Customizing How Setup Runs

Modifying Setup Options

You can customize the way Office Setup installs Microsoft Office by modifying Setup options. You can specify whether to perform a user or administrative installation, or you can initiate the repair or reinstallation of Office.

Other Setup options allow you to do the following:

• Control the degree to which users interact with Setup, even running Setup in quiet mode.
• Enable logging.
• Specify values for Setup properties that further customize the installation process.

You can specify values for these Setup options in three ways:

• On the Setup command line.
• In the Setup settings file.
• In a Windows installer transform (MST file).

Each method provides unique advantages in terms of what you can customize and how you give users access to the custom installation. You can implement one or more of these methods, depending on the level of customization you need.

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Resolving conflicting Setup options

If you specify the same Setup options, but use different values, in the Setup command line, settings file, and transform, then Setup uses the following rules to determine which settings to use:

• If you set an option in the Office Custom Installation Wizard that corresponds to a Setup property, the wizard sets the corresponding property automatically in the MST file.
• If you modify a Setup property on the Modify Setup Properties panel of the Custom Installation Wizard, this setting overrides any corresponding options that you set on previous panels of the wizard. Your modified Setup property is written to the MST file.
• If you set options, including Setup properties, in the settings file that conflict with options in the transform, then the values in the settings file take precedence.
• If you set options on the command line, those settings take precedence over any conflicting values in either the settings file or the transform.

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Managing the installation process with Setup properties

Many of the customizations that you make to the installation process are done through Setup properties. Setup uses these properties to control different aspects of the installation process. For example, the COMPANYNAME property defines the default organization name that Setup uses during installation, and the REBOOT property determines whether Setup reboots after the installation is complete. By modifying these property values, you can customize the way that Setup installs Office.

The default values for Setup properties are defined in the Windows installer package (MSI file). You can modify Setup properties in the transform, in the Setup settings file, or on the command line.

There are two types of Setup properties:

• Public property names are all uppercase and can be specified in the Setup command line, in the settings file, or on the Modify Setup Properties panel of the Custom Installation Wizard.
• Private property names are a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters and can be specified only on the Modify Setup Properties panel of the Custom Installation Wizard.

If you enter a property name in the Setup command line or settings file, Setup assumes that it is a public property and the name is converted to all uppercase letters. If you enter a property name in the Custom Installation Wizard, you must enter the name exactly as it is defined, in all uppercase letters or in mixed-case letters. With few exceptions, all properties that you can use for managing the installation process are public properties.

Consider the following when setting properties:

• String properties are not validated for proper syntax. Any value entered for a string property is considered valid.
• Leading and trailing blanks are removed from property values.
• Property values cannot contain environment variables.

Toolbox   You can find detailed information about Setup command-line options and Setup properties in separate worksheets in the Setup Reference workbook (SetupRef.xls). An additional worksheet in this workbook describes the format of the Setup settings file. For information about installing the Setup Reference workbook, see Office Information.

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See also

For a complete description of the features available in the Office Setup program, including information about how to perform administrative and client installations, see Office Setup Program.

The Office Custom Installation Wizard allows you to fully customize the installation process, from modifying Setup properties to adding custom files and registry entries to the installation. For more information about the Office Custom Installation Wizard, see Office Custom Installation Wizard.