Deploy Office 2007 – Removed from microsoft.com but still exists :)
This is how to deploy office using GPOs.
google, this was talked on the excellent list of gpo related items – gptalk@freelists.org
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Use Group Policy Software Installation to deploy the 2007 Office system
If you use Active Directory in your organization, you can use Group Policy Software Installation with the 2007 Microsoft Office system to assign products to all computers in a group.
Using Group Policy Software Installation to deploy the 2007 Office release is a good choice in the following settings:
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Small- or medium-sized organizations that have already deployed and configured the Active Directory directory service.
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Organizations or departments that comprise a single geographic area.
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Organizations with consistent hardware and software configurations on both clients and servers.
Note:
If you manage large numbers of clients in a complex or rapidly changing environment, consider using Microsoft Systems Management Server instead to install and maintain the 2007 Office release. Microsoft Systems Management Server offers more sophisticated functionality, including inventory, scheduling, and reporting features. For information about using Microsoft Systems Management Server to deploy the 2007 Office release, see Using Systems Management Server 2003 to deploy the 2007 Office system.
The following procedure assumes that you created a network installation point for the 2007 Office release on a network server. For more information, see Create a network installation point for the 2007 Office system.
Note:
To complete the following procedures, you must log on as a member of the Domain Administrators security group, the Enterprise Administrators security group, or the Group Policy Creator Owners security group. To use Group Policy Software Installation, you must create a new Group Policy object or edit an existing Group Policy object for a site, domain, or organizational unit. You can also link a Group Policy object to a site, domain, or organizational unit in Active Directory Users and Computers or Active Directory Sites and Services.
Deploying new installations of Office
If this is a new installation of the 2007 Office release, you can deploy Office by assigning it to computers within a Group Policy Object (GPO).
To deploy Office with Group Policy
1.
In the Active Directory Users and Computers Microsoft Management Console, edit the GPO that you want to use to deploy Office.
2.
In the left pane, expand the Computer Configuration tree.
3.
In the left pane, expand Software Settings, and select Software Installation.
4.
Right-click in the right pane, point to New, and click Package.
5.
In the Open dialog box, browse to the network installation point you created and select the Windows Installer (MSI) file in the main product folder of the Office product that you are installing. For example, for Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007, select Enterprise.WW\EnterpriseWW.msi.
6.
Click OK.
7.
Select Assigned to use the default options, or select Advanced to customize these options.
8.
Close all dialog boxes.
Upgrading previous versions of Office
If you deployed a previous version of Office by assigning it to computers using Group Policy Software Installation, you can upgrade those installations by editing the associated GPO.
Note:
The following procedure assumes that you deployed the previous version of Office by using Group Policy Software Installation to assign Office to computers. If you deployed Office by assigning or publishing it to users, or if you used a deployment method other than Group Policy, the existing version of Office will not be upgraded if you use this procedure. Instead, the previous version of Office remains on the computer when the 2007 Office release is installed. To remove the previous version of Office you must uninstall it.
To upgrade Office with Group Policy
1.
In the Active Directory Users and Computers Microsoft Management Console, edit the Group Policy Object (GPO) you want to use to deploy Office.
2.
In the left pane, expand the Computer Configuration tree.
3.
In the left pane, expand Software Settings, and select Software Installation.
4.
Right-click in the right pane, point to New, and click Package.
5.
In the Open dialog box, browse to the network installation point you created and select the Windows Installer (MSI) file in the main product folder of the Office product that you are installing. For example, for Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007, select Enterprise.WW\EnterpriseWW.msi.
6.
Click OK.
7.
Select Assigned to use the default options, or select Advanced to customize these options. The Published option is disabled because you cannot publish Office to a user.
8.
In the details pane, right-click the Windows Installer package that will function as the upgrade (not the package to be upgraded).
9.
Click properties, and click the Upgrades tab.
10.
Click Add to create or add to the list of packages that are to be upgraded by the current package.
11.
Under Choose a package from, click Current Group Policy object (GPO) or A specific GPO as the source of the package to be upgraded. If you click A specific GPO, click Browse, and click the Group Policy object that you want.
12.
Click the package for the previous version of Office that you want to upgrade.
13.
Click Uninstall the existing package, then install the upgrade package.
14.
Close all dialog boxes.
How it works
The 2007 Office release consists of a number of MSI files. None of the files by itself represents the complete installation. However, you assign the 2007 Office release by assigning only the main product MSI file. The next time the computer starts, this MSI file is accessed and a Windows Installer Custom Action recognizes that Office is deploying with Group Policy. The additional Office MSI and support files are then retrieved from the network installation point and the complete product is installed.
If a previous version of Office is being upgraded, that version of Office is uninstalled before the new installation of the 2007 Office release starts.
Applications assigned to a computer are resilient. If an administrator removes an Office application from the computer, Windows reinstalls it the next time the computer starts. Users can repair Office applications on the computer, but only an administrator can remove applications.
Applying customizations to the Office installation
Because of the way Setup runs when Office is installed, there are some limitations on the number of installation options that you can customize when you deploy the 2007 Office release with Group Policy.
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All customizations must be made in the Config.xml file. Setup does not apply Setup customization files that you create using the Office Customization Tool (OCT). For more information about using the Config.xml file, see Config.xml file in the 2007 Office system.
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The customized Config.xml file must be located in the main product folder of the product you are installing. Because you cannot specify command-line options for Setup when you assign Office, you cannot specify an alternate location for the Config.xml file. For example, if you are installing Office Enterprise 2007, you customize the file Enterprise.WW\config.xml.
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You can customize only the Config.xml elements shown in the following table. These options are set when Office is assigned, and they cannot be modified later when Office is fully installed. All other elements in the Config.xml file are ignored.
Option
Config.xml element
Installation location
INSTALLLOCATION
Feature installation states
OptionState
Product key
PIDKEY
Add or remove a language
AddLanguage, RemoveLanguage
For more information on setting the OptionState element of the Config.xml file, see the OptionState element in Config.xml file in the 2007 Office system. The value for the Id attribute of the OptionState element is located in the setup.xml file in the product folder of the product you are installing. For example, if you are installing Office Enterprise 2007, the file is Enterprise.WW\setup.xml. The following table provides the Id values for the applications installed with Office Enterprise 2007.
Application
OptionStateId
Microsoft Office Access
ACCESSFiles
Microsoft Office Excel
EXCELFiles
Microsoft Office Groove
GrooveFiles
Microsoft Office OneNote
OneNoteFiles
Microsoft Office Outlook
OUTLOOKFiles
Microsoft Office PowerPoint
PPTFiles
Microsoft Office Publisher
PubPrimary
Microsoft Office Word
WORDFiles
Microsoft Office InfoPath
XDOCSFiles
Tip:
If you set the installation state of an application in Office to "Absent", the shortcut for that application is not created on the user’s computer when Office is assigned. For example, the following element definition in Config.xml prevents the shortcut for Microsoft Office Word 2007 from being created and Word is not installed on the user’s computer:
<OptionState Id="WORDFiles" State="Absent" />
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