How to Deploy Microsoft Office 2010 by Using System Center Essentials 2010

Applies To: System Center Essentials 2010

Use the following information to deploy Office Professional 2010 in your environment. By following these steps, you can use Essentials 2010 to deploy a silent installation of Office 2010, in which the users do not interact with the installation process. The first step is to create a customization file for the silent installation of Office 2010.

Create a Setup Customization File for Office 2010

The program file to create a setup customization file for Office 2010 is run from the source directory, which contains a copy of all the files from the Office CD. In this example, the source files were copied to \SCE\Office2010\Professional.

In Office 2010, Setup controls the complete installation. This includes processes that Windows Installer handled in Office versions earlier than the Office 2007 system. Customizing the default behavior of Setup lets you control the process. In this example, you customize the installation for a silent installation of Office 2010.

The Office Customization Tool (OCT) is used to create a Setup customization file (.msp file). Setup applies this file when Office is installed on the computers.

To customize the installation

1. To customize Office Setup, run the command setup.exe /admin to start the Office Customization Tool. In this example (using Essentials 2010 to deploy Office 2010), at a command prompt, run setup.exe /admin from the package source directory, \SCE\Office2010\Professional.

2. To ensure that Office 2010 is silently installed, modify and configure the settings as follows:

   1. In the Licensing and user interface dialog box, set the Display Level to None, which then makes the Suppress modal check box available.

   2. Verify that the Completion notice and No Cancel options are not selected.

   3. Select the Enter another product key option located under Licensing and user interface, and then enter a valid Multiple Activation Key (MAK).

   4. Select the I accept the terms in the License Agreement check box.

3. Save and name the newly created .msp file, and then put it in the \Updates folder for Office 2010 on the computer that contains the source files, for example, \SCE\Office2010\Professional\Updates\CustomFileOffice2010SilentInstall.MSP.

For more information about customizing an Office 2010 installation, see Customize Setup Before Installing Office 2010.

The next step is to use Essentials 2010 to create a computer group that contains the computers on which Office 2010 will be installed.

To create a new computer group that contains individually selected computers

1. In the Essentials 2010 console, click Computers.

2. In the Computer Groups pane, click Create a Computer Group.

3. In the Criteria drop-down box, select Select from a list, and then choose the computers on which Office 2010 will be installed.

4. In the Computer group name dialog box, enter a name for the new computer group, and then press ENTER. In this example, the name is Office 2010.

For more information about creating computer groups, see Managing Computers and Devices in Essentials.

The next step is to create a new software deployment package of Office 2010, and then select the previously created group, Office 2010, for the computers on which Office 2010 will be installed.

To create and deploy a software package

1. In the Essentials 2010 console, click Software. In the Software Packages pane, in the Tasks area, click Create new package to start the New Software Package Wizard.

2. On the Setup File page, select Deploy a package from a setup file requiring additional folders. In the Folder location dialog box, click Browse, and then select the directory that contains the Office 2010 source files, for example, C:\Office2010\Professional.

3. In the Package setup file dialog box, click Browse, and then select the setup.exe file for Office 2010, which in this example is located in the C:\Office2010\Professional folder. Click Next.

4. On the Package Details pane in the Package name dialog box, enter a name for the package, which in this example is Office2010Pro. Then, in the Package Description dialog box, enter a descriptive name for the software package, which in this example is Office-2010-Professional-SCE-Package. Click Next.

5. On the Target System Types page, verify that the default of No, this package is applicable to all my managed computers is selected, and then click Next.

6. On the Return Codes page, accept the default return code of 0 (zero) to equal success, and then click Next.

7. On the Install/Uninstall Parameters page, select No, and then click Next.

8. On the Summary page, review the configured settings, and then click Finish.

   The progress bar for the software package creation then appears.

9. After the package is created successfully, click Finish. The Add and Remove Approvals dialog box appears, which shows a list of the available computer groups. Click the computer group of the computers on which Office 2010 will be installed, which in this example is Office 2010. Click OK.

10. The Approval Progress dialog box appears with the message, "Approvals have been successfully applied." Click Close.

For more information about creating and deploying a software package, see How to Create and Deploy a Software Package in Essentials and How to Create a Software Package That Contains a Response File in Essentials.

The approved package is deployed to the computers in the selected computer group based on the configured settings for the package and how Automatic Updates is configured on the managed computers. If no specific deadline is set for the software package to be deployed, the package is not configured as optional, and if Automatic Updates is enabled on the managed computers, the software package for Office 2010 installation starts at the specified time for Automatic Updates to be installed, by default, daily at 3:00 A.M. For more information about how to set deadlines, see How to Configure Automatic Approvals to Support Deadlines in Essentials.

In the Software Packages pane, select the software package, which in this example is Office2010Pro, to monitor the status. When the Office 2010 installation is finished, the status is listed as Successful.

For more information about verifying the software deployment status, see How to View the Status of a Deployed Update in Essentials.

See Also

Other Resources

Software Deployment in Essentials
Configuring Update Management in Essentials
Managing Computers and Devices in Essentials
Configure a silent installation of Office 2010 by using Config.xml
Deployment Guide for System Center Essentials 2010