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Office 2003 Standard - Deploment via GPO

This is my situation so far......

I have created a default software GPO which has 5 small applications and Office 2003 with SP1. Created a test OU and this deployed fine to several client PC's. I am using Active Directory to deploy to XP sp2 clients. This is installing per computer.

However, two fundamental flaws have come too light with this particular GPO -

1. The GPO is still applying to PC's within an OU, BUT randomly is only installing the 5 small msi's and not Office 2003. When you look at the failed installation on the client PC event logs, there are no indications why this is happening, it states the policy for Office 2003 has been applied and installed successfully [:@] but it hasn't and only half the files are on the PC.
Yet, for most of the clients in an OU it has installed fine?

2. Rather stupidly, I did not test an uninstall of the GPO. And now I am getting a reverse of problem 1, i.e. the 5 small applications will uninstall fine but Office 2003 is not being removed from the PC. Yet, the event logs state uninstall of Office 2003 was successful?? Worse still, the MSI wont even come off manually, it says the installation is already in use.

Has anyone else experienced similar problems when deploying multiple msi's via GPO? I am at my wits end with this and am starting to panic somewhat, so any help or advice with this will be greatly appreciated.

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Answers (8)

Posted by: craig16229 18 years ago
Third Degree Brown Belt
0
Have you run the Resultant Set of Policies tool?



Craig --<>.
Posted by: kbu 18 years ago
Senior Yellow Belt
0
Sounds like I have a similar problem.


I've recently created a Office 2003 MST file, using Office 2003 Resource Kit (have used it in the past for 2000/XP installations w/o any troubles)

The package installs thru command line w/o any errors.

I'm trying to deploy it to WinXP SP2 clients thru AD/GPO. - At this point I have created an OU at the top level of the AD tree, - with only the 1 GPO active, and advanced assigned the MSI/MST under Computer Configuration, - Software Settings/Installation.

Though no matter what, the client doesn’t start/try installing during start-up, and there aren’t any errors or indications of the machine even trying to install in the event log.

At the client I did a gpupdate/gpresult -z to confirm the client is under influence of the GPO
As far as I can tell, it has received the appropriate GPO, but has chosen to ignore the Software settings/installation of Office.

The GPO shows up under "Applied Group Policy Objects", but there’s no sign of Office under "Resultant Set of Policies for Computer / Software Installations", where it should be.

Any clues as to why the machine doesnt seem to recieve the package?
Posted by: Bladerun 18 years ago
Green Belt
0
I've successfully deployed Office 2k3 via GP to XP SP1 clients.

I have observed the same behavior that KBU mentioned. We have a single GPO for application installs at the top level of users and computers. The packages within mainly point to AD groups, though there are a handful are are sent to all users/computers.

This works perfectly for all of our 280 some packages with 1 exception. You guessed it, Office 2k3.

The ONLY way that I've managed to successfully deploy it is to create a software installation policy for Office in EACH computer OU (we have 7). This is a huge pain to update, but it works.
Posted by: kbu 18 years ago
Senior Yellow Belt
0
I have resolved my problem.


The reason turned out to be language difference between the OS and the package. (English OS / Danish Office)

Take properties on your MSI, under software settings, > Deployment tab > advanced button > Check the "Ignore language when deploying this package"

As said, the client doesnt report anything about the problem in the event log - But the server does! - i noticed this:

Eventid 119:

Software Installation encountered an unexpected error while reading from the MSI file <path to msi file>. The error was not serious enough to justify halting the operation. The following error was encountered: The operation completed successfully.


Hope this helps someone.
Posted by: ems 18 years ago
Senior Yellow Belt
0
Hi there

I am having a similar problem with Mathcad, GPResult reports that assignment of the application works and the installation works, However not all of the files are being copied over, most importantly the executable!!

Can you please tell me what the Source is for the event that was recorded in the server. We have several domain controllers and I cant find anything similar to the error you described. Any more info you can pass my way would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Emma
Posted by: Vialli 18 years ago
Senior Yellow Belt
0
ORIGINAL: ems

Hi there

I am having a similar problem with Mathcad, GPResult reports that assignment of the application works and the installation works, However not all of the files are being copied over, most importantly the executable!!

Can you please tell me what the Source is for the event that was recorded in the server. We have several domain controllers and I cant find anything similar to the error you described. Any more info you can pass my way would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Emma


Did MathCAD come with its own .msi and if so, was it setup as an admin installation to run from a network share?

e.g. msiexec /a mathcad.msi
Posted by: kbu 18 years ago
Senior Yellow Belt
0
The "Source" in the event viewer would be "Software installation", note. its a warning, not an error.

If theres any uncertainties about if this is the source of your troubles, i dont see any harm in just trying to check the "ignore language when deploying this package"

Is it a network license or a stand alone installation of mathcad? - and what version?
Posted by: Gastro 18 years ago
Senior Yellow Belt
0
If you have trouble with a msi-package. I would recommend that you run it in cmd with /qn... then you will se if it works, then the program will install in the same way as it was trough AD and at logon... if it works there, then it will to 99% work with GPO
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