When you're done configuring Office 2007's properties, select File, Save, and
save the Setup customization file with a unique name. If this Setup customization
file is the only one you'll be using for the distribution, save the file in
the Updates folder—setup.exe will recognize it and apply it automatically.
If you want to store all updates in a folder at the root of the Office 2007
distribution other than the Updates folder, you can use the config.xml file
to specify its location by configuring the SUpdateLocation attribute of the
SetupUpdates element.
If your organization will have more than one Setup customization file, save
the files in a folder other than the Updates folder; otherwise, Setup won't
be able to determine which customization file to apply. I recommend creating
a folder named Customizations in the root of the Office distribution. For example,
you might have a Setup customization file—sales.msp—that installs
Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Word on your sales department clients, and
another—finance .msp—that installs those applications, as well
as Microsoft Access, on your finance department clients. Save each of these
.msp files in a folder such as \Office2007\Customizations. When you launch setup.exe,
use the /adminfile switch, followed by the fully qualified path to the correct
Setup customization file—for example, setup.exe /adminfile \\intelliem\
softwareOffice2007\Customizations\finance .msp.
There are several additional customizations available in the OCT, including
the following:
- Additional network sources—You can configure paths to each
valid network installation point. When a feature is installed on demand, or
if the local installation source gets corrupted and needs to be regenerated,
Office 2007 will look for network installation points in the order specified
in this list. Note that you typically won't use Additional network sources
if you're using DFS to create a virtual namespace. Instead, the DFS path you
used to install Office 2007 will simply target multiple replicas of the network
installation point. The software will use that same path during the installation
of new features or the regeneration of the cache.
- Remove previous installations—By default, Setup will remove
previous versions of Office applications. However, Office 2007 applications—with
the exception of Outlook 2007—can coexist with previous versions of
Office applications on a system. You can change the configuration in this
section of the OCT to preserve previous versions of Office.
- Set feature installation states—You can configure which applications
are installed, which are copied to the local installation source but not installed
until first use, and which aren't available for installation. The feature
tree in the left pane of the Set feature installation states page behaves
similarly to feature sets in earlier versions of Office.
- Modify user settings—Note that the settings in the left pane
of the Modify user settings page can also be configured using Group
Policy. The difference is that Group Policy settings can be enforced so that
they stay consistently configured. Settings configured during installation
create defaults, which users can later change. Each method of Office 2007
configuration has a role in creating a productive and consistent, yet flexible,
user experience. If you're also installing Outlook 2007, the settings in this
section will let you drive its configuration.
- Add installations and run programs—Setup lets you execute
additional commands during installation, either before or after the Office
product has been installed. To chain installations of multiple products (such
as Office Enterprise 2007 followed by Visio 2007), see the Microsoft article
"Sequentially install multiple products of the 2007 Office system" at http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/e6536245-0f424904-b2e0-9168fd6b81d41033.mspx.
Note, however, that this article recommends that you not chain installations,
but rather install each product separately. (I agree with this recommendation.)
I also recommend using the run programs capability after setup is complete
to deploy Microsoft's Save as PDF or XPS add-in, and launching,
after installation, a Web site on your intranet that introduces your users
to Office 2007 and makes resources available in your organization to support
your users and help them succeed.
- Add files—Finally, the OCT lets you specify which files to
copy during installation. Use the Add files feature to copy your organization's
custom Office templates and Windows Rights Management Services (RMS) templates
to users' systems.
One nice tweak that Microsoft made to the Office deployment process is that
you no longer need to launch Setup with the NOUSERNAME switch. Now, Setup instructs
Windows Installer not to capture a username. Instead, Office 2007 prompts the
user for his or her username the first time an Office application is launched.
Step 5: Configure config.xml
To drive its behavior, Setup uses an XML file, config.xml, which can contain
several settings that customize Office 2007. By default, config .xml is stored
in the folder corresponding to the Office 2007 product being installed. For
example, a distribution for Office Enterprise 2007 contains a folder named Enterprise
.WW. By default, setup.exe, in the root of the distribution, will use the config.xml
file in the Enterprise.WW folder. If more than one product exists in the distribution,
and if Setup is launched interactively, Setup will prompt you for which product
you want to install and use the corresponding config.xml file.
To automate the installation of Office 2007, run setup.exe, and if there are
multiple products in the distribution, use the /config switch to point to the
config.xml file for the specific product you're installing—for example,
\\domain\ software\Office2007\setup.exe /config\\domain\software\Office2007\Enterprise
.WW\config.xml. If you have one or more custom configuration files in a location,
or if the file uses a name other than config.xml in the product folder, you'll
also have to use the /config switch to specify which configuration file to use.
I highly recommend storing all customized config.xml files in a special folder
in the root of your Office distribution.
You can use the OCT to configure the vast majority of settings in config.xml
and save them in a Setup customization file. When a setting can be configured
in both config.xml and the Setup customization file, it's best to configure
it in the Setup customization file. You'll find that in most cases, you'll have
to change config. xml only to perform the following:
- Add or remove languages. By default, setup .exe will detect the locale
of the client and install the correct language from the distribution. If you
want to override this behavior and install additional languages, use config.
xml.
- Specify the path to the network installation point. If you customize a configuration
file and store it with a name other than config .xml or in a folder other
than the product folder, you'll need to use the DistributionPoint element
to point to the network installation point. I recommend configuring this element
for any customized configuration file.
- Instruct setup.exe to create the local installation source (MSOcache) but
not to continue with the installation of Office 2007. Set the CACHEACTION
element of the LIS element to CacheOnly.
- Configure the path in which Setup creates log files and the detail of the
logs. By default, Setup logs many—but not all—installation actions
to a log in the \%TEMP% folder. You might choose to direct logs to a central
location for analysis, particularly if you're deploying Office 2007 to multiple
systems. Use the Logging element of config.xml. Be sure that the central location
has permissions that enable writing to the folder. You must use the /config
switch to point to the configuration file; otherwise, setup.exe will ignore
logging settings in the file.
- Direct setup.exe to look for updates in a folder other than Updates in the
root of the distribution, using the SUpdateLocation attribute of the SetupUpdates
element, as described earlier in this article.
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