[ms office - 2007] Can I upgrade Microsoft Office on all our machines via server?

[marsdenprimary]

Hello!

 

We are going through an Office upgrade and need to know how to do a mass upgrade as simply as possible please using our server? We are running Server 2008 R2 with Active Directory.

[MordyT]

Do you have any software deployment agents such as...

 

Altiris

Tivoli

NetInstall

 

Etc?

[marsdenprimary]

Do you have any software deployment agents such as...

 

Altiris

Tivoli

NetInstall

 

Etc?

 

No we don't have anything like that- just the standard Software Deployment in Group Policy. Would you recommend them? Because if it's easier I can get one of them bought!

[localzuk]

This article might be of help - How to deploy office 2010 using GPO and OCT. - Spiceworks

[marsdenprimary]

This article might be of help - How to deploy office 2010 using GPO and OCT. - Spiceworks

 

Do you know if this will affect Outlook as we use this on some machines? Don't want any settings getting obliterated...I'd be in hot water if that happened!

[3s-gtech]

2010 and 2013 have simple batch scripts to deploy them. You create a customised install ready to deploy (using the built in admin tools), then run the script on startup - it will strip off the old copy, install the new, and insert the KMS key so it will try to activate against your KMS server.

 

Use the OCT to customize Office 2013

 

setlocal

REM *********************************************************************
REM Environment customization begins here. Modify variables below.
REM *********************************************************************

REM Get ProductName from the Office product's core Setup.xml file, and then add "office15." as a prefix. 
set ProductName=Office15.PROPLUS

REM Set DeployServer to a network-accessible location containing the Office source files.
set DeployServer=\\server\install$\Office2013

REM Set ConfigFile to the configuration file to be used for deployment (required)
set ConfigFile=\\server\install$\Office2013\ProPlus.WW\config.xml

REM Set LogLocation to a central directory to collect log files.
set LogLocation=\\server\install$\Office2013\Office2013LogFiles

REM *********************************************************************
REM Deployment code begins here. Do not modify anything below this line.
REM *********************************************************************

IF NOT "%ProgramFiles(x86)%"=="" (goto ARP64) else (goto ARP86)

REM Operating system is X64. Check for 32 bit Office in emulated Wow6432 uninstall key
:ARP64
reg query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432NODE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\%ProductName%
if NOT %errorlevel%==1 (goto End)

REM Check for 32 and 64 bit versions of Office 2013 in regular uninstall key.(Office 64bit would also appear here on a 64bit OS) 
:ARP86
reg query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\%ProductName%
if %errorlevel%==1 (goto DeployOffice) else (goto End)

REM If 1 returned, the product was not found. Run setup here.
:DeployOffice
start /wait %DeployServer%\setup.exe /config %ConfigFile%
echo %date% %time% Setup ended with error code %errorlevel%. >> %LogLocation%\%computername%.txt

REM If 0 or other was returned, the product was found or another error occurred. Do nothing.
:End

Endlocal

[jmak]

2010 and 2013 have simple batch scripts to deploy them. You create a customised install ready to deploy (using the built in admin tools), then run the script on startup - it will strip off the old copy, install the new, and insert the KMS key so it will try to activate against your KMS server.

 

Use the OCT to customize Office 2013

 

setlocal

REM *********************************************************************
REM Environment customization begins here. Modify variables below.
REM *********************************************************************

REM Get ProductName from the Office product's core Setup.xml file, and then add "office15." as a prefix. 
set ProductName=Office15.PROPLUS

REM Set DeployServer to a network-accessible location containing the Office source files.
set DeployServer=\\server\install$\Office2013

REM Set ConfigFile to the configuration file to be used for deployment (required)
set ConfigFile=\\server\install$\Office2013\ProPlus.WW\config.xml

REM Set LogLocation to a central directory to collect log files.
set LogLocation=\\server\install$\Office2013\Office2013LogFiles

REM *********************************************************************
REM Deployment code begins here. Do not modify anything below this line.
REM *********************************************************************

IF NOT "%ProgramFiles(x86)%"=="" (goto ARP64) else (goto ARP86)

REM Operating system is X64. Check for 32 bit Office in emulated Wow6432 uninstall key
:ARP64
reg query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432NODE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\%ProductName%
if NOT %errorlevel%==1 (goto End)

REM Check for 32 and 64 bit versions of Office 2013 in regular uninstall key.(Office 64bit would also appear here on a 64bit OS) 
:ARP86
reg query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\%ProductName%
if %errorlevel%==1 (goto DeployOffice) else (goto End)

REM If 1 returned, the product was not found. Run setup here.
:DeployOffice
start /wait %DeployServer%\setup.exe /config %ConfigFile%
echo %date% %time% Setup ended with error code %errorlevel%. >> %LogLocation%\%computername%.txt

REM If 0 or other was returned, the product was found or another error occurred. Do nothing.
:End

Endlocal

 

I used this method successfully and only needed to ask a couple of questions on here to clarify what I'd read elsewhere - there are lots of helpful experts around . Can't comment on Outlook settings as I haven't managed to persuade our staff to use the Outlook client and our exchange isn't hosted locally. Only issue I had was that some of our net books timed out. There is a time limit setting in the script posted above. If it hits the limit, it backs out the install. You can set it to infinity though

[marsdenprimary]

Hey guys got all this set up and ready but struggling to execute the script using GPO (never really done it before!) I've put the path to the .bat file in but when i click on the 'show files' button in the GPO there's nothing there. When i try to copy it there it says 'access denied!' UAC is off too...

[3s-gtech]

Ooh, that's a fun one. It's IE settings on the server you're working from doing that, deciding that your sysvol isn't a trusted location. You need to add the sysvol as Trusted, and whack the security settings down for that zone.

[FN-GM]

Outlook settings will be just fine. They are configured outside of MS office. You can removal the whole of office then reinstall another version and your settings wont be lost.

[marsdenprimary]

Ooh, that's a fun one. It's IE settings on the server you're working from doing that, deciding that your sysvol isn't a trusted location. You need to add the sysvol as Trusted, and whack the security settings down for that zone.

 

That's genius on your part! How on earth did you discover that?? That's the last place i would have ever looked... Microsoft do some shoddy stuff sometimes.

[3s-gtech]

It was a few years ago when that reared its head for us - I noticed that no scripts could be placed in any folder in the sysvol. Looked into the error pop-up box, and it's generated by IE. Bit of Googling showed that the pop-up occured with untrusted locations - I couldn't believe there wasn't some mechanism that ensures that the sysvol is trusted but it appeared not!

[marsdenprimary]

Well it's fixed it for me. This kind of information should be in a Golden Book of Microsoft Blunders. I bet lots and lots of people encounter this problem and spend hours trying to figure it out...!

[marsdenprimary]

UPDATE: Despite successfully managing to get the script in the sysvol folder i'm still unable to get it to install. Is there anything i need to do with the config.xml file? It mentions this in the batch script but i was unaware i would need to alter it if using OCT to customise the install.

 

Still need help!

[3s-gtech]

The xml file should be customised by the admin install setup itself, you shouldn't need to manually change it, just make sure it's in the correct location mentioned in the batch script.

[marsdenprimary]

The xml file should be customised by the admin install setup itself, you shouldn't need to manually change it, just make sure it's in the correct location mentioned in the batch script.

 

It's definitely in the right location. Still not installing...!

[3s-gtech]

Sometimes the install is cancelled if it struggles to remove the old version - I found on some XP machines that I couldn't uninstall Office 2007/2003 easily. Microsoft provided some Fixit files for just this purpose, which work rather well. How to uninstall Office 2003, Office 2007 or Office 2010 suites if you cannot uninstall it from Control Panel?

[marsdenprimary]

Sometimes the install is cancelled if it struggles to remove the old version - I found on some XP machines that I couldn't uninstall Office 2007/2003 easily. Microsoft provided some Fixit files for just this purpose, which work rather well. How to uninstall Office 2003, Office 2007 or Office 2010 suites if you cannot uninstall it from Control Panel?

 

Hello- i cant be running a fixit on all our machines as we have over 200. Plus they are all Windows 7.

[marsdenprimary]

Still struggling with this if anyone is still there to help...! I've done all the steps asked and still no joy... I don't know what I am doing wrong or missing. Could it be the filepath of the MS Office setup file? The share is accessible so i cannot understand why it isn't working. Help!

[jmak]

Bear in mind that my only experience of this is getting it working on my network - I'm no consultant, but for what it's worth, have you tried (as separate tests):

 

1) installing directly from the setup.exe file

2) manually running the script (this was the point that I discovered that I needed quote marks around the unc path because it has spaces in it)

3) put the script in sysvol and run from there

 

Where are you applying the GPO? I assumed it would be to the computer, but I was wrong - I had to apply it to the user (we run a loop back policy).

 

Have you checked that the policy is being applied? And what is in it? I found that my policy was being called, but was empty - I think that was to do with having applied it to the machine.

 

My final GPO had quite a few extra settings in it - I have notes and can give you the details, but can't remember where I found the information that prompted me to make them and I'd rather you had that than just my word

 

The main ones were about ensuring that UAC didn't stop it, telling it to run startup scripts asynchronously and setting the wait time to 0 seconds (translates to infinity). I'll keep looking for the source and post later.

 

Hope that helps

 

Edit: this is where I found the info about UAC

Edited September 18, 2013 by jmak

[marsdenprimary]

Bear in mind that my only experience of this is getting it working on my network - I'm no consultant, but for what it's worth, have you tried (as separate tests):

 

1) installing directly from the setup.exe file

2) manually running the script (this was the point that I discovered that I needed quote marks around the unc path because it has spaces in it)

3) put the script in sysvol and run from there

 

Where are you applying the GPO? I assumed it would be to the computer, but I was wrong - I had to apply it to the user (we run a loop back policy).

 

Have you checked that the policy is being applied? And what is in it? I found that my policy was being called, but was empty - I think that was to do with having applied it to the machine.

 

My final GPO had quite a few extra settings in it - I have notes and can give you the details, but can't remember where I found the information that prompted me to make them and I'd rather you had that than just my word

 

The main ones were about ensuring that UAC didn't stop it, telling it to run startup scripts asynchronously and setting the wait time to 0 seconds (translates to infinity). I'll keep looking for the source and post later.

 

Hope that helps

 

Edit: this is where I found the info about UAC

 

Cheers! This article is exactly what i have been looking for- i'll give this a go today and report back. You're a star!

[marsdenprimary]

Still no joy :-( Checked to see if the script could be run manually but i'm getting an access denied line for the ProPlus.ww folder and got a log file with error code 5 in it...

[3s-gtech]

What are the permissions on the share where the installer is hosted? Check the share and NTFS permissions.

[marsdenprimary]

What are the permissions on the share where the installer is hosted? Check the share and NTFS permissions.

 

I've just been doing that and discovered a horrible sudden file and folder permission error. Even though logged onto our server as Admin, with UAC switched off, I am getting 'access Denied' messages when I try to delete the folder (I was going to start from scratch)... WHHHYYYYY do these things happen?!?!?!

[marsdenprimary]

Just to add to my previous post it has also added a user- seemingly at random- who somehow owns the folder and I cannot change ownership, delete the user from the security settings or anything else... what has happened?