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Deploying Office 2007 with GPSI is not for everyone—but it's possible

  • Artigo

Because of some comments I've received, I just wanted to clarify that the Group Policy downloads I’ve mentioned before are for setting policies to enforce users' Office configurations, not for actually deploying Office 2007. Deploying Office 2007 with Group Policy Software Installation (GPSI) is not recommended for the majority of installations. A good alternative that allows you to deploy with Group Policy is using Group Policy to assign computer startup scripts. With this method, you use the Office Customization Tool (OCT) to customize the installation, modify the Config.xml file to add languages or other customizations, create simple scripts or batch files for Office 2007 deployment, and use Group Policy to assign the startup scripts. For more information about using this method to deploy with Group Policy, see this article in the Office Resource Kit.

While previous versions of Office could deploy well with GPSI, Office 2007 deployment has limitations related to the following:

  • Ability to apply customization via MSP files (OCT)
  • Customizations have to made via Config.xml, which only provides limited functionality for this
  • GPSI uses MSI packages, and Office 2007 uses Setup.exe
  • Ability to schedule installations

For more information, see our ORK articles, Use Group Policy Software Installation to deploy the 2007 Office system and Use Group Policy to assign computer startup scripts for 2007 Office deployment.

Deploying with GPSI works better in a smaller environment. For better results in mid- to large-sized environments, consider using another enterprise deployment tool, if you have one already deployed in your organization, such as:

· Systems Management Server (SMS)

 

· System Center Essentials 2007

 

· System Center Configuration Manager 2007

 

· Non-Microsoft software deployment and system management software

· Using Group Policy to assign startup scripts

GPSI deployment is still possible, however, but will require changes and testing, as described in the above articles. For organizations that don't have GP or other deployment software and who are interested in automating their deployments, see my Office 2007 deployment scripts post.

- Andrea Weiss

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    If you have SMS, it's a good alternative to GPSI, and has more advanced management features. Customers who don't have SMS have been successful with creating startup scripts and using Group Policy to assign them, as shown in this ORK article: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179134(TechNet.10).aspx.

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    [Darren Mar-Elia is a GP MVP and runs the excellent site, http://www.gpoguy.com — a great resource for anyone responsible for Group Policy. He and Derek Melber (also a GP MVP) contributed to the Windows Group Policy Guide for Windows Server 2003, which Derek Melber updated to become the Windows Group Policy Resource Kit: Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista. Find out more about the book at http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/9556.aspx. Nice work!] I know you weren’t looking for a shameless plug, but these are great resources! I should clarify that customers have had success with deploying with GPSI, and the product team has been active in trying to support these deployments. I’ve heard the negative feedback at the conferences and customer visits I’ve been to, and so has the product team. I’ll do some research and see if I can use any of the successful deployments as examples for future postings, to provide tips and lessons learned for others. We all welcome feedback, positive or negative, and do our best to respond to it (I can tell from your blog posting that I may get a lot on this one). There are limitations that make deploying with other methods more desirable. It could still be a viable alternative for smaller organizations. I’m putting up another post with details from one of our TechNet articles about when GPSI can be a good solution and what the limitations are.

  • Anonymous
    May 22, 2008
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    May 22, 2008
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    May 22, 2008
    Andrea- I appreciate your providing as much information as possible to folks on this. Anything the product team can do to improve the use of GPSI for O2K7 deployments will definitely be a plus! Darren

  • Anonymous
    May 25, 2008
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    May 27, 2008
    Removing GPO deployment to flog SMS to more customers is a very poor standard to set. Considering that the Office team is normally irritatingly independent in not supporting the rest of the MS standards (read GPO configs), pushing SMS as the only deployment method is very poor. I know it's one reason I don't recommned upgrading to my corporate customers.

  • Anonymous
    May 28, 2008
    Agree with all the comments. This has caused a lot of people a lot of problems and for what? The built in facilities for software deployment are adequate for many organizations so why break them?

  • Anonymous
    May 28, 2008
    I am vastly disappointed in Microsoft move to this new deployment method.  The old method was fantastic, widely known and used why does the upgrade roll back the installation method clock to Office 97 territory. Also what is up with the 'update' method. What is the point of installing the full old version first and then wasting more time installing the service pack over the top of it.  Again this is a massive let down when compared to the Office 2000 and Office 2003 deployment methods. Please Microsoft, bring back integration and bring back proper GPO deployment and save us all from this freshly prepared distribution nightmare packaged in Office 2007.

  • Anonymous
    May 29, 2008
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    May 29, 2008
    I too am disappointed that you guys broke the easy way of installing office 2007 via GPO.  Like other people here i don't want to use other methods to deploy office. it certainly has stop us from rolling out office 2007. We are only a small school 500 terminals a lot of laptops we would appreciate if you could fix this so office can be deployed again via a GPO again

  • Anonymous
    June 11, 2008
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 14, 2008
    Guys, please bring back GPSI in the next major release of office. Becaause of this, we're not doing automated upgrades to 2007 but reviewing it on a per-user basis.