Customizing Feature Installation

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Using a Transform with Setup
Selecting Features
Customizing Shortcuts
Adding Files to the Installation

When you install Microsoft® Project 2002 from an administrative installation point, you can determine which applications and features are installed on users' computers, including how and when features are installed. You can also customize the way that Setup creates shortcuts for Microsoft Project and even add your own custom files to the Microsoft Project installation.

Using a Transform with Setup

To customize how Setup installs Microsoft Project on the user's computer, you can use the Custom Installation Wizard to create a Microsoft Windows® Installer transform (MST file). The transform contains the changes that you want to make to the installation process. Users can run Setup with the transform to install your customized version of Microsoft Project.

The Custom Installation Wizard you use to customize Microsoft Project is the same tool that you use to customize Office. The Custom Installation Wizard can be used with any product that uses the Windows Installer technology.

To create and use a transform, follow these general steps

  1. Create an administrative installation point. Users install Microsoft Project from the administrative installation point.
  1. Use the Custom Installation Wizard to create a transform that contains your customizations.
  1. Have users run Setup with the transform. Users specify the name of the transform when they run Microsoft Project Setup.

Create a Custom Transform

Use the Custom Installation Wizard to open the Windows Installer package (MSI file) for Microsoft Project. Then use the wizard to select the features you want, and save your selections in a custom transform (MST file).

To create a custom transform
  1. Start the Custom Installation Wizard.
  1. On the Open the MSI page, enter the file name and path of the MSI file for Microsoft Project.
  1. Do one of the following:
  • To create a new transform, on the Open the MST page, select Do not open an existing MST file.
  • To open and modify an existing transform, select Open an existing MST file and enter the file name and path of the transform.
  1. On the Select the MST File to Save page, enter the name and path of the MST file you want to create.
  1. On the subsequent pages of the wizard, customize those areas of the installation process that affect your organization, including selecting which features are installed.
  1. When you have finished making all your selections, click Finish.

Run Setup with a Custom Transform

To use a custom transform when you install Microsoft Project on a user's computer, you must provide Setup with the file name and path of the transform. You can do this by including the information on the Setup command line or in the Setup settings file (INI file).

Use the Setup command line

When you run Setup to install Microsoft Project on the user's computer, add the TRANSFORMS= option to the Setup.exe command line to specify the file name and path of the transform.

For example, type the following command:

\\server1\Project\setup.exe transforms="Custom.mst"
Use the Setup settings file

Setup uses a Setup settings file for installation options. Add the MST1= key to the MST section of the settings file to specify the file name and path of the MST file. For example:

[MST]

FakePre-e8213c091b324b23b6fe54e85c1cd666-edf4cadf4ec14b0a8faa0e1aee96b667

You can add the key directly to the default Setup settings file (Setup.ini), or you can create a copy of Setup.ini with a different file name and add the key to the duplicate file. If you create a duplicate Setup settings file, you also need to specify the name of the Setup settings file with the /settings command-line option.

For example, type the following command to specify a Setup settings file:

\\server1\project\setup.exe /settings newsetup.ini

See Also

The following articles are all located in the Customizing Installation section of the Microsoft Project 2002 Resource Kit:

  • Creating the administrative installation point on a network server is the first step in deploying a customized version of Microsoft Project over the network to your users. For detailed information about how to create an administrative installation point, see the Setup Program resource kit article.
  • You can also customize the way Microsoft Project Setup runs by using the command line and settings file. For more information, see the Customizing Setup resource kit article.
  • You can use the Custom Installation Wizard to customize many aspects of your Microsoft Project installation. For more information, see the Custom Installation Wizard resource kit article.

Selecting Features

When running Microsoft Project Setup interactively, users can choose which Microsoft Project features are installed by selecting from a list that Setup displays. Users can choose to install a particular feature in one of several ways:

  • On the local hard disk
  • On the network server, where the user runs the feature
  • On first use, meaning that Setup does not install the feature until the first time it is used
  • Not installed at all

By using the Custom Installation Wizard, you can make these choices ahead of time for users. When users run Setup interactively, your choices become the default. When users run Setup quietly, your choices determine how the features are installed.

Set the Installation State for Features

On the Set Feature Installation States page of the Custom Installation Wizard, you can click any feature to select the installation state. You can choose from the following options:

  • Run from My Computer   Components for the feature are copied to the local hard disk, and the feature is run from there.
  • Run all from My Computer   Same as Run from My Computer, except that all of the child features belonging to the feature are also set to this state.
  • Run from CD or Run from Network   Components for the feature are left on the Microsoft Project CD or on the network server (depending on how users are installing Microsoft Project). The feature is run from the Microsoft Project CD or the network server.
  • Run all from CD or Run all from Network   Same as Run from CD or Run from Network, except that all of the child features belonging to the feature are also set to this state.
  • Installed on First Use  Components for the feature and all its child features are left on the Microsoft Project CD or on the network server (depending on how users are installing Microsoft Project). When the user attempts to use the feature for the first time, the components are automatically copied to the local hard disk, and the feature is run from there just as if it had been installed with the option Run from My Computer.
  • Not Available   The components for the feature, and all of the child features belonging to this feature, are not installed on the computer, and the feature is unavailable to the user.

Not all installation states are available for every feature. For example, if a feature contains a component that cannot be run over the network, the feature does not have Run from CD or Run from Network as a choice in its list of installation states.

Hide Features from Users During Setup

In addition to setting the installation state, you can right-click any feature on the Set Feature Installation States page of the Custom Installation Wizard to hide the feature from the user. If you select Hide, Setup does not display the feature when the user runs Setup interactively; instead, the feature is installed behind the scenes according to the installation state that you have specified.

To reverse this setting, right-click the feature and select Unhide. If you hide or unhide a feature, all of the child features belonging to the feature are hidden or not hidden accordingly.

See Also

  • When you change the installation state of a Microsoft Project feature, the installation states of the child features change in various ways. For more information, click Help on the Set Feature Installation States page of the Custom Installation Wizard.
  • Creating the administrative installation point on a network server is the first step in deploying a customized version of Microsoft Project over the network to your users. For more information, see the Setup Program resource kit article.
  • You can use the Custom Installation Wizard to customize many aspects of your Microsoft Project installation. For more information, see the Custom Installation Wizard resource kit article.

Customizing Shortcuts

By using the Custom Installation Wizard, you can customize the shortcuts that Setup creates for Microsoft Project. You can control what shortcuts are installed, and you can also customize settings such as what folder the shortcut is installed in and what command-line options to use with the shortcut.

On the Add, Modify, or Remove Shortcuts page of the Custom Installation Wizard, the wizard displays all of the shortcuts that correspond with the features that you selected on the Set Feature Installation States page.

Modify an Existing Shortcut

On the Custom Installation Wizard page, you modify any existing shortcut by selecting the shortcut and clicking Modify. In the Add/Modify Shortcut Entry dialog box, you can make the following modifications:

  • Target   Change the application associated with the shortcut. The names in the list correspond to features that you selected on the Set Feature Installation States page of the wizard, plus any custom files that you added to the installation on the Add Files to the Installation page. You can also add command-line options by appending a space and a list of options to the target name.
<microsoft project> /t "c:\Tools\myproject.mpp"
  • Location  Change the folder in which the shortcut is created by selecting a location from the list. You can specify a subfolder by appending a backslash (\) followed by the subfolder name.
<startmenu\programs>\Project 2002
  • Name   Change the name of the shortcut by entering any string.
  • Start in   Change the starting folder for the application by entering a path. The path must be a valid path on the user's computer. If it is not, the user gets an error message when trying to use the shortcut.
  • Shortcut key   Associate a shortcut key with this shortcut by entering the shortcut key string in this box. Click the Help button in the wizard for a description of how to specify a shortcut key.
  • Run   Select the way you want the application to run when the user double-clicks this shortcut. For example, if you want the application to run in a maximized window by default, then select Maximized.
  • Change Icon   Select a new icon for the shortcut.

Add or Remove Shortcuts

You can also click Add to add a new shortcut for any file being installed by Setup. This step allows you to create duplicate shortcuts for Microsoft Project on the user's computer. It also allows you to create shortcuts for custom files or applications you add to the installation.

To remove a shortcut from the list, select the shortcut and click Remove.

See Also

You can use the Custom Installation Wizard to customize many aspects of your Microsoft Project installation. For more information, see the Custom Installation Wizard resource kit article.

Adding Files to the Installation

In addition to selecting what Microsoft Project files are installed, Microsoft Project Setup allows you to add your own files to the installation. You can deploy corporate templates, images, custom applications, or other files.

On the Add Files to the Installation page of the Custom Installation Wizard, click Add to add a new file to the installation. After you select one or more files to add, enter the destination path for the file or files in the File Destination Path dialog box. You can enter an absolute path on the user's computer, or you can select a path from the list. If you select a path, you can add a subfolder to it by appending a backslash (\) followed by the subfolder name.

When you click OK, the wizard adds the file to the transform. Setup installs the file on the user's computer, in the folder you specified, when the user installs Microsoft Project.

After you add the file, you can add a shortcut for the file on the Add, Modify, or Remove Shortcuts page of the wizard. On that page, click Add. The file you added appears in the Target box.

Because the file is copied into the transform, you must update the transform if the file changes later.

To update the installation with modified files

  1. On the Create or Open the MST File page, enter the name of the Windows Installer transform (MST file).
  1. On the Select the MST File to Save page, enter the name of the transform again.
  1. Click Next until you reach the Add Files to the Installation page.
  1. Select the file that has changed, and click Remove.
  1. Click Add, and then enter the information for your modified file.
  1. If you want to add registry keys to the transform, click Next. 
  1. On the Add Registry Entries page click Add or Import to either add registry entries or import them from a Registry export file.

See Also

You can use the Custom Installation Wizard to customize many aspects of your Microsoft Project installation. For more information, see the Custom Installation Wizard resource kit article.