Microsoft Visio 2002 Resource Kit

Article
02/20/2014

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Chapter 2 - Deployment Prerequisites

You can deploy Microsoft Visio 2002 SR-1 in a variety of configurations and environments. System requirements vary depending on the Visio product that you are deploying—and in some cases, you might choose to upgrade the operating system when you deploy Visio. If you are upgrading from a previous version of Visio, consistent file formats make the transition to Visio 2002 SR-1 simple and straightforward.

Microsoft Visio 2002 SR-1 System Requirements

The system requirements for Microsoft Visio 2002 SR-1 depend on the Visio product you are installing and on whether you are deploying the software on a client computer, an administrative server, or a Windows Terminal Services server. A stand-alone computer will run well with the minimum requirements, for example, but an administrative server supporting thousands of desktops will require more processor power, memory, and hard-disk capacity.

Note Neither of the Visio 2002 SR-1 products will run on the Microsoft Windows 3.x, Microsoft Windows NT 3.5x, or Microsoft Windows 95 operating systems. If your computers are currently running one of these operating systems, you must upgrade the operating system before installing Visio 2002 SR-1.

System requirements for Visio 2002 SR-1 and Internet Explorer

Both versions of Visio 2002 SR-1 require that Microsoft Internet Explorer be installed on the computer, because Visio features take advantage of services provided by the browser. Visio uses these Internet Explorer services behind the scenes, however, so there is no requirement that Internet Explorer be set as the default browser on the computer.

By default, Visio 2002 SR-1 installs Internet Explorer 5.01 at the same time as it installs the System Files Update. (Visio will not install Internet Explorer on Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition [Windows Me], or later operating system versions, because those operating systems already have Internet Explorer 5.01 or later.) If you prefer to stay with an earlier version of Internet Explorer, you can turn off the default installation in Setup or the Custom Installation Wizard. Visio 2002 SR-1 requires as a minimum Internet Explorer 4.01 with Service Pack 1 (the version first released with Microsoft Windows 98). Any later version of Internet Explorer will work correctly with Visio 2002 SR-1.

Note If you are running Visio 2002 SR-1 on Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 6, confirm that Internet Explorer has been upgraded to at least version 4.01 with Service Pack 1.

If you are currently running Microsoft Windows 2000 on your computers, and you want to upgrade to Internet Explorer 5.5 at the same time as you upgrade to Visio 2002 SR-1, you must upgrade the browser separately from your Visio 2002 SR-1 deployment; the installation of the these two products cannot be chained together. Internet Explorer 5.5 can be deployed either before or after you deploy Visio 2002 SR-1.

Microsoft Visio 2002 SR-1 product versions

Microsoft Visio 2002 SR-1 is available in two versions, each of which contains a different collection of templates and solutions. Either of the versions can be installed on stand-alone computers or deployed throughout your organization from an administrative installation point.

The following sections describe the system requirements for both versions.

System Requirements for Microsoft Visio 2002 SR-1 Standard and Microsoft Visio 2002 SR-1 Professional

To use Microsoft Visio 2002 SR-1 Standard or Microsoft Visio 2002 SR-1 Professional, the recommended system is Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional on a computer with a Pentium III processor and 128 MB of RAM

Core system requirements

Following are the minimum system requirements for Microsoft Visio 2002 SR-1 Standard and Microsoft Visio 2002 SR-1 Professional:

Processor Pentium 133 MHz or higher processor required for all operating systems.

Windows operating system Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition, or Windows Millennium Edition; Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 6 or later; Microsoft Windows 2000, or Microsoft Windows XP Professional

On systems running Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 6, the version of Internet Explorer must be upgraded to at least 4.01 with Service Pack 1.

Random-access memory RAM requirements depend on the operating system used with the computer, plus an additional 16 MB of RAM for Visio Standard and an additional 48 MB of RAM for Visio Professional. Operating system RAM requirements assume default Windows installations; running additional utilities or applications may require additional RAM.

For Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition, 24 MB of RAM for the operating system.
For Windows Millennium Edition and Windows NT Workstation or Server 4.0 or later, 32 MB of RAM for the operating system.
For Windows 2000 Professional, 64 MB of RAM for the operating system. For Windows 2000 Server or Advanced Server, 256 MB of RAM recommended minimum.
For Windows XP Professional, 128 MB of RAM for the operating system.

Operating system RAM requirements assume default Windows installations, and running additional utilities or applications may require additional RAM.

Storage requirements Hard-disk space will vary depending on configuration. 110 MB of available hard-disk space is required for the default configuration of Microsoft Visio Standard; 170 MB of available hard-disk space is required for the default configuration of Microsoft Visio Professional. Custom installation choices may require more or less hard-disk space. (A full installation requires only a few additional MB of hard-disk space.) A CD-ROM drive is required for installation.

Monitor VGA (640 x 480) or higher-resolution monitor; Super VGA (800 x 600) recommended. 256 colors required.

Pointing device Microsoft Mouse, Microsoft IntelliMouse, or compatible pointing device.

Additional requirements for specific features

Some Visio 2002 SR-1 features have additional requirements:

Modem 9600 baud modem; 14,400 or higher baud recommended.

Internet Some Internet functionality may require Internet access and payment of a separate fee to a service provider; local and long-distance telephone charges may apply.

Microsoft Visio administrative platform

If you are planning to deploy Microsoft Visio in an organization, the most efficient approach is to create an administrative installation point on a network server. The administrative installation point contains all of the Visio application files, plus the configuration information and other resources you specify. Users connect to the network share and run Setup to install a customized version of Visio on their computers.

Microsoft Visio supports most widely available network operating systems and network clients for file and printing services. Visio has been tested with the following network servers and clients:

Microsoft network servers and clients

Microsoft Visio 2002 SR-1 supports the following Microsoft network servers and clients:

Supported network servers

Microsoft Windows 2000 Server and Advanced Server
Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 with Service Pack 6 or later

Supported network clients

Microsoft Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, or Windows Millennium Edition with Client for Microsoft Networks
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 with Service Pack 6 or later
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
Novell network operating systems and clients

Novell network servers and clients

Supported network servers

Novell NetWare 5.1

Supported Novell network clients

Microsoft Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, or Windows Millennium Edition with Novell intraNetWare client 2.5
Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Workstation with Service Pack 6 or later and Novell intraNetWare client version 4.30.410
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional and Novell intraNetWare client version 4.30.410

Supported Microsoft network clients

Microsoft Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, or Windows Millennium Edition and Client for NetWare Networks with Service for NetWare Directory Services
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 with Service Pack 6 or later and Client Service for NetWare
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional and Client Service for NetWare

Visio 2002 SR-1 and Windows Terminal Services

Windows Terminal Services is a technology that lets you run Visio remotely on a Windows-based server from a client computer over a network connection. When Terminal Services is enabled, administrators do not have to install Visio on each client computer. Instead, the application is installed once on the server, and the clients gain access to Visio through terminal emulation.

When a user runs Visio on a client computer by using Terminal Services, all of the application execution takes place on the server. Only the keyboard, mouse, and display information is transmitted over the network. Each user is restricted to his or her individual session, which is managed transparently by the server operating system.

For the Windows 2000 platform, Terminal Services is an optional service available on the standard server, advanced server, and data center server versions. For the Windows NT 4.0 platform, remote services are supported with Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition.

Core system requirements for client computers

Client computers use the Terminal Services Client software to manage communications between the client and the server running Visio through Terminal Services. Each user that runs Visio on Windows Terminal Server opens a separate instance of the application on the server, and all customizations are stored in a per-user storage area.

Client platforms that support Windows Terminal Services include the following:

32-bit Windows-based PCs running Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows NT 3.51, Windows NT 4.0, or Windows 2000 Professional
16-bit Windows-based PCs running Windows for Workgroups 3.11 with MS TCP/IP-32
Windows CE–based terminals
Windows CE–based Handheld Professional devices (H/PC Pro)
Third-party software vendors such as Citrix provide clients for non-Windows platforms such as the Apple Macintosh, MS-DOS, and UNIX

For more information about requirements and applications for Windows Terminal Services, see your Windows documentation.

Upgrading Reference

Upgrading to Microsoft Visio 2002 SR-1from a previous version of Visio is a straightforward process.

For organizations upgrading from Visio 4.x or Visio 5.0, or Visio 2000, Visio 2002 SR-1 includes the ability to open Visio drawings created in any previous version of Visio. In addition, Visio includes filters that allow users to import files from other applications, such as Corel Draw and Adobe Illustrator, and save those drawings in various graphic formats, such as JPEG or GIF.

Note The file format for Visio 2002 SR-1 is unchanged since Visio 2000.

Planning a Visio 2002 SR-1 Deployment

An enhanced Setup program and new and improved deployment tools make it more efficient and cost-effective to deploy Microsoft Visio 2002 SR-1 throughout a large organization. This topic addresses general issues that affect the installation, configuration, and maintenance of Visio—questions to consider as you plan your deployment. Each section references topics in the Microsoft Visio 2002 Resource Kit that provide the details you need to successfully roll out a customized and easily maintained Visio configuration.

Where to start

Assess your network and client systems in light of the requirements.

Network capacity

Do your installation servers have sufficient disk space for the Visio administrative installation point?
Will network bandwidth limitations affect how and when you distribute Visio to users?
Do you have plans to upgrade your operating system or other server applications soon?

Client computers

What operating systems and service packs are installed on client computers?
Do users computers have sufficient disk space and memory to run Visio?
How many laptop users do you have?

Because you can easily stage your deployment of Visio to selected groups of users or computers, a mix of hardware configurations and operating systems within your organization does not prevent you from starting your upgrade. For more information about staging your deployment of Visio, see "Visio customizations" later in this chapter.

After you evaluate your environment, make sure that you understand how Visio Setup works, and familiarize yourself with the new and enhanced deployment tools available in the Office XP Resource Kit.

Setup program

Visio uses Windows Installer technology to install, repair, and remove Visio features. The Visio Setup program manages much of the installation process, including required system file updates, restarts, and chained packages (MSI files). For more information about Visio Setup, see Overview of Setup in Chapter 3 of the Microsoft Visio 2002 Resource Kit.

Deployment tools

The Visio 2002 Resource Kit includes links to a number of tools that help you configure and install Visio. For example, you can use the Setup INI Customization Wizard to modify the Setup settings file and control the installation process. For more information about all these tools, see the Office XP Resource Kit Toolbox.

Configuration planning

In many organizations, the most efficient method of deploying a customized version of Visio to a large number of users is to create an administrative installation point on a network server and create one or more custom configurations of Visio at that location.

Administrative installation point

Before you create the administrative installation point for Visio, consider the following:

How many installation servers do you need?

Windows Installer continues to reference the installation source after Visio is deployed. To make Visio installations more resilient, you can copy the original administrative image to any number of servers. You specify additional sources in a transform (MST files). For more information, see Creating an Administrative Installation Point in Chapter 4 of the Microsoft Visio 2002 Resource Kit.
Do users have reliable access to the network share, not only for installing Visio initially but also for installing features on demand and repairing or removing Visio features?
What additional software do you want to include on the administrative image?

You can add packages that you plan to chain to the Visio installation. For your convenience, you can also store tools from the Office XP Resource Kit on the same network share. For more information about chaining packages, see Including Additional Packages in the Visio Installation in Chapter 4 of the Microsoft Visio 2002 Resource Kit.
Will laptop users in the field use the Visio CD as a source?

For more information, see Deploying to Laptop Users in Chapter 7 of the Microsoft Visio 2002 Resource Kit.

Visio customizations

After you create an administrative installation point for Visio, you can make extensive customizations before installing Visio on users' computers. You can also customize many aspects of the installation process itself. Begin by evaluating who your users are and how they use Visio.

Do you want a uniform Visio configuration throughout your organization?

If multiple users share one computer, or if users roam from one computer to another, establish a standard Visio configuration.
How many different configurations of Visio do you need and for which groups of users?

You can distribute different configurations of Visio from a single administrative installation point. For more information about different methods of customizing a Visio installation, see Customizing the Visio Installation in Chapter 4 of the Microsoft Visio 2002 Resource Kit.
Which features are essential and must be installed locally? Which features can be advertised (installed on demand)?

When users have fast and reliable access to the network, advertising can speed the initial deployment by installing only the features users actually need on the local hard disk. However, avoid the install-on-demand setting for laptop users (who may have intermittent or slow access to the network) and install all features locally. For more information about setting installation states for Visio features, see Customizing Visio Features and Shortcuts in Chapter 4 of the Microsoft Visio 2002 Resource Kit.
What other products do you want to include in the Visio installation?

You can specify additional Windows Installer packages to install with Visio. Setup coordinates these installations after the Visio installation is complete. For more information, see Including Additional Packages in the Visio Installation in Chapter 4 of the Microsoft Visio 2002 Resource Kit.
Do you want to install Visio unattended, or do you want users to be able to select options during the installation?

For more information about display settings and Setup properties, see Customizing How Setup Runs in Chapter 4 of the Microsoft Visio 2002 Resource Kit.
Do some users need to keep previous versions of Visio on their computers?

By default, when you run Setup in unattended mode, all previous versions of the Visio 2002 SR-1 applications being installed are removed. However, you can specify to keep previous versions. For more information, see Customizing Removal Behavior in Chapter 4 of the Microsoft Visio 2002 Resource Kit.
Do you plan to use the Visio feature Error Reporting (Dw.exe) to report installation failures to Microsoft?

This feature is turned off by default when you create an administrative installation point. To turn it on, set the SETUPDW property to True before users install Visio.

Migration planning

Users can upgrade from Visio 5.0 or Visio 2000 to Visio 2002 SR-1 with little interruption of their normal activities. Unless everyone in your organization upgrades at the same time, however, users may need to share files across versions or keep more than one version of Visio on one computer.

How do you manage a rolling upgrade?

Visio features have not changed file formats since Visio 2000, so file conversions are not necessary. Visio 2002 SR-1 allows users to share files with earlier versions of Visio by saving to the Visio 5.0 format and other application formats, such as GIF or JPEG.
Does your organization use custom templates or applications that you have written and that are based on earlier versions of Visio?

Custom solutions written by third parties (not by Microsoft), such as templates or databases that are based on advanced Visio functionality, may require more time, testing, and IT support to migrate smoothly to Visio 2002 SR-1.
Can Visio 2002 SR-1 applications coexist with earlier versions?

You can install and run multiple versions of Visio on the same computer. Visio 2002 SR-1 is installed by default in the \Visio10 folder, so you can keep a previous version in the existing folder. Shortcuts to versions earlier than Visio 2000 SR-1 are automatically updated to point to Visio 2002 SR-1. Shortcuts to versions Visio 2000 SR-1 and later are removed.

Note If you run an earlier version of Visio, you will need to repair Visio 2002 SR-1 before you can run it again.

Distribution planning

After you install Visio on an administrative installation point, users can run Visio Setup from there. For information about running Setup on client computers, see Distributing Visio to Users Computers in Chapter 4 of the Microsoft Visio 2002 Resource Kit.

You can also distribute the customized administrative image by using other deployment tools.

When should you use Microsoft Windows 2000 IntelliMirror technology to install Visio?

IntelliMirror allows you to manage installation, maintenance, and future upgrades of Visio. If you work in a homogenous Windows 2000 environment and you have an Active Directory and Group Policy structure in place, you can assign or publish the Visio package. For more information, see Using Windows 2000 Software Installation in Chapter 5 of the Microsoft Visio 2002 Resource Kit.
When should you use Systems Management Server (SMS) to install Visio?

If you are installing Visio to a variety of Windows clients, or if you want more control over the timing of the installation, you can use SMS version 2.0 to deploy Visio. You can also use SMS with Windows 2000 deployment tools.
How do you create a hard-disk image?

Some organizations distribute Visio on a hard-disk image. For information about preparing a Visio image, see Distributing Visio to Users Computers in Chapter 4 of the Microsoft Visio 2002 Resource Kit.
How do you create a custom CD?

The files on a Visio administrative installation point can be placed on a CD. With the proper licensing, you can create custom CDs by copying the CD files or by copying all or a portion of the administrative image onto a custom CD. For more information, see Distributing Visio to Users Computers in Chapter 4 of the Microsoft Visio 2002 Resource Kit.

Server applications

You may be able to simplify your Visio deployment by upgrading users Windows operating systems. You can also deploy other server applications that extend or enhance Visio.

Operating system upgrades

Upgrading client computers to Windows 2000 Professional or Windows Millennium (Windows Me) simplifies the Visio installation. No system file updates are required. For more information, see Deploying on Windows 2000 in Chapter 5 of the Microsoft Visio 2002 Resource Kit.

Client computers running under Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 98 might require the following upgrades:

System Files Update

Visio Setup automatically checks computers for the required minimum versions of key system and shared files. If needed, Setup automatically triggers installation of the System Files Update, which includes Internet Explorer 5, before proceeding to the core Visio installation. For more information, see Tasks Handled by Setup in Chapter 3 of the Microsoft Visio 2002 Resource Kit.
Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 6a

You must upgrade to Service Pack 6 before you can install Visio 2002 SR-1.
Windows Desktop Update

If you plan to advertise Visio features and want to use Windows Installer shortcuts for install-on-demand functionality, you must install the Windows Desktop Update. For more information, see Deploying on Windows NT 4.0 in Chapter 6 of the Microsoft Visio 2002 Resource Kit.

Other server applications

The following server products work with Visio:

Microsoft Systems Management Server

Systems Management Server (SMS) provides a robust distribution model for deploying Visio 2002 SR-1 to client computers. SMS allows you to deploy to a mix of Windows clients and gives you more control over the timing of the installation. If your organization uses SMS, note that you must use SMS version 2.0 to install Visio 2002 SR-1.