Basic Installation Methods

How to Install Office from a Network Server

The most common method of deploying a customized version of Microsoft Office 2000 to a large number of users is to create a central copy of Office on a network server. Then users can install Office on their computers over the network. This method provides a number of advantages over having users install Office individually from Microsoft Office 2000 Disc 1:

• You can manage one set of Office files from a central location.
• You can create a standard set of Office features and options for all users.
• You can take advantage of flexible installation options, such as setting features to be installed on first use.
• You have more control when you upgrade Office in the future.

When you install Office from a network server, you first create an administrative installation point and customize your version of Office Setup. Then you run Setup on users’ computers.

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Create an administrative installation point

The administrative installation point is a server share that contains all of the Office files. Users connect to the share and run Setup to install Office on their computers.

To create an administrative installation point for Office

1. Create a share on a network server for the administrative installation point.

   The network share must have at least 550 megabytes (MB) of available disk space.

2. On a computer running Microsoft Windows® 95/98 or Microsoft Windows NT® that has write access to the share, connect to the server share.
3. On the Start menu, click Run, and then click Browse.
4. On Office Disc 1 in the CD-ROM drive, select setup.exe and click Open.
5. On the command line following setup.exe, type /a data1.msi and click OK.

   For example:

   e:\setup.exe /a data1.msi

6. When prompted by Setup, enter the organization name that you want to define for all users who install Office from this location.
7. When prompted for the installation location, enter the server and share you created.

Setup copies all the files from Office 2000 Disc 1 to the network server, creating a hierarchy of folders in the root folder of the share. Setup also modifies the Windows installer package for Office (Data1.msi), identifying the network share as an administrative installation point. After you create the administrative installation point, you make the share available to users by providing them with read access.

If you need multiple administrative installation points from which users can install Office, then you can run Setup again for each administrative installation point. Alternatively, 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 installation point you create has the same default organization name that you specified in Setup.

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 Office 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 your users.

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Customize Setup

Before users run Setup to install Office, you can modify the administrative installation point to customize the installation process and default settings. You have three options for customizing Setup:

• Create a custom command line.
• Edit the Setup settings file.
• Create a Windows installer transform (MST file) by using the Microsoft Custom Installation Wizard.

Create a custom command line

Setup command-line options allow you to define properties that Setup uses to control the installation process. You can also specify whether Setup runs interactively or in quiet mode (without user interaction). Users install Office on their computers by running Setup with your command-line options.

You have several options for distributing command-line options to users:

• You can document the command-line options and have users enter them on the command line when they run Setup.
• You can create a batch file that runs Setup with the options you choose.
• You can run Setup for your users (for example, through a network logon script or through a systems management service) and specify your own command-line options.

For example, you can run Setup in quiet mode, specify a unique organization name, and restart when the installation is complete by entering the following command line:

setup /qn REBOOT="Force" COMPANYNAME="Northwind Traders"

Edit the Setup settings file

The Setup settings file (Setup.ini) is a text file in which you enter properties and values. You can edit the Setup settings file to specify the same properties as you do on the Setup command line — every command-line option has a corresponding setting in the settings file.

The advantage of modifying the Setup settings file is that your custom values are used whenever a user runs Setup from the administrative installation point with no command-line options.

For example, you can run Setup quietly, specify a unique organization name, and restart when the installation is complete by adding these lines to the settings file:

[MSI]
MSI=Data1.msi

[Display]
Display=None

[Options]
REBOOT=Force
COMPANYNAME=Northwind Traders

You can create more than one settings file with different values, and then you can specify which settings file you want to use with the /settings command-line option. For example:

setup.exe /settings newsetup.ini

Create a transform by using the Custom Installation Wizard

The Custom Installation Wizard allows you to specify the same property settings that you can define on the command line or in the settings file, but the wizard also allows you to make many more customizations.

For example, you can select the Office features that you want to install, modify shortcuts, customize options for Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 and Microsoft Outlook®, and even add your own custom files to the installation. The wizard saves your selections in a transform.

When you run Setup, you need to specify the transform that you want Setup to use. You can specify an MST file on the Setup command line, or you can set the TRANSFORMS property in the Setup settings file.

For example, this command line specifies the transform Custom.mst:

setup.exe TRANSFORMS="Custom.mst"

In the settings file, these lines specify the same transform:

[Options]
TRANSFORMS=Custom.mst

Caution   Do not alter anything in the administrative installation point other than editing the settings file or adding a transform. Setup relies on the folder hierarchy and files to remain as they are when the administrative installation point is created.

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Run Setup on users’ computers

After you create and customize the administrative installation point, users can install Office by running Setup from the root folder of the server share. Users can run Setup themselves by using the command-line options, settings file, or transform that you have chosen. For a more controlled installation, you can run Setup for them through a network logon script or systems management software, such as Microsoft Systems Management Server.

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See also

For a complete description of how to use Office Setup to create an administrative installation point from which users can install Office, see How to Create an Administrative Installation Point.

Office Setup allows you to customize how Office is installed by modifying the command line or the settings file. For more information, including a complete description of command-line options and the settings file, see Customizing How Setup Runs.

For more advanced customizations, use the Office Custom Installation Wizard to alter the installation process. For more information, see Customizing How Office Features Are Installed.

Office Setup works well with systems management software, giving you greater flexibility in deploying Office in your organization. For information about using Microsoft Systems Management Server to install Office, see Deploying Office with Systems Management Server.