Topics in this chapter   Repairing Office Installations     Changing Feature Installation States     Changing User Settings After Installation     Removing Applications or Features After Installation     Reporting Office Application Crashes     Using the Office Profile Wizard

Changing Feature Installation States

Changing the installation states of an application after it has been installed on a user's computer is easier in Microsoft Office XP than in Office 2000. By using the new tools in Office XP, namely the Custom Maintenance Wizard and the Office Profile Wizard, you can change a configuration without having to uninstall and reinstall the application.

Custom Installation Wizard and the Custom Maintenance Wizard

The Office XP Resource Kit contains wizards you can use to customize Office. The Custom Installation Wizard and the Custom Maintenance Wizard are the two main wizards and are similar in several ways. Each utility reads a Windows Installer package (MSI file) — the former to create a transform (MST file), the latter to create a configuration maintenance file (CMW file). Both wizards are used to change most of the same settings, installation states, and additional options; and both have similar dialogs and pages.

To easily differentiate between the Custom Installation Wizard and the Custom Maintenance Wizard, remember the following:

• The Custom Installation Wizard is used to customize settings before Office is installed.
  
  
• The Custom Maintenance Wizard is used to change settings after Office is installed.

  If you want to apply changes to an installation on client computers, you must create a configuration maintenance file that is based upon the same MSI file used in the Office installation. For example, if you use the Custom Maintenance Wizard to create a transform based on the MSI file for Office Professional, you must use that MSI file when you use the Custom Maintenance Wizard to create a configuration maintenance file. If you use an MSI file different from the one used to install Office on a client computer, you cannot apply the changes from your CMW file.

Changing installation states

After you deploy a customized installation of an Office XP application, you may need to update installation options for applications and features, registry settings, files, and user settings. This need usually arises when you stage a deployment of Office, make changes to the structure of your organization when people move from one group to another, fine-tune the installation, or correct a mistake made during the initial deployment.

The Custom Maintenance Wizard helps you make changes to the deployed installation state of applications and features for an Office XP installation. For example, if you have installed most of Office XP Professional with FrontPage, you can use the Custom Maintenance Wizard to change the installation state of Microsoft Outlook® 2002 from Not Available to Run from My Computer.

To create a Custom Maintenance Wizard file

1. Start the Custom Maintenance Wizard.
   
   
2. On the Open the MSI File page, enter the path to the MSI file used to install Office.
   
   
3. If you are running the wizard for the first time, on the Open the Custom Maintenance Wizard File page, click Do not open an existing Custom Maintenance Wizard file.

   – or –

   To use an existing Custom Maintenance Wizard file, click Open an existing Custom Maintenance Wizard file and enter the path to the Custom Maintenance Wizard file.

   Note that the Office XP version of the Custom Maintenance Wizard can only use Custom Maintenance Wizard files created by the Office XP version of the Custom Maintenance Wizard.

4. On the Select the Custom Maintenance Wizard File to Save page, enter the path to the Custom Maintenance Wizard file where you want to save your new settings.

   If you are using an existing Custom Maintenance Wizard file, this file appears as the default.

5. On the Set Feature Installation States page, select new installation options for the features you want to change.

Features are displayed in the same hierarchical tree used in the Custom Installation Wizard. However, there are a few minor differences you should know about. For assistance with this page of the Custom Maintenance Wizard, click the Help button.

Tip   When you run the Custom Maintenance Wizard, you can use the /x command-line option to completely expand the feature tree.

For more information about installation states and options, see the online Help in the Custom Maintenance Wizard or Custom Installation Wizard.

Updating a user's configuration

To update a user's installed feature configuration, run the Custom Maintenance Wizard on a user's computer from a command line. Use the /c command-line option and include the name of your Custom Maintenance Wizard file. For example:

maintwiz.exe /c <path>\MyConfig.cmw

Use of the /c command-line option runs the Custom Maintenance Wizard in apply mode. This causes the Custom Maintenance Wizard to take customizations saved in the Custom Maintenance Wizard file, and use Windows Installer to apply those changes to the installed edition of Office on the user's computer.

When applying a CMW file, a log file is automatically created. To change the way a log file is written, use the /l command-line option with the name of the log file to save and the logging options to use. For example:

maintwiz.exe /c <path>\MyConfig.cmw /lpiwae <path>\MyLogFile.log

To run the Custom Maintenance Wizard in quiet mode, append a /q to the command line. Quiet mode disables the user interface and runs the Custom Maintenance Wizard without the user's knowledge.

Note   Even when using a user interface mode that suppresses error dialogs, the errors are recorded in the log.

Removing Office from a user's computer and then reinstalling it will not remove customizations to Office user settings (for example Tools | Options settings in Microsoft Word) applied by a configuration maintenance (CMW file). Like other Office user settings, these settings are stored in the registry and are not removed when Office is removed. When Office is reinstalled, users will see the same personal configuration settings they had prior to the removal of Office.

How the Custom Maintenance Wizard affects Custom Installation Wizard settings

The previous release of the Custom Maintenance Wizard was able to change feature installation states but did not have the extensive capabilities available in the latest release available in the Office XP Resource Kit. The Custom Maintenance Wizard cannot override the following features and installation states set by the Custom Installation Wizard:

• Disable Run from Network

This check box in the Set Feature Installation States page of the Custom Installation Wizard can be used to prevent the selected feature from using the Run from Network installation state. If selected, users are not able to select Run from Network during custom setup, or any time after installation in maintenance mode or with the Custom Maintenance Wizard.

• Disable Installed on First Use

This check box in the Set Feature Installation States page of the Custom Installation Wizard can be used to prevent the selected feature from using the Installed on First Use installation state. If selected, users are not able to select Installed on First Use during custom setup, or any time after installation in maintenance mode or with the Custom Maintenance Wizard.

The new feature installation state Not Available, Hidden, Locked is available in both the Custom Installation Wizard and the Custom Maintenance Wizard. This installation state can be reversed by the Custom Maintenance Wizard at any time.

Changing installation states in the feature tree

The feature tree in the Custom Maintenance Wizard is displayed slightly different than the one in the Custom Installation Wizard. The Custom Maintenance Wizard feature tree includes an additional selection in the left-click menu, Leave unchanged. This is represented by a blue circle and indicates that no changes are made to the state of this feature on the client computer when the CMW file is applied. All the remaining feature installation options appearing in the drop-down menu are identical to those found in the Custom Installation Wizard feature tree and have the same effect if selected.

If you set the installation state for a child feature to Run from My Computer, Run from Network, or Installed on First Use, the Custom Maintenance Wizard sets the parent feature to one of these states as well. This ensures the child feature you selected will be changed to the state you requested. Since you do not always know the installation configuration of a user's computer, you may attempt to install a child feature of a parent feature that is not yet installed. If you attempt to do so, the Custom Maintenance Wizard will not install the child feature. This is a beneficial feature of the Custom Maintenance Wizard if you want those who do not have the parent feature installed to not receive the feature. This feature also allows you to use the same Custom Maintenance Wizard file by users who already have the parent feature installed. For example, if you deploy a CMW file that is customized to install some of the Microsoft Excel add-ins to all users, users who have Excel installed will get the add-ins installed, and users who do not have Excel installed will not get the add-ins installed.

Note   During initial deployment, you can disable Run from Network or Installed on First Use, using the check boxes in the Properties frame next to the feature tree shown in the Custom Installation Wizard. Because these changes are not reversible using the Custom Maintenance Wizard, if you choose to change a feature to a state you disallowed, the change is not made on the user's computer where a transform with this setting has been applied.

Hidden applications and features

When you hide an application or feature of Office using the Custom Installation Wizard (by using the right-click menu), the application or feature will not appear in the feature tree during Setup or when the user is in maintenance mode, which is accessible through the Add/Remove Programs utility of Control Panel.

However, though the application or feature is hidden from the user, a user can still implicitly install them by changing the feature state of the parent feature. For example, the Custom Installation Wizard can hide the Equation Editor and mark it as Not Available. The user can still install the equation editor by selecting Office Tools in maintenance mode by selecting Run all from My Computer or Run all from Network.

A stronger option, which makes it impossible for a user to install a hidden application or feature, is the Not Available, Hidden, Locked install state of both the Custom Installation Wizard and the Custom Maintenance Wizard. Once you have set this option, the only other way to install the hidden feature or application is with the Custom Maintenance Wizard by selecting another installation state.

Why hidden features remain hidden

When you update an Office installation by using the Custom Maintenance Wizard, you can change the installation state of a hidden feature. Unlike the Custom Installation Wizard, the Custom Maintenance Wizard does not provide for a Hide or Unhide feature.

It is not possible to display an application or feature in maintenance mode when that application or feature was set to Hide in the transform used to deploy Office. This is because the Custom Maintenance Wizard does not read the transform used to install Office on the user's computer. Information regarding the Hide or Unhide state of an Office application or feature is stored only in a transform.

In order to unhide an application or feature so it will display in maintenance mode is to uninstall Office, create a new transform that displays the hidden feature, and then reinstall Office. For more information about how to hide or unhide features when creating a transform, click the Help button for the Custom Installation Wizard from the Set Feature Installation States page.