Below is a very basic config.xml that is the same as doing a custom install, selecting all of Microsoft Office to install locally and then disabling just HTML Source Editing's Web Debugging.

To deploy Office 2007 via GPO, xcopy the source cd to shared folder on the server, edit the config.xml file (located in the version.WW folder in the shared folder location), and replace it's contents with the config.xml below. Then simply create a GPO software install as you normally would with previous Microsoft Office versions, but without a .MST.

When deploying via GPO, the MSI finishes running, and Windows continues on with the next new queued software installation (if there is any), but Office 2007 is not technically installed at this point. In the background is a Windows service called "Office Source Engine". This is the actual installer for Office 2007, not the MSI file. All the MSI appears to do is generate the MSOCache (which is mandatory and cannot be removed) and installs "Office Source Engine" which then starts and does the actual Office 2007 installation.

Normally this shouldn't be a problem, except when plugins for Office (such as Symantec Antivirus or the SMSMSE Premium Antispam plugin) are deployed immediately after Office 2007 via GPO. If Office 2007 is not installed, then the plugins may not install correctly.

As a rule of thumb, I guess it would be best to ensure Office 2007 is the first application to deployed and any applications that plug into Office 2007 are the last applications to be deployed to ensure Office 2007 exists correctly on the machine prior to the plugins being installed.

dcc

--- begin cut & paste of config.xml here ---

<!-- Microsoft Office 2007 config.xml template -->

<!-- Created by Dean Colpitts - Members IT Group - 2007.01.12 -->

<!-- for use with Microsoft Group Policy Installations of Office 2007 -->

<!-- Please fill in the correct Product, PIDKEY, USERNAME and COMPANYNAME values prior to deployment -->

<Configuration Product="Standard"> <!-- Microsoft Office 2007 Version (determined by the folder.WW name) -->

<Display Level="None" CompletionNotice="No" NoCancel="No" SuppressModal="Yes" AcceptEula="yes" />

<!-- Valid Level Values Level="None" | "Basic" | "Full"(default) -->

<!-- Valid CompletionNotice Values CompletionNotice="Yes" | "No"(default) -->

<!-- Valid SupressModal Values SuppressModal="Yes" | "No"(default) -->

<!-- Valid NoCancel Values NoCancel="Yes" | "No"(default) -->

<!-- Valid AcceptEula Values AcceptEula="Yes" | "No"(default) -->

<PIDKEY Value="YOURLICENSEKEY" /> <!-- Product Key with no dashes -->

<USERNAME Value="YOURUSERNAME" /> <!-- User Name -->

<COMPANYNAME Value="YOURCOMPANYNAME" /> <!-- Company Name -->

<OptionState Id="ProductFiles" State="Local" Children="force" />

<OptionState Id="WebDebugging" State="Absent" Children="force" />

</Configuration>

--- end cut & paste of config.xml here ---

Using the Office Customization Tool in the 2007 Office system

Similar to creating a transform in Office XP and 2003 using the Custom Installation Wizard (CIW) from the Office Resource Kit (ORK) you can customize Office 2007 installations by using the Office 2007 Customization Tool (OCT).

The OCT can be launched by running setup.exe with the /admin switch and it is no longer necessary to download the ORK to obtain this functionality as it is now built into the base setup routine.

Creating a Custom Installation with the OCT

Unlike previous versions of Office where the CIW created a transform (.MST), the OCT creates a .MSP file that is used to apply custom settings to an Office 2007 installation.

To launch the OCT run the following command:

setup.exe /admin

This will launch the OCT UI which is similar to the CIW in previous versions of Office and will guide you through the various installation options that will be saved in the .MSP file.

The Office 2007 setup routine can be ran against the .MSP file created with the OCT by doing the following:

1. setup.exe

The custom installation can be invoked by running setup.exe with no commandline parameters if the custom .MSP file was saved in the Updates folder off the root of the installation directory. In the Office 2007 installations all .MSP's located in the Updates folder are applied during setup making it easy to add updates to the base installation as they become available. This is easier than the previous method of slipstreaming updates and patches into the Office setup routine by applying patches to an administrative installation point. Instead with Office 2007 you simply have to copy the .MSP files to the Updates folder and setup will process them during the installation routine.

2. setup.exe /adminfile <Fully qualified path to the custom .MSP>

If the custom .MSP created with the OCT wasn't saved to the Updates folder you can run setup against it by adding the /adminfile switch and pointing to the network location of the .MSP.

i.e. setup.exe /adminfile \\server\share\custom\custom.msp

The Beta Version can be installed unattended relatively easy:

1. Extract the file downloaded from Microsoft

OPPLUS-EN.EXE /extract:<PATH>

2. Edit file config.xml within the <PATH>\Pro.WW directory

3. run setup.exe

Regarding the config.xml:

To get the setup unattended, the following switches have to be set:

<Display Level="none" CompletionNotice="no" SuppressModal="yes" AcceptEula="yes" />

PIDKEY, USERNAME and COMPANYNAME have to be set as well.

The options which should be installed can be extracted from each setup.xml file within each programs directory.

For example:

<OptionState Id="ACCESSFiles" State="Local" Children="force" /> //access

<OptionState Id="OUTLOOKFiles" State="Local" Children="force" /> //outlook

<OptionState Id="PubPrimary" State="Local" Children="force" /> //publisher

<OptionState Id="AceRepl" State="Local" Children="force" /> //access db Engine replication

<OptionState Id="CAGFiles" State="Local" Children="force" /> //Clip Organizer

<OptionState Id="MSSOAP3" State="Local" Children="force" /> //SOAP toolkit

<OptionState Id="OsaNonBoot" State="Local" Children="force" /> //new,open office docu lnks

<OptionState Id="ProofingTools_1036" State="absent" Children="force" /> //french

<OptionState Id="ProofingTools_3082" State="absent" Children="force" /> //spanish

<OptionState Id="WISPFiles" State="Local" Children="force" /> //handwriting

<OptionState Id="DocServicesFiles" State="Local" Children="force" /> //docu update util

<OptionState Id="HTMLSourceEditing" State="Local" Children="force" /> //script editor

<OptionState Id="DocumentImagingUtils" State="Local" Children="force" /> //scanning,ocr,indexing

<OptionState Id="OISFiles" State="Local" Children="force" /> //picture manager

<OptionState Id="OSESupp" State="Local" Children="force" /> //sharepoint support

<OptionState Id="QueryFiles" State="Local" Children="force" /> //msQuery

<OptionState Id="VisioPreviewerFiles" State="Local" Children="force" /> //visio viewer

<OptionState Id="XDOCSFiles" State="Local" Children="force" /> //infopath

This installs pretty much everything.