Software Deployment

If you are deploying it by GPO, you can add a transform (*.MST) to the package deployment. Within the MST you can specify these sort of details, and others.

For non-Microsoft software, you usually have to create a transform yourself using something like Wise Package Studio. For Office, Microsoft already release a tool that will do it all for you, known as the Office Resource Kit. Download it for free from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=4bb7cb10-a6e5-4334-8925-3bcf308cfbaf&DisplayLang=en

Personally I always leave the username and initials sections blank when I am creating the Office transform. That forces it to prompt the user for these details on install/first use. Why would I want to do that? Because when a user saves the document, it saves these details in the file as the "Last Saved By" property. If you have the same details set for everyone, you cannot use this feature to track down who edited the file last (and maybe changed something they should not have).

I have opened my .MST with ORK but I can´t find where to make the configuration...

Ninni

Sorry, I was going by memory from when I used the Resource Kit about a year ago. I thought that you could enter in the user's name on page 5, the page where you can enter in the Organization name.

To make amends for my misguided advice, I have had a quick play for you and found that the UserName, UserInitials and Company details are stored in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\UserInfo. Here is a REG file with the details I entered for a test installation.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\UserInfo]
"UserName"=hex:52,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,6e,00,00,00
"UserInitials"=hex:52,00,00,00
"Company"=hex:63,00,6f,00,6d,00,70,00,61,00,6e,00,79,00,00,00

As you can see, the values are in binary. When you open them in RegEdit and have a look at the translation on the right (ASCII version of the values), you will see that it is the details you entered, but spaced by a null between each character. This is probably the word in Unicode (double byte character set). The details I entered are:
UserName: Regen
UserInitials: R
Company: company
If we look at the binary values and convert them manually to their ACSII values (skipping the nulls), you can see that in UserName 52=R, 65=e, 67=g, 65=e, 6e=n.

If you have a copy of something like Wise Package Studio (this is what I use) you could make a custom MST. You could enter in the details that you want to be set for everyone in the Word menu: Tools - Options - User Information tab. Export this registry key to a REG file, import that into your custom MST using Wise, and save this MST, then use for deployment.

I have heard it said that you should never try to modify a vendor created MSI, especially Office, as you are asking for trouble. I am not sure if the same applies for MST files created with the Office Resource Kit. If your existing MST was created with the Res Kit, maybe manually create a different MST with just this registry setting for the UserName etc. When you are deploying software by GPO, it allows you to add in more than one MST, add in your existing MST as it is, and then add in the MST with the UserName info as a second MST in the same GPO.

I am not sure if this will work, as I have not tried it. It is just an idea I have thought of to help you out, and it is how I would try to do it if I was doing it. Make sure you test it first before you deploy it across your company.

Alternatively, if you use logon scripts, maybe create a REG file with the details you want and set it to import into their registry at logon. The problem with this will be that if someone wants to change their details to their proper name etc, your logon script will keep overwriting it at every logon. Anyway, just a thought that may inspire you to another idea to solve the problem.

Actually, I have just had a bit more of a play with the Custom Installation Wizard, and found that on page 12 you can add or remove registry entries. I imported the REG file I created above and it is showing up as expected. I think this will solve the problem for you. Give it a go in a testlab and see if it works.

Good luck
Regen