Upgrading network installtion of 2000 to 2003

Hi guys. We have an administrative installation of Office 2000 Pro which is
delivered to our computers via a group policy software install. We are
planning to move to Office 2003 Professional in the next few months and would
like to continue deploying it in the same way to our computers.

Is there an established 'best practice' way of upgrading the current Office
2000 installation? We want to gradually roll it out to our machines and not
go for a big bang approach (eek!). What I have done to test, with limited
success, is:

1. Add a computer to a group that blocks the Office 2000 Pro install
package. This is to stop Office 2000 reinstalling when it is removed
2. Logon as admin on the computer and remove Office 2000 Pro Disk 1 and Disk
2 through Add/Remove programs. Reboot.
3. Move the PC into an OU that has the Office 2003 group policy which will
install Office 2003

The above works OK, but I am worried about losing macros, templates, etc in
the process. If anyone can help or knows of any white papers from MS then I
would appreciate your help. We are a school with limited numbers of IT staff
and have around 500 PCs and 12 terminal servers to get through so
automating/simplifying this process would be fantastic.

All the best,

Steven.

Hi Steven,

The MS Office Resource Kit can be helpful
http://microsoft.com/office/ork/2003
as can the deployment center best practices
information.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011353441033.aspx
http://microsoft.com/technet/desktopdeployment/


With Office 2000 replacement one thing to be aware of is that,
depending on edition, had more apps bundled in
the edition than Office 2003 does and the installation
will tend to leave in place an app that it can't replace
from the Office 2003 edition, so those you would want to
delete if you're using only Office 2003.

Depending on where you've stored your templates and documents
you should be able to retain their use in the new version
by setting the same file locations/pointers in the
Custom Installation Wizard's MST file for Office 2003.

==========
"stevenm" wrote in message ...
Hi guys. We have an administrative installation of Office 2000 Pro which is
delivered to our computers via a group policy software install. We are
planning to move to Office 2003 Professional in the next few months and would
like to continue deploying it in the same way to our computers.

Is there an established 'best practice' way of upgrading the current Office
2000 installation? We want to gradually roll it out to our machines and not
go for a big bang approach (eek!). What I have done to test, with limited
success, is:

1. Add a computer to a group that blocks the Office 2000 Pro install
package. This is to stop Office 2000 reinstalling when it is removed
2. Logon as admin on the computer and remove Office 2000 Pro Disk 1 and Disk
2 through Add/Remove programs. Reboot.
3. Move the PC into an OU that has the Office 2003 group policy which will
install Office 2003

The above works OK, but I am worried about losing macros, templates, etc in
the process. If anyone can help or knows of any white papers from MS then I
would appreciate your help. We are a school with limited numbers of IT staff
and have around 500 PCs and 12 terminal servers to get through so
automating/simplifying this process would be fantastic.

All the best,

Steven
--
Let us know if this helped you,

Bob Buckland ?:-)
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

Office 2003 Editions explained
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/office/editions.mspx