Deploying Microsoft OfficeXP with SMS2.0 to a Locked-Down Computer Running WindowsNT 4.0 Workstation

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Systems Management Server Version 2.0

Scalable Management for Windows Based Systems

Click here to download a copy of this paper.

Abstract

Discusses how to perform a silent installation of Microsoft Office XP on a locked-down computer that is running Windows NT 4.0 Workstation by using SMS version 2.0.

On This Page

Introduction
Tools
Overview of Office Setup
Installing Office XP with SMS to a Locked-Down Computer
Additional References

Introduction

This white paper is targeted at Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) administrators and discusses how to perform a silent installation of Microsoft Office XP on a locked-down computer that is running Windows NT 4.0 Workstation by using SMS version 2.0.

Before you attempt to use SMS 2.0 to deploy Office XP, verify that:

  • You are familiar with SMS 2.0 administration and software deployment. If not, see the Microsoft Systems Management Server 2.0 Administrators Guide and other SMS 2.0 documentation.

  • You are familiar with Office XP and SMS 2.0.

  • You are familiar with the Microsoft Office XP Resource Kit. You should be very familiar with the Office Profile Wizard and the Custom Installation Wizard in Office XP. These topics and others are covered in the Office XP deployment topics athttps://www.microsoft.com/office/ork It is also recommended that you read the Setupref.doc document that the Microsoft Office XP Resource Kit installs in the Program Files\ORKTools\ORK10\Documents\Office folder.

  • You have read the Using SMS 2.0 to Deploy Microsoft Office XP white paper available from https://www.microsoft.com/office

  • You have a test organization or test lab that verifies the results prior to deploying Office XP in your production environment.

This document makes the following assumptions:

  • Microsoft Office XP Enterprise edition is being installed on a computer that is running an operating system no earlier than Windows NT 4.0 SP6a Workstation.

  • The target computer does not have the System Files Update package installed.

  • Office XP Setup is run under the context of a user who does not have administrator rights on the local computer.

  • Office XP will be deployed by using a silent installation with no user interaction.

The following terms are used in this white paper:

Term

Description

Locked-down

A computer that is being operated by, or is logged into, by a user account or process that does not have full administrator rights or permissions.

Elevated rights

An account or process that is operating or logged into the computer that has full administrator rights or permissions.

Administrative Rights

Highest level of permissions that can be granted to an account in Windows NT User Manager. An administrator can set permissions for other users and create groups and accounts within the domain. These rights are required to install the System Files Update.

Tools

You can use the following tools to deploy Office XP with SMS 2.0 on a low rights computer.

Elevated Rights Deployment Tool (RunOnce.exe)

Some applications require a system restart during installation. After the restart, the applications might also require elevated user rights to complete the installation. The Elevated Rights Deployment Tool, which is included in the SMS 2.0 Administration Feature Pack, enables you to integrate the post-restart installation processes with SMS to provide both elevated rights and additional status reporting. The typical scenario for using this tool involves the deployment of Office XP to a locked-down computer that is running Windows NT 4.0.

The Elevated Rights Deployment Tool has two installation methods:

  • Automatic installation using SMS

    This is the recommended method, which uses the features of your SMS system to automatically build the package, programs, and advertisement that are needed to deploy this tool.

    For more information about performing an automatic installation of the Elevated Rights Deployment Tool, see the Help associated with the tool.

  • Manual installation

    This installation method, which is described in this paper, allows you to manually perform all SMS functions associated with deploying this tool.

Office Package Definition Files

You can use the following package definition files to install Microsoft Office XP remotely by using SMS 2.0:

File

Description

OFF2002.SMS

Contains all Office XP product suites

LPK2002.SMS

Contains the Office XP Multilingual User Interface Packs

These files are included in the Office Resource Kit (ORK) and can be downloaded from https://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/xp/journ/orktlexe.htm.

Overview of Office Setup

During the Office installation, the setup program performs a file check and determines if the System Files Update must be run to update critical system files. If the System Files Update is initiated, the appropriate system files are updated, and the user is then prompted to restart the computer. After the computer restarts, Office Setup installs the Office applications. The whole process must be done using an account that has administrative rights on the local computer.

System Files Update

The System Files Update installer package (OSP.msi) is included on the Office XP compact disc and is a required pre-requisite for Office XP when installing it on the Windows NT 4.0 operating system. The System Files Update requires that the user be logged in with administrative rights. In addition, the System Files Update cannot be installed under Windows NT 4.0 with SMS, merely by using elevated rights. Therefore, you must log on to the computer with administrator rights to install the System Files Update, and then log on again as an administrator after the computer restarts to complete the installation. Alternatively, you can create a Systems Management Server script to elevate the post-restart installation, but using the Elevated Rights Deployment Tool is easier to implement and does not require any scripting skills.

Installing Office XP with SMS to a Locked-Down Computer

The following section outlines the four main steps you must complete in order to create the package, programs, and advertisement necessary to install Office XP with SMS 2.0.

  1. Create the Office administrative installation point.

  2. Build the SMS package to deploy Office XP.

  3. Use SMS to distribute the package.

  4. Use SMS to advertise the package.

Step 1: Create the Office Administrative Installation Point

Throughout this document, the administrative installation point is referred to as \\SERVER\OFFXP.ADM.

Note: This location also becomes the SMS package source for the Office XP installation package.

Create the Installation Point

  1. Create an installation point on a network file share that SMS can use as a package source folder.

    The Office XP Enterprise Edition Setup program is required to create an administrative installation point. To create the installation point, use the following Office Setup command line:

    setup.exe /a

  2. Use the Custom Installation Wizard (CIW) to create a transform file (MST) containing your customizations if you plan to modify the installation of Office XP. Place this file in the administrative installation point you created in Step 1.

  3. Using the following entries, modify the Setup.ini file located in <Office administrative installation point root>\files\setup:

[Options]
Reboot=ReallySuppress
[SystemPack]
Reboot=ReallySuppress

Modifying this file will prevent the Office System Pack updates program from restarting the computer and will allow SMS to handle any restart requirements.

Step 2: Build the SMS Package to Deploy Office XP

When you have established the Office administrative installation point, you are ready to create the package that will be used to deploy Office XP.

How the Package Works

In the following procedure, you create and configure three separate programs within the package that are used to deploy Office XP. The programs are as follows:

  • The System File Update (quiet) program

  • The RunOnce Cleanup Office XP program

  • The Custom (quiet) program

The Custom (quiet) program is configured with a dependency on the RunOnce Cleanup Office XP program. In turn, the RunOnce Cleanup Office XP program is configured with a dependency on the System File Update (quiet) program. These dependencies prevent each program from running until the previous program has completed its tasks.

Based on the dependencies described above, the SMS package created in the steps outlined above runs the programs in the following order:

  1. The System Files Update (quiet) program installs the System Files Update by using elevated rights. Because RunOnce.exe is specified on the command line, the RunOnce program monitors the System Files Update installation and moves any \Windows\RunOnce registry entries created by System Files Update to the \SMS\RunOnce key.

  2. The system is restarted.

  3. The RunOnce Cleanup Office XP program runs next, with SMS elevated privileges. The purpose of this program is to complete the post-restart installation program specified in the \SMS\RunOnce key.

  4. Finally, the Custom (quiet) program is launched and installs the Office XP product suite.

No restart should be required after the Office Setup program has completed.

Note: Many of the steps in the following procedure can be automated by performing an automatic setup of the Elevated Rights Deployment Tool. For more information about automatic setup, see the Elevated Rights Deployment Tool Help.

Create the Package and Programs

  1. Create a new package for your Office XP deployment by using the SMS 2.0 Administrator console. You can do this by importing the OFF2002.SMS file, which creates a new package called Microsoft Office XP Applications 10.0 English.

    Note The default OFF2002.SMS file is configured to be deployed only to Windows 95 and Windows 98 operating systems. When you are configuring the individual programs in the package, remember to enable the Windows NT 4.0 option on the Requirements tab of each program.

  2. In the new package, create a program called Runonce Cleanup Office XP. Right-click the new program, and then select Properties.

  3. On the General tab of the Runonce Cleanup Office XP dialog box, configure the following properties:

    • Enter Runonce.exe /cleanup in the Command line box.

    • Select Normal from the Run list.

    • Select No Action Required from the After running list.

  4. On the Environment tab of the Runonce Cleanup Office XP dialog box, enter the following properties:

    • Select Only when a user is logged on from the Program can run list.

    • Under Run mode, select Run with administrative rights.

    • Under Drive mode, select Run with UNC name.

  5. On the Advanced tab of the Runonce Cleanup Office XP dialog box, configure the following properties:

    • Select the Run another program first check box.

    • Select Office XP Applications from the Package list.

    • Select System File Update only (quiet) from the Program list.

    • Select Run once for first user who logs on from the When program is assigned list.

  6. Click OK to save the changes to the Runonce Cleanup Office XP program.

  7. Open the System Files Update only (quiet) dialog box, select the General tab, and enter the following string in the Command line box, as follows:

    Run_once.exe "setup.exe /qb- /sponly

    This causes Run_once.exe to run the Office Setup program. The quotation marks around the Microsoft Office Setup command line are required. Other command-line options can be added to the command line as necessary for your deployment.

    For more information about available command-line options, see the Setupref.doc document that is installed by the Microsoft Office XP Resource Kit into the Program Files\ORKTools\ORK10\Documents\Office folder.

  8. Select SMS restarts computer from the After running list.

  9. On the Advanced tab of the System Files Update only (quiet) dialog box, configure the following property:

    Select Run once for first user who logs on from the When program is assigned list.

    Note: This option is available only if the program is configured to require a logged on user.

  10. Click OK to save the changes to the System Files Update program.

  11. Open the Custom (quiet) dialog box, select the General tab, and configure the following properties:

    • Select Normalfrom the Run list.

    • 21Select No action required from the After running list.

    • If you have created an MST file called Proplus.mst for your Office XP deployment by using the CIW, you should enter the following string in the Command line box:

      setup.exe /qb- TRANSFORMS=proplus.MST /m off10 /nosp

      Quotation marks around the MST file name are optional if you are referencing a file with the appropriate short path name and file names.

    • If no transform is used, enter the following string in the Command line field:

      setup.exe /qb- /nosp

      Note that the /qn option can be used for installations requiring no user input. Other command-line options can be added to the command line as necessary for your deployment.

  12. On the Environment tab of the Custom (quiet) dialog box, configure the following properties:

    • Select Whether or not a user is logged on from the Program can run list.

    • Under Run mode, select Run with administrative rights.

    • Under Drive mode, select Run with UNC name.

  13. On the Advanced tab of Custom (quiet) dialog box, configure the following properties:

    • Select the Run with another program first check box.

    • Select Office XP Applications from the Package list.

    • Select Runonce Cleanup Office XP from the Program list.

  14. Click OK to save the changes to the Custom program.

Step 3: Use SMS to Distribute the Package

When you have created and configured the package and its programs, you are ready to distribute them to the necessary SMS distribution points.

Distribute the Package

Use the following steps to distribute the package:

  1. Expand the Office XP package.

  2. Right-click Distribution Points, select New, and then click Distribution Points.

  3. In the Distribution Points Wizard, select one or more servers to act as distribution points for the software package.

  4. Click Finish.

  5. Verify that the distribution of the software package to the distribution points has been completed:

    • In the SMS Administrator console, expand System Status.

    • Under System Status, expand Package Status.

    • Highlight the Office XP package, and verify that the Installed column has a value of 1.

Step 4: Use SMS to Advertise the Package

When the distribution points have been updated to include the software package that you created, you are ready to create an advertisement for the package.

Advertise the Package

Use the following steps create and deploy the advertisement:

  1. Create an advertisement called OFFXP Quiet Basic Install.

  2. Right-click the new advertisement, and then click Properties.

  3. On the General tab of the OFFXP Quiet Basic Install advertisement dialog box, configure the following properties:

    • Select Microsoft Office XP Applications 10.0 English from the Package list.

    • Select Custom (quiet) from the Program list.

    • Select Office XP Targets from the Collection list.

    • Select the Include members of subcollections check box.

  4. Click OK to save the changes to the advertisement.

  5. After completion of the Office XP advertisement, verify the package advertisement status as follows:

    • In the SMS Administrator console, expand System Status.

    • Under System Status, expand Advertisement Status.

    • Highlight the Office XP advertisement. The status should indicate that one program was received and three programs were successfully run.

      This is typical for this particular case, because three separate programs — the System File Update (quiet), RunOnce Cleanup Office XP, and Custom (quiet) programs created in the previous sections — were run in the advertisement.

Additional References

The following references provide additional information about deploying Microsoft Office.