Software Deployment

You mean you used OCT to create an MST, surely?

Actually no in Office 2007 it only creates an MSP which you cant use via GPO. According to the doco it goes in the Updates directory but the installer doesnt appear to pick it up in the Standard Version.

Forgive my ignorance - I haven't yet had the pleasure of Office 2007 - if it's a patch, wouldn't you apply that to your admin image before deployment?

Good questions. I cant see any reason why not at all. I suppose I really need to find that out.

You could also transform the patch meaning:
Open the MSI in ORCA
Create a transform
Apply the patch
Save the transform

Just what out to include the streams when you save the transform.

To answer your question - There is no admin install point. The installation creates the MSOCache regardless and that is used during repairs.

Create a simple config.xml that contains the basic installation information, it does not need to contain all the settings you want for Office 2007. At the end of the office installation it should run all the MSP's in the "Updates" folder including your settings MSP - This is how you apply patches to your new installations. For existing installations the patches need to be run on that system - I have been unable to find a way to apply patches using setup.exe and say /repair or /modify.

Here would be a sample config.xml which needs to be placed in the %systemdrive%\MSOCache\All Users\{90120000-0012-0000-0000-0000000FF1CE}-???(this will be the same as the drive letter) or %systemdrive%\MSOCache\All Users\{90120000-0011-0000-0000-0000000FF1CE}-???(Same here) depending on whether you are talking about ProPlus(0011) or Std (0012).

A sample ProPlus config.xml - note for using xml -- starting a node with <!-- sets it to a comment and that code is not actually used, you will see this when you look in the current config.xml

<Configuration Product="ProPlus">

<Display Level="basic" NoCancel="yes" CompletionNotice="no" SuppressModal="yes" AcceptEula="yes" />

<Logging Type="ProPlus" Path="%temp%" Template="Microsoft Office ProPlus Setup(*).txt" />

<INSTALLLOCATION Value="%programfiles%\Microsoft Office" />

<Setting Id="SETUP_REBOOT" Value="NEVER" />
<Setting Id="Reboot" Value="NEVER" />
<Setting Id="HIDEUPDATEUI" Value="True" />

</Configuration>

-- The new XML based MSI's that Microsoft is distributing is a real pain in the you know what. My deployment system refuses to evaluate the MSI and import it into my servers. I programmed my own frontend and used the LIS creation functionality that is available by the installer.

fyi - When a LIS is created the files will be delivered to your %systemdrive%\MSOCache the registry will also be updated to show the available status of the office components - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Delivery\SourceEngine\Downloads.

You can find alot of information by looking through the links provided on the Office 2007 packaging guide on appdeploy, such as the settings for the config.xml.

Good Luck and hope this helps a little,
-Grant

Presumably there's some reason why MS is fussing with this stuff yet again...

Is it possible to use setup.exe /adminfile \\blah\blah.msp without specifying /config ? According to the documentation you can use it on its own I would say, however, I am not getting it to read the msp either. I am going to try to setup a config.xml but it seems pointless to have to set some of the identical settings twice.