Team Services separately from the SharePt folder on the Office XP or FrontPage 2002 CD to a computer acting as a Web server.
SharePoint Team Services is supported on the following operating systems:
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional, Server, or Advanced Server edition with Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) 5.0 or later with the World Wide Web service installed (Windows 2000 Server only).
FrontPage Server Extensions 2002 are supported on the following operating systems:
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional,
Server, or Advanced Server edition with Microsoft Internet
Information Server (IIS) 5.0 or later with the World Wide Web
service installed (Windows 2000 Server only).
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 with
Service Pack 5 or later and Microsoft Internet Information
Server (IIS) 4.0 or later (to support a single virtual
server).
- Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 with Service Pack 5 or later and IIS 4.0 or later with the World Wide Web service installed (to support multiple virtual servers). Microsoft IIS 4.0 is available with the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack.
Note On the Windows operating system, the security features of SharePoint Team Services and FrontPage Server Extensions 2002 require the NTFS file system. Windows NT 4.0 includes a conversion utility (Convert.exe) that you can use to convert an existing file allocation table (FAT) volume to NTFS without losing data.
For more information about installing
SharePoint Team Services and FrontPage Server Extensions 2002, see
"SharePoint Team Services Administrator's Guide."
Information about the guide is provided in this topic on the
Office Resource Kit Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/.
System Files Update language versions
Microsoft Office XP Multilingual User Interface Pack includes multiple language versions of the System Files Update. You can copy the language versions you need to the Files\Osp folder on the administrative installation point. By default, Setup installs the language version that matches the language of the operating system; otherwise, Setup installs the English version.
Internet Explorer 5.5 or later
Office XP includes Internet Explorer 5.01, which is located in the Files\Osp\<LCID>\IE5 folder on the administrative installation point. To install Internet Explorer 5.5 on computers running Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 98, replace the IE5 folder with a folder that contains the configuration you want. The alternate version is installed during the System Files Update portion of the Office XP installation.
Note Because the System
Files Update detection and installation process does not run under
Windows 2000 or Windows Me, you must deploy Internet Explorer 5.5
separately, before you deploy Office XP, on these operating
systems. For more information, see the Internet Explorer Web site
at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.htm.
Microsoft Office XP Resource Kit
The Microsoft Office XP Resource Kit is included in all Enterprise editions of Office XP. You can copy the ORK folder to the administrative installation point and run Setup.exe from that folder to install Office Resource Kit tools and documentation on your computer.
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