In previous versions of 2007 Microsoft Office system, several tools were required to customize Setup and to manage Office after installation. However, the 2007 Microsoft Office system system provides a consistent, streamlined model. You can use one of several methods to customize the installation, although the best method depends upon what you are customizing and whether you want users to be able to change the default configuration.
The following table summarizes the differences between the methods of customizing the 2007 Office system and describes the recommended or required scenarios for each method.
|
Tool or method
|
Scenarios
|
Results
|
| Use the Office Customization Tool to create a Setup customization file (MSP file). | Recommended for most customizations, including: -
Accepting License Terms and entering a volume license key -
Running Setup without user interaction -
Customizing features and user settings -
Distributing an Outlook profile
| Setup installs a default configuration on all computers to which this MSP file is applied. Users can modify most settings after the installation. |
| Edit the Config.xml file. | Required for the following customizations: -
Specifying the path to the network installation point -
Specifying languages to install -
Pointing Setup to a custom Config.xml or Setup customization file -
Copying the local installation source to the user's computer without installing Office -
Chaining additional products to the primary installation
| Setup installs the specified products and languages on all computers installed with this Config.xml file. Settings specified in Config.xml take precedence over duplicate settings in the Setup customization file. |
| Add options or properties to the Setup command line. | Available for only the following customizations: | Setup applies your customizations when it initially installs Office or when it runs in maintenance mode. You cannot set Windows Installer properties on the command line. |
| Use the Group Policy Object Editor Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in to specify policy settings. | Used to configure highly restricted or lightly managed configurations for user and computer settings. | Administrators use Group Policy to define configurations once and then rely on the operating system to enforce that state. Group Policy for computers is applied at computer startup and Group Policy for users is applied when users log on. Group Policy is also applied subsequently in the background on a periodic basis. |
Office Customization Tool
The Office Customization Tool (OCT) is built into the Setup program. You do not need to install a separate tool. Instead, you run Setup with the /admin command-line option to start the tool:
setup.exe /admin
Using the OCT, create a Setup customization file, which you store in the Updates folder at the root of the network installation point, Setup applies the file when it installs the relevant product. A Setup customization file is an expanded form of a Windows Installer MSP file. Each file is configured for a specific product, such as Microsoft Office Professional 2007 or Microsoft Office OneNote 2007. You do not need to specify the MSP file on the Setup command line. When you run Setup to install an Office product, Setup looks in the Updates folder for a customization file that corresponds to the product you are installing. As Setup installs the product, is applied the customizations from this file.
You can create more than one Setup customization file to configure Office for different groups or users. When you run Setup, you specify the appropriate customization file to use for each installation by using the Setup command-line option /adminfile, or by using Config.xml.
Config.xml file
The Config.xml file for each product is in the core product folder. For example, you find the Config.xml file for the Microsoft Office Standard 2007 in the Standard.WW folder. If you store all the 2007 Office system products and languages on the same network installation point (which is recommended), you can use the Config.xml file to identify which products and languages you want to install: you just point Setup to that Config.xml file.
If you are deploying different configurations to different groups of users, you can create unique Config.xml files for each group. You use the Setup command line to point to the file that you want. For example, you could use the following command line:
\\server\share\Office12\setup.exe /config \\server\share\Office12\Pro.WW\Config.xml
.gif) Note: |
|---|
| You must use a fully qualified path. Setup does not recognize relative paths with the /config option. |
Settings in Config.xml take precedence over settings in a customizable file and default settings contained in the Setup.xml and Package.xml files. Use a text editor such as Notepad to edit Config.xml.
To avoide errors in the XML Code, use a text editor such as Notepad to edit Config.xml. Do not use a general purpose XML editor, such as Microsoft Office Word 2007
Group Policy
Group Policy is an infrastructure that administrators can use to implement specific computing configurations for users and computers. Policy settings can also be applied to member servers and domain controllers within the scope of an Active Directory forest. Group Policy settings are contained in Group Policy objects (GPOs), which are linked to selected Active Directory directory service containers — sites, domains, or organizational units (OUs). The settings within GPOs are evaluated by the affected targets using the hierarchical nature of Active Directory.
To configure Group Policy settings in GPOs, administrators use the Group Policy Object Editor Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in from the Group Policy Management Console snap-in. The 2007 Office system policy settings are contained in Administrative Template files (.adm and ADMX files). You can download the Administrative Template files for the 2007 Office system from 2007 Office System Administrative Templates (ADM) in the Microsoft Download Center. For more information, see Group Policy overview (2007 Office).
Most of the settings available in the OCT are included in the Office .adm files, but the policy settings are recorded in different areas of the Windows registry. The 2007 Office system policy settings are stored in the Policies branch of the registry, and these settings have access control list (ACL) restrictions that prevent non-administrator users from changing them.