Office 2003 deployment w/o volume key

Hi all,

I want to do a fully automated Office 2003 deployment, only trouble is
that I have the OEM Version of Office 2003 instead of the Select or Open
with a volumekey, and so have to use a unique key for every computer.

For Windows XP (same issue) this is not much trouble, since

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro...on130121120120

gives me generic keys to do the hands-off installation of the OS and
scripts to do the activation, or I can use the UDP-Files to set the
unique key for each workstation and use "AutoActivate = Yes" in the
unattend.txt.

For the Office installation I found no such things. I probably could
write some script to insert a unique key depending on the computername
into the setup.ini (or simply create one setup.ini per computer) but I
still have to activate the copy.

Does someone know of a method to do this?

Thanks,

Uli

RESOLUTION:
============
Creating a transform by using the Custom Installation Wizard
When you install Office 2003 from an administrative installation point or
compressed CD image, you can customize the Office configuration that is
installed on users' computers by applying a Windows Installer transform
(MST file). Many of the customizations that you make in Setup.ini or on the
command line can also be made in a transform, but some tasks are better
handled in a transform. For example, a transform is typically used to set
default installation states for Office features or to specify default
application settings.

You create a Windows Installer transform by using the Office Custom
Installation Wizard. The transform contains the changes that you want to
make to the Windows Installer package (MSI file). When you apply the
transform during the installation, your modifications become the default
settings for anyone who runs Setup from your installation image. If you run
Setup in quiet mode (with no user interaction), your selections define
precisely how Office is installed on users' computers.



----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----


Toolbox The Office 2003 Editions Resource Kit core tool set includes the
Custom Installation Wizard, which is installed by default when you run the
Office Resource Kit Setup program. For more information, see Custom
Installation Wizard in the Toolbox.



----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----


For information about how to set options on each page of the Custom
Installation Wizard, see Custom Installation Wizard in the Office 2003
Editions Resource Kit Reference.

When to use a transform
A Windows Installer transform is most useful when you want to make
extensive customizations, particularly customizations that you cannot
readily make by using the Setup command line or Setup settings file. By
creating multiple transforms, you can also install different Office
configurations to different groups of users from the same installation
image.

When you create a transform, the Custom Installation Wizard allows you to
do the following:

Define the path where Office is installed on users' computers.
Accept the end-user license agreement (EULA) and enter a product key on
behalf of users who are installing from a compressed CD image.
Define the default installation state for Office 2003 applications and
features.
For example, you can install Microsoft Office Word 2003 on the local
computer, but set Microsoft Office PowerPoint® 2003 to be installed on
demand or run from the network. You can also hide and lock features so that
users cannot make changes after Office is installed.

Add your own files and registry entries to Setup so that they are installed
with Office.
Modify Office application shortcuts, specifying where they are installed
and customizing their properties.
Define a list of servers for Office to use if the primary installation
source is unavailable.
Specify other products to install or programs to run on users' computers
after Setup is completed.
Configure Microsoft Outlook.
For example, specify a default user profile.

Specify which previous versions of Office are removed.
You can also create transforms for chained Windows Installer packages,
including the MUI Packs.



----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----


Note Office 2003 Setup automatically matches MUI Pack feature
installation states to the corresponding features in the core English
version of Office. If you specify different installation states for MUI
Pack features in a transform, you must set the NOFEATURESTATEMIGRATION
property to override the default matching behavior.



----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----


How to apply a transform during Office installation
For users to install Office with your customizations, you must specify the
name and path to the transform by setting the TRANSFORMS property on the
command line or by adding an entry to the [MST] section of the Setup
settings file.

For example, to direct Setup to use the transform Custom.mst (stored in the
same folder as Setup.exe), you use the following Setup command line:

setup.exe TRANSFORMS=custom.mst


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----


Note If you misspell the TRANSFORMS option on the command line as
TRANSFORM (singular), then Setup returns an error and your transform is not
applied.



----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----


This step is equivalent to adding the following entry to the [MST] section
of Setup.ini:

MST1=Custom.mst
You can specify a transform for chained packages, too, in the appropriate
ChainedInstall_n section of Setup.ini. (Note that the property used to
specify a transform for a chained package in Setup.ini differs from the
property used for the core Office package.) For example:

[ChainedInstall_1]
MST=French.mst
If you create unique transforms for different groups of users, you must
specify — on the command line or in Setup.ini — which transform to use. For
example, users in your Accounting department might need all the add-ins
included with Microsoft Office Excel 2003, and users in the Engineering
department might need a custom set of Microsoft Office Access 2003
features. In this scenario, you can create different transforms that
specify different installation states for Excel and Access features, and
then create two shortcuts on the installation image by using the following
command lines:

setup.exe TRANSFORMS=off11eng.mst
setup.exe TRANSFORMS=off11act.mst
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
LINKS:
======
http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/...ch4/DepB02.htm
HTH
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

vishal subramaniam (msft) wrote:


RESOLUTION:
============
Creating a transform by using the Custom Installation Wizard

Thanks, but my problem is not how to do the deployment (I know the
setup.ini and MST methods), my problems are

1) how can I provide a unique product-ID for each computer

2) how can I automate the Office 2003 activation across the Internet.

I think, 1) is not a big deal since I can extract the correct key for
the computer that is currently installed and put it (PIDKEY=[string])
into the setup.ini by some VBS-Magic.
For 2) I found no solution. Windows XP activation can be automated by
using WMI (win32_WindowsProductActivation) but as far as I know there is
no corresponding method for Office 2003.

Uli