l33t

Hi, you can copy all files to a directory. However the name of the directory may not exceed five characters, as otherwise the paths will become to long for the setup to succeed. Unattended install is a bit complex. You need to manually install the prerequisites, then VS.NET and MSDN. I did the setup the following way: Prerequisites: start /wait msiexec.exe /qn /i %systemdrive%\vs71\wcu\bootstrap.msi REBOOT=ReallySuppress start /wait msiexec.exe /qn /i %systemdrive%\vs71\wcu\weccom.msi REBOOT=ReallySuppress start /wait %systemdrive%\vs71\wcu\mdac27sp1\mdac_typ.exe /q:a /c:"dasetup.exe /Q /N" start /wait %systemdrive%\vs71\wcu\jsharpredistcore\vjredist.exe /q:a /c:"inst.exe /q /l" VS.NET 2003: start /wait %systemdrive%\vs71\setup\setup.exe /UnattendFile "%systemdrive%\vs71\setup\vs7.ini" /CreatedTemp /NoExclude /InstalledFrom "%systemdrive%\vs71\setup" MSDN: start /wait msiexec.exe /qn /i %systemdrive%\vs71\msdn\msdn.msi SETUP_EXE=yes ADDLOCAL=ALL This installs MSDN completely and VS.NET according to my administrator setup preparation. Consult the setup document in HTML files on the CD. Regards, l33t

There are some security related issues. Microsoft is preparing a service pack for the .NET frameworks 1.0 and 1.1. The issues pop up if XP is running on machines with NX support, some stuff with the Windows Firewall and some other "new" features. There is nothing which prevents .NET v1.0 or v1.1 frameworks from installing and most apps will run without issues. As always Microsoft doesn't really specify what the problems are.

@RichTJ99 Can you post the error message being displayed to you? l33t

You should be able to run it this way: msiexec.exe /lv* C:\officesetup.log /i C:\office2003\pro11n.msi TRANSFORMS=C:\office2003\unattended.mst /qb- Hope this works for you. l33t

For the MSI switches, simply execute msiexec.exe /? and you will get a window with a description of all switches and their meaning. For InstallShield setups you can also try /?. Some of them tell you something, some don't. Regards, l33t

These are the switches I used: start /wait %systemdrive%\install\microsoft\wmp\mpsetup.exe /Q:A /C:"setup_wm.exe /Q:A /R:N" I renamed the original setup to mpsetup.exe, since I replaced the WMP 9 install. Regards, Michael

@RichTJ99 You need to save and exit Orca for testing. It keeps a lock on the MSI file and all changes are not really stored until you exit it. If it still doesn't work for you try the following: msiexec.exe /lv* C:\officesetup.log /i <<name+pathofofficeMSI>> TRANSFORMS=<<name+pathoftransform>> /qb- Let the install run. At some point it will fail as you described above. Now open C:\officesetup.log and scroll down to the end of the log file. You should see the detailed error message and the last action, which was executed. This last action most likely caused the error. Regards, l33t Edit: How did you execute the installer? I am executing the MSI directly.

Hi mazin, you do know that the setup.exe invokes the Office.MSI? And the Office.MSI performs a set of checks internally, e.g. checking for the /qn or similar switches to prevent silent installs according to SKU. Basic process (as I understand it) 1. setup.exe invokes msiexec with the office.msi 2. office.msi installs setup runtime files and reads the SKU.xml file 3. user enters/setup.ini provides serial number 4. serial gets matched to an SKU edition 5. The MSI tests if a silent/transformed/... install is possible with the SKU ... and barfs if it isn't allowed to. Actually there are 7 (as I see it) checks made to determine if the current installation scenario is valid/allowed or not. I don't understand all of them yet, but these two were obvious. The other question is: Is everything, which is controllable via the custom installation wizard also controllable by the setup.ini? Regards, l33t

@mazin Does this work also for the Basic, Standard, Student and Professional Editions? If so I'd care if you could elaborate out more... Regards l33t

There is a wizard to store personal settings. It creates an OPS file. This should contain all the stuff you need. The wizard is installed with office. The only thing I don't know is how to automate the import of the resulting OPS file. Regards, l33t

Hey no problem dude, here is a simpler explanation: An MSI file is basically specifies commands which taken together build an installation routine. There are two commands in the installation, which check the ability to silently install and run a transformed install. (There are of course more, but these are the only two which disturb you from reaching your silent install.) The silent installation is our goal, however to reach it you must make a transform to "configure" office to install only the stuff you want. Now the only thing you need to do is turn the two "bad" commands off. This prevents the error message you were seeing in the first place and will allow the installation routine to continue. All installation commands are listed in a table called "InstallExecuteSequence". You need an editor for MSI files, open the main MSI file for your Office installation. (It is named something like PRO11 or STD11...) Remove the two commands I listed in the other topic and thats it. Afterwards you can run the tutorial provided MSFN using the Custom Installation Wizard. If you follow my last reply in the other topic on how to obtain Orca, you are all set to edit the file and have a silent install. You simply open Orca, tell it to open the office MSI file, choose the "InstallExecuteSequence" from the list on the left, find the "SkuredQuiet" entry, delete it and find the "SkuredCIW" entry and delete it. That's it. Any more questions? Regards, l33t

Hi, why don't you try it the way I posted in another topic? Sure it involves modifying the MSI to get the right back to make an unattended install, but it gives you the benefit of using Office and the Custom Installation Wizard even on your edition of office 2003. And it makes a perfect silent install. Regards, l33t

@nodiaque The tutorial presented there only works for the Enterprise or VL Editions of Office. The above tutorial should work on any edition. I've tested it on the standard and student editions. @RichTJ99 Short how-to about editing MSI files for those, who don't own InstallShield or alike... 1. Go to Microsoft Platform SDK Update 2. Click on the link "Windows Installer SDK" on the left. 3. Click on the link "Install this SDK" on the right. 4. Follow installation instructions carefully. After installation is complete you should have a folder Microsoft SDK in your %ProgramFiles% directory. Navigate to the Bin folder in it. You should see a file Orca.msi inside it. Install Orca. This will add a new shortcut in your start menu to Orca, a simple msi editor. After installation you can process the tutorial above. Hope this helps you. Surely helped me. Regards, l33t

Hi @All, as we now from the Office Resource Kit Documentation, only the Enterprise Edition acquired through a non-retail channel (such as MSDN or Select) can be installed silently or without a transform. I'll show you that this is not quite true, but rather a feature of Office... If you do not want to violate your EULA or modify the installation source of Office, do not read past this line. The following text illustrates the process the Office Setup takes to distinguish the Office Editions and prevent the silent/CIW driven installation. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Microsoft distinguishes the office edition by an SKU XML file and a different main MSI file. Upon entry of the product key the installation determines the appropriate edition and available features (such as transforms and CIW) from the sku xml file. My first idea was to simply modify the sku xml file, but there is a file signature check in place to prevent the modification. So this was obviously not an option... My next step was to run the MSI with full logging (msiexec.exe /lv* <<logfile>>) to see how the checks were made and indeed there are a couple of checks made via custom actions in the MSI: - SkuredQuiet - SkuredCIW The first determines if a silent install is in progress and if it is allowed in the edition. The second determines if an install using a transform via the custom installation wizard is allowed/currently running. So: To make a silent/CIW driven installation work, simply remove the above two custom actions from the InstallExecuteSequence using your favorite MSI editor from the Office MSI file, create the CIW transform and install as the CIW tells you once you finished. (Tutorial available on unattended.msfn.org) Final words: I am sure using this approach to install Office violates your EULA. I don't know if there are any side-effects to using this approach, however it works for me. Office and McAfee VirusScan were my troubles and this solution worked to automate the Office install. Have fun! l33t P.S.: For those who do not own an MSI Editor: There is a free one part of the Microsoft Windows Installer SDK, which is freely available for download from the platform sdk update site. It includes an orca.msi, which installs a simple MSI editor. I used the editor to modify my office MSI file.