SUMMARY
This step-by-step guide describes how to create a customized
version of Microsoft Office XP to distribute to users who cannot install or run
Office over the network.
You can distribute a customized version of
Office by creating copies of the Office XP CD. This option requires that you
have the capability to create and distribute CDs.
back to the topCreating a Customized Copy of the Office XP CD
Office XP source files are compressed in a cabinet (CAB) file to
fit on the Office XP CD. You can copy the compressed files directly to the
network share rather than run Setup to create an administrative installation
point. This procedure creates an image of the CD in which the files remain
compressed. You do not enter the product key or accept the End-user License
Agreement on behalf of the users who will install Office XP from your network
share.
After the CD image is created on the network share, you can
customize it. The process is similar to customizing an administrative
installation point. For example, you can use the Custom Installation Wizard or
the Setup INI Customization Wizard as long as you point the wizards to the MSI
file on the compressed image. You can also customize files that reside outside
the Office XP CAB file, such as the OPC file that is used by either Setup or
the Removal Wizard to remove earlier versions of Office.
To create a
customized copy of the Office XP CD, follow these steps:
- Insert the Office XP CD into your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM
drive.
- In Windows Explorer, select all the folders on the CD. You
may need to display all hidden files so that you can see the entire contents of
the Office XP CD.
- Copy the contents of the CD to the network share.
NOTE: The complete CD image for Microsoft Office XP Professional with
FrontPage requires approximately 460 MB of space.
You can reduce the
amount of space required by omitting unneeded folders such as the Ork, SharePt,
and Msde2000 folders. If all of your users are running Microsoft Windows 2000
or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Windows Me), you can also omit the OSP
folder. The CAB file and core Office XP MSI files require approximately 230 MB
of free space. - Customize the CD image by creating one or more transforms
and modifying Setup.ini. You cannot accept the End-user License Agreement, but
if you run a quiet setup, users will not see it during installation.
- Copy the image from your hard disk to a CD and distribute
it to a user. For Setup to run properly from the custom CD, the volume label of
the CD that you create must match the volume label of the Office XP
CD.
back to the topTroubleshooting
You can use the CD that you create in the same way as you use the
original Office CD; however, Setup runs with your modifications rather than the
default settings. Note that when a user installs Office by using your custom
CD, the user cannot use the network as an alternate source for installing
on-demand features, repairing an installation, or running Setup in maintenance
mode. The user must use a compressed CD or the CD image on the network to
perform these tasks. Similarly, if a user installs Office XP from an
administrative installation point, the user cannot use the compressed Office XP
CD or your customized copy as a source.
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