Deploying Office with Systems Management Server

Preparing for Distribution of Office 2000

Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) uses distribution points to store the files needed to distribute programs to client computers. Distribution points are servers on your site to which client computers connect to download applications or files. The software distribution process places the files required for Office Setup on previously defined distribution points.

The following steps are required for preparing an Office 2000 deployment with Systems Management Server:

• Select distribution points for the installation.

  You can use the Manage Distribution Points Wizard in SMS Administrator to select distribution points (SMS 2.0 only).

• Create an administrative installation point and copy it to the package source directory on your site server.

  Software distribution replicates these files to each distribution point.

• Use the Office Custom Installation Wizard to add the Off9spec.ini file to a Windows installer transform (MST file) when you deploy Office (SMS 1.2 only).

  This step is required to properly inventory Office 2000 after deployment. It is not required for SMS 2.0.

• Modify the package definition files (PDFs) as needed for your installation.

  If you are installing Office 2000 Premium, the PDFs are named Off9pre.pdf (SMS 1.2) and Off9pre.sms (SMS 2.0). When you modify a PDF, you can add a custom transform or change the Setup command line.

• Copy the PDFs that are included in the packages into the root directory of the administrative installation point.

  You must also copy any auxiliary files created by the Custom Installation Wizard or the SMS Installer.

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See also

For more information about creating and modifying PDF files in Systems Management Server 2.0, see the Microsoft Systems Management Server 2.0 Resource Guide in the BackOffice 4.5 Resource Kit.

For more information about creating software distributions in Systems Management Server 2.0, see the Microsoft Systems Management Server 2.0 Administrator’s Guide, which comes with SMS 2.0.

The Office Resource Kit includes step-by-step instructions for creating an administrative installation point. For more information, see How to Install Office from a Network Server.

The new Windows installer technology uses Windows installer transforms (MST files) to apply changes to the standard Office installation. For more information, see Office Setup Program.