Hey experts, I'm in charge of upgrading our client pcs from Office 2003 to Office 2007. I basically need a simple answer here. I don't have SMS and I'm hesitant to use BDD.. and was thinking of pushing this out thru GPO but read that there were issues with this as well?
What's the best (ahem simplest) way to push Office 2007 to all our pcs? Would it be logon script, straight GPO installation?
I'm relatively new to GPO and have only done some minor things here and there so I need a dumby down version here. I don't care too much about the customization besides the basics (automatic serial key, silent install)
From what I understand:
1) GPO - configure Config.xml and create GP and link to computer OU. What security setting do I need to configure to get this working? I'm confused as to what privileges are needed - authorized users, computers?? As I understand it, this doesn't remove Office 2003 but installs beside it?
2) Script - is this more reliable as we could possibly test for existance of Office 2k3/2k7 and install from there? Examples?
3) SMS - I don't have SMS so no go.
4) BDD - or WIMs.. I'd rather not create an image just to get push out Office 2k7. I've had issues with BDD in the past and wouldn't like to use it until I get a full grasp on how to actually use and understand it properly.
Please don't start throwing me the standard links to MS Tech websites on Office 2k7 GPO deployment.. I've read them... =/
I have run some test GPOs with Office 2007 on a few machines but it doesn't seem to be running.. (i had it run once on my pc (with Office 2k7 already manually installed on it, GP kicked in and I saw the dialog boxes stating it's installing but came to find it out actually uninstalled my Office 2007 after reboot) so would appreciate any help you can offer.
My config.xml looks like this so far.. real basic...
<Configuration Product="Enterprise">
<Display Level="Basic" CompletionNotice="No" SuppressModal="Yes" AcceptEula="Yes" />
<PIDKEY Value="ABACSDSFSDFDF" />
<USERNAME Value="User" />
<COMPANYNAME Value="MyCompany" />
<DistributionPoint Location="\\swn005\Softwar
e\Installa
tion Software\Office\Office 2007 Enterprise" />
<Setting Id="Reboot" Value="IfNeeded" />
<!--- <Command Path="msiexec.exe" Args="/i \\Software\Installation Software\Office\Office 2007 Enterprise\Enterprise.WW\E
nterpriseW
W.msi" QuietArg="/q" ChainPosition="after" Execute="install" /> --->
</Configuration>
BTW if i'm doing this via GP.. do I need to do something security wise to allow this to occur? I read conflicting things about adding Computernames vs Users to the security filter? (again i know nothing about that either). Why would I need to add computernames since I already linked the GP to a computer OU?! That didn't seem to make sense to me.
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