Group Policy

If your organization doesn't have a software distribution platform, you can use Active Directory Group Policy to deploy the Windows Installer-based builds of Office Professional. Follow these steps to do so:

  1. Create a network share on a server accessible to all computers that you will deploy Office Professional on. You'll need to enable the Share and NTFS permissions to allow Authenticated Users and Domain Computers.
  2. Copy the contents of the Office media (extracted ISO image, extracted compressed EXE, or CD/DVD media) to the share.
  3. If desired, run the Microsoft Office Customization Tool (OCT) by running setup.exe /admin in the folder where you copied the media in the previous step to choose which product options you want to install or configure. 

The OCT allows you to configure product keys, accept the End User License Agreement (EULA), configure additional network sources, provide the organization name to be used in the registration process, as well as some additional security and setup options. 

  1. Select Create a new Setup customization file and click OK:

You'll want to configure the unattended installation settings inside the OCT. If you don't want to run the OCT, you'll need to edit the configuration file manually to support a Group Policy-based installation.

  1. If you did not use the OCT to edit the configuration file, you'll need to edit it manually. The config.xml file is located in the source files folder where you copied the media. By default, it will be in \servershareOffice16ProPlus.WWconfig.xml. Locate the line that contains the <!-- <Display Level --> element and update it with the following settings:
<Display Level="none" CompletionNotice="no" SuppressModal="yes" AcceptEula="yes"/>

  1. Create a .bat script in Notepad that contains the path to the installation media and configuration file and save the file. For example, the contents of the script might be as follows:
@ECHO OFF
SET LOCATION="C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Office ootOffice16"
IF NOT EXIST ""%LOCATION%MANIFEST.XML"" \servershareOffice16setup.exe /config \servershareOffice16ProPlus.WWConfig.xml
A more complex example of the previous script sample is available at https://www.undocumented-features.com/2020/02/03/flashback-to-what-it-took-to-do-math-in-dos-batch-files/.
  1. On a domain controller, launch the Group Policy Management Console (gpmc.msc).
  2. Create a new Group Policy object in the Group Policy Objects container and edit it.
  3. Navigate to Computer ConfigurationPoliciesWindows SettingsScripts (Startup/Shutdown) and double-click on Startup:

  1. Click Show Files... to open the GPO folder under SYSVOL
  2. Copy the file you saved in Step 5 to this folder and click OK.
  3. In the Group Policy Management Editor, select File | Close.
  4. Link the GPO to a container that has one or more computers that you want to install Office 2016 to.

After configuring a Group Policy and linking it to a container that has computers in it, restart one of the computers. Group Policy should trigger the Office installation.

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