[prathapml]

Here, we'll see how to automate install of office 2k3 and install through runonceEx registry keys.

Background:
1. I don't install this from winXP cd, you might do that if you have a DVD-writer. I install office from its own separate CD. The steps are the same, but I'm going to lead you through a manual start of office setup.
2. If you have the MS office system 2003 Professional edition (don't ask me where to get it, buy it), you know the 5 CDs are just bulls***. They collectively have just 1.04 GB of files.
3. which comes down to 575 MB if you make an optimized ISO9660 cd image through either MS's own cdimage.exe or UltraISO 6.52 (again, I won't cover the topic of making optimized ISOs here - search the forums).
4. Using this can enable you to make an MSO2k3pro AIO. Note that we don't use any Administrative install points, etc. here - it's just the plain normal CD.
5. But the steps are broadly the same to be followed, even if you have got an Administrative Install Point (with SP1 slip-streamed) made - but then, your AIO won't fit on a single CD anymore - since an Administrative Install Point is an uncompressed Install source, whereas the original CD has everything compressed (into CAB format).

5. A bare listing of my directory structure -

The first line without a file extension in each paragraph is a folder. "L:" is my CD drive letter.

L:\ReadMe.txt

L:\Disc1
L:\Disc1\PRO11.MSI
L:\Disc1\README.HTM
L:\Disc1\SETUP.EXE
L:\Disc1\SETUP.HTM

L:\Disc2
L:\Disc2\FP11.MSI
L:\Disc2\SETUP.EXE

L:\Disc3
L:\Disc3\SETUP.EXE
L:\Disc3\VISPRO.MSI

L:\Disc4
L:\Disc4\PRJPROE.MSI
L:\Disc4\SETUP.EXE

L:\Disc5
L:\Disc5\ONOTE11.MSI
L:\Disc5\SETUP.EXE

L:\more

L:\more\add-ons
L:\more\add-ons\o2k3rkt.htm
L:\more\add-ons\ork.exe

L:\more\automation
L:\more\automation\CD1.cmd
L:\more\automation\CD2.cmd
L:\more\automation\CD3.cmd
L:\more\automation\CD4.cmd
L:\more\automation\CD5.cmd
L:\more\automation\readme.txt
L:\more\automation\CD1.mst
L:\more\automation\CD2.mst
L:\more\automation\CD3.mst
L:\more\automation\CD4.mst
L:\more\automation\CD5.mst

L:\more\update
L:\more\update\Office2003-kb828041-client-enu.exe
L:\more\update\critical patches,updates.txt
L:\more\update\details.htm

What I'm going to assume here, is that the user who gets this disk wants to have 2 options -
1. Go into Disc1 folder (or disc2,3,4,5) and install Office the normal way (type product key,choose components,etc.).
2. Browse using Windows Explorer or a command prompt to the "L:\more\automation" folder and click on cdX.cmd (where X=cd number he/she wants to install).


Some more Assumptions:
1. The person creating this AIO cd of MSO2k3pro has already downloaded the update file, and the office 2003 resource kit.
2. An MST file with required options is already made and put into "cd-root-folder\more\automation" as cdX.mst.
3. You are reasonably familiar with the procedures detailed here, so as to be able to trouble-shoot minor errors.
4. You have the entire contents of each CD in the right folder (for example, you should have copied over all contents including hidden cab files as-they-are from CD1 to the "Disc1" folder. Similarly for all 5 CDs).

My post's getting too long........... will continue as the second post.

[prathapml]

My modified autorun.inf in the root of the CD:

[autorun]
OPEN=Disc1\SETUP.EXE /AUTORUN
ICON=Disc1\SETUP.EXE,1

shell\configure=&Configure...
shell\configure\command=Disc1\SETUP.EXE

shell\install=&Install...
shell\install\command=Disc1\SETUP.EXE

Just so that autorun functionality for CD1 is not lost.



My cd1.cmd in "L:\more\automation" folder:

@echo off
CLS
TITLE Microsoft Office 2003 Professional
COLOR 85
ECHO.
ECHO Please wait...
cd..
cd..
REM
SET KEY=HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx\

REG ADD %KEY% /V TITLE /D "Installing MS Office 2003 Professional Edition" /f

REG ADD %KEY%\010 /VE /D "Word, Excel, PowerPoint, InfoPath" /f
REG ADD %KEY%\020 /VE /D "  " /f

REG ADD %KEY%\030 /VE /D "Starting Setup..." /f
REG ADD %KEY%\030 /V 1 /D "\"%CD%\Disc1\setup.exe\" TRANSFORMS=\"%CD%\more\automation\cd1.MST\" /qb-" /f

REG ADD %KEY%\040 /VE /D "Applying Office Updates..." /f
REG ADD %KEY%\040 /V 1 /D "\"%CD%\more\update\Office2003-kb828041-client-enu.exe\" /Q" /f
REM
rundll32.exe iernonce.dll,RunOnceExProcess
ECHO.
EXIT

You might want to have "cmdow @ /hid" as one of the commands in the batch file if you are certain your CD will only be used on computers that have the "cmdow.exe" utility in their path.


My cd2.cmd:

@echo off
CLS
TITLE Microsoft Office 2003 Professional
COLOR 85
ECHO.
ECHO Please wait...
cd..
cd..
REM
SET KEY=HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx\

REG ADD %KEY% /V TITLE /D "Installing MS Office 2003 Professional Edition" /f

REG ADD %KEY%\010 /VE /D "FrontPage" /f
REG ADD %KEY%\020 /VE /D "  " /f

REG ADD %KEY%\030 /VE /D "Starting Setup..." /f
REG ADD %KEY%\030 /V 1 /D "\"%CD%\Disc2\setup.exe\" TRANSFORMS=\"%CD%\more\automation\cd2.MST\" /qb-" /f
REM
rundll32.exe iernonce.dll,RunOnceExProcess
ECHO.
EXIT

and so on........ customize the appropriate keys in the batch file for MS Project, Visio, & OneNote CDs also, and save as CD3.cmd, CD4.cmd, CD5.cmd.


That's it. now make the optimized cd ISO image and mount in Nero ImageDrive (or something similar) to test it.

Enjoy !

[stinkywea]

sounds great gonna have to give that a try

[prathapml]

And just a small clarification:

I see many of you want to make just a plain AIO of Office 2003, nothing more.
If so, you don't need all the processes set out above.
There's 2 ways:

#1
Just download a tool from microsoft, it's called cdimage. Read the help that comes up when you type "cdimage /?" in a command window.
Then, tell cdimage to make an iso image of the directory you have all your Office 2k3 CDs in (important: use the "-o" switch to optimize files).

#2
Download UltraISO 6.52 from ezbsystems.com and register it (hopefully, you'll do it legally without pirating it).
Then, drag-and-drop all the files you need to be in the Office 2003 AIO CD.
After that, click the "options" button in the toolbar to set an important setting for the CD - tick the "optimize" option. Confirm in that same dialog box that the "joliet" option is also ticked. Then, go to (File > Save As) and save as an .iso file with any name.


That's all, you are done with creating the specially made ISO file (using one of the above 2 ways). Then, burn that ISO to a CD.
Example : start Nero 6, go to the "Recorder" menu, click "Burn Image" and direct it to the location of your .iso file.

I hope the above info is easy enough.


Some info for advanced users to chew on-
http://www.MSFN.org/board/index.php?act=ST&f=19&t=14050

[baliktad]

There are a couple of issues to be aware of when you start creating your own Office install media.

First, the technical requirements. If you burn a copy of an Office CD to a folder in the root of a new CD, you will be able to complete fresh installs, and possibly even add/remove features, but you will not be able to use that CD to complete a repair install. Office setup is hardcoded to look for the .cab files in the root of the CD and in some cases will not let you specify an alternate installation source. By restructuring Office source files into \Disk1, \Disk2, etc. you are effectively denying yourself many of the benefits that Windows Installer was designed to give you. I would strongly advise you do NOT use this method if you do not understand the ramifications of what you are doing.

Secondly, the logistical side of creating an AIO CD. While I do agree that it is convenient to have as much content on a single disc as possible, it is not necessary in this case to use cdimage.exe or any other "magic" way of compressing the CD content by creating multiple links to single files. This method works best for adding similar-but-different content to a CD, like Home/Pro versions of Windows XP or the Windows 2000 variants, where you can locate each copy of the content in a separate directory.

If you examine the Office CD's you will notice that they are all very similar in structure and in fact contain many of the same files. Because so much code is shared amongst the Office applications this is a logical way of organizing the setup files. The method I detail below is what I call the "beef stew" method because much like a beef stew, you simply dump everything in.

As an example, let’s say you have a copy of Office Professional 2003 and Office FrontPage 2003 and you’d like to combine them into one disc. Copy the entire contents of the Office Pro CD to a new folder, let’s say D:\Off2003\CDRoot. Now rename setup.exe to setuppro.exe, and rename D:\Off2003\CDRoot\Files\Setup\setup.ini in the same manner, namely setuppro.ini. Now copy the contents of your FrontPage CD to the very same directory, replacing any duplicate files. Follow the same process for renaming setup.exe and setup.ini; I use setupfpg.exe and setupfpg.ini.

That’s it. You’re done. You have only marginally increased the size of your setup files, and you can burn the contents of the CDRoot folder directly to a CD, no optimizing required. You would then use setuppro.exe to start the Office Professional installation, or setupfpg.exe to start the FrontPage installation.

You can continue on in this way to add any additional Office 2003 applications or even suites. Just make sure to rename setup.exe each time. It is advisable but not necessary to rename setup.ini, and as long as you match the name of setup.ini to setup.exe (as above), that instance of setup.exe will use the corresponding setup.ini for any settings. The renamed setup.ini file is a good place to put your product key; simply add PIDKEY=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX in the [Options] section without any dashes.

For the record, I did not invent this method – Microsoft distributes Office 2003 in this way to its volume-license customers. One CD has the full Professional, Small Business, and Standard suites as well as standalone versions of Access, Excel, FrontPage, InfoPath, Outlook Professional and Standard, OneNote, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Word, with plenty of room to spare. I personally have added Visio Professional and Project Professional to my CD, although the Project CD doesn’t share as many files as the rest of the Office applications and so the CD is nearly 700 MB. Also, Project uses a different CD label, which means you may have difficulties repairing Project unless you modify the appropriate .msi file (not advisable).

Gotcha’s with this method:

You should not try to mix products from different channels. That is, don’t try and combine your volume-license copy of Office Professional with a retail copy of FrontPage. Although most of the files are still the same, they are named differently and you will not save much space by doing so.

As with any AIO CD, make sure you use the right CD label. All the Office apps share the same CD label (except Project… grr!) and you should stick with this one for your AIO CD to prevent problems with Windows Installer. Volume labels have no effect when installing from a hard disk or network location.

As always, feel free to reply with any comments or suggestions.

[prathapml]

>> You should not try to mix products from different channels.
True.

>> You will not be able to use that CD to complete a repair install.
False.
I've been able to carry out repairs with my method.

>> the "beef stew" method.....
The opinion may probably be mine alone, but I want to say that I prefer not to modify any files if possible. Just renaming the setup folder to "Disc1" is almost zero modification, and the lost autorun functionality can easily be rectified as I've previously said. Plus, I see no reason to unnecessarily swell my CD's size with identical files. I'd rather fill up the extra space I can obtain with extra cliparts, updates, add-ons, etc.


Thanks for the info about editing setup.ini (useful for home users, though I can't use it 'coz I can't afford to have the product key hard-coded with no option, my method offers an *alternative* fully unattended install).

>> make sure you use the right CD label.
that's absolutely right.
Though, makes no difference on volume license editions. I've my CD labeled "Off2k3Pro".

[baliktad]

Quote

You will not be able to use that CD to complete a repair install.
False.
I've been able to carry out repairs with my method.

I highly suggest that you carry out some more testing. Perhaps I should have qualified my statement with "under certain circumstances." Factors such as OS/SP level, MSI engine installed, other services running, the state of the registry, and particularly the presence of a valid Local Install Source all could affect the Windows Installer repair functionality. I won't purport that using the disc-per-folder method will prevent you from completing a repair install EVER, just that under certain circumstances I have verified that a repair install cannot be completed solely because the .cab files were not in the root of the CD.

Quote

The opinion may probably be mine alone, but I want to say that I prefer not to modify any files if possible. Just renaming the setup folder to "Disc1" is almost zero modification, and the lost autorun functionality can easily be rectified as I've previously said. Plus, I see no reason to unnecessarily swell my CD's size with identical files. I'd rather fill up the extra space I can obtain with extra cliparts, updates, add-ons, etc.

I also prefer to keep my files in an as-unmodified state as possible, mostly to stay within MS support boundaries. The reason I bring up this method is that it is an Microsoft Office Team-originated method that volume license customers legitimately use, and as such, is more likely to behave as expected. As to "unnecessarily swell[ing]" the CD, I'm not sure if you completely understand the beef stew method. Both the disc-per-folder method and beef stew method store the exact same amount of data on the CD. Using disc-per-folder, all duplicates are written only once during ISO-creation phase. Using beef stew, all duplicate files are simply overwritten during the prepare step (and thus still only written to the CD once). In fact, the disc-per-folder method possibly consumes more space on the CD due to more TOC entries. Also, the beef stew method can save hundreds of megabytes for a local hard disk or network location.

Quote

Thanks for the info about editing setup.ini (useful for home users, though I can't use it 'coz I can't afford to have the product key hard-coded with no option, my method offers an *alternative* fully unattended install).

I'd also suggest trying the setup.ini method of inserting the CD key. I use it for the following reasons: 1) Always provides me with a default key, so I will *always* be able to install with this disc, without worrying about lost or misplaced keys. 2) I can still change the key during an attended install through the GUI. My default key shows up but I can simply type the new key over it. 3) The key can also be overridden for unattended installs by using the PIDKEY=XXXXX... command line parameter with setup.exe. I feel that customizing the setup.ini file allows me the greatest flexibility with as little modification as possible to the setup source. Those uncomfortable with modifying the setup.ini file can copy the file, add the PIDKEY line in, and then use the /settings <path\toNew\setup.ini> command line parameter to direct setup.exe to use a specific setup.ini.

Quote

make sure you use the right CD label.
that's absolutely right.
Though, makes no difference on volume license editions. I've my CD labeled "Off2k3Pro".

Again, more testing in a wider variety of environments and situations will show that this is not always the case. There's a reason Microsoft tells us the volume label must match the label of the original Office CD. I've also installed from CD's that did not have this standard label, but the Windows Installer schema includes a whole table for Media, and guess what removable media is identified by? You got it, the volume label. Keep in mind we still want things to work when MSI3.0 comes out (in beta now, also included in XPSP2) and the entire patching story gets revamped.

[prathapml]

@baliktad -
Thanks for such a deep analysis and opinion.
We do really need different view-points to see anything in its entirety.

[brian]

I am a newbie at cdimage and I have a question

If I use cdimage to create this Office AIO, what switches do I need to use besides the "-o" switch ?

[gtaylor]

To me one of the best features of Office 2003 is the option of having a Local Installation Source. This maintains a copy of the Office installation files on the local computer which are then available for repairing, reinstalling, or updating Office.

Taking Advantage of a Local Installation Source

The [Cache] section of the SETUP.INI file controls the caching behaviour.

Setup Settings File

[prathapml]

brian, on Jan 29 2004, 04:47 AM, said:

I am a newbie at cdimage and I have a question

If I use cdimage  to create this Office AIO, what switches do I need to use besides the "-o" switch ?

The -j1 and -o options are all that is needed (in addition to -l "i.e., L" for label, like, -lO2k3 to set the CD label) I think.

Quote

To me one of the best features of Office 2003 is the option of having a Local Installation Source

O2k3 creates one by default during install. But if you want to write one to a CD and install from it, that defeats the purpose many people want - have all 5 CDs in original form on 1 cd, and then customize install (with MST) as per their wish.

[prathapml]

Hey everybody, just a heads-up here:

The ServicePack 1 for office2003 has been released. Go here to get the download links for all the updates:
Latest Office 2003 Updates
Go here and see the guide to slip-stream SP1 into your Office2003 CD:
guide


Now, while using the above will give you a good, Install source, it is not the same as a retail CD (which I show you how to make) which can be used for a lot more things. Also, be aware that after making an Admin-Install Point, and slip-streaming SP1, your installer CD's size will swell a lot. If you were to slip-stream SP1 into all the 5 CDs, and then make an optimized ISO image, it would turn out to be approx. 970 MB in size - therefore only suited for people with DVD-writers.