OFFXP: Custom Maintenance Wizard Cannot Unhide Hidden Features (290171)

SYMPTOMS

When you update an Office installation by using a .cmw file created by the Custom Maintenance Wizard (CMW), any features that were originally hidden by a transform remain hidden. This is true even if you change the installation state of the hidden feature from, for example, Not Available to Run from My Computer in the .cmw file.

In this context, hidden means you right-clicked the feature in the Set Feature Installation States dialog box of the Custom Installation Wizard and then selected Hide. When a feature is hidden, you cannot see the feature in the Microsoft Office XP Setup dialog box.

CAUSE

When you hide a feature in a transform by using the Custom Installation Wizard (CIW), the Display attribute for the feature in the Feature table of the transform is set to 0 (zero). Even though you can create a .cmw file that installs the hidden feature, the Display attribute remains set to 0.

After the transform is applied during the initial Office installation, the transform cannot be modified or superceded. It is always applied to the locally cached package (.msi) by the Windows Installer before any operations take place. Furthermore, other .msi modifiers, such as updates, are applied before applying the transform, so the hidden state in the transform overrides any previous modification.

WORKAROUND

If you want to unhide a feature, do either of the following:

Uninstall Office. Then create a new transform where the feature is not hidden and run Setup with this transform. -or-
Uninstall Office and then run Setup without the transform.

MORE INFORMATION

Instead of hiding features by right-clicking and selecting Hide when you create a transform, set the feature's installation state to Not Available, Hidden, and Locked. This is an installation state that is new to the CIW and CMW for Office XP. It allows you to hide the feature and not install it at the same time. However, when you change the installation state of the feature by using the CMW, the feature is no longer hidden after the .cmw file is applied.