oem office 2003

[bbdpbarker]

Hi all,

If this isn't the right area, I appologize. I've been trying to get OEM Office SB 2003 installed without prompting for the product key initially. I was able to do this in Office XP with a particular switch that doesn't work in 2003. The reason I'm trying to do this is I'm trying to ghost these machines and don't want the key in the image. The only thing I've been able to do is copy the setup files, ghost, then install office afterwards. I know it's possible because I just received a pre-configured laptop from HP with Office 2003 already installed. When I opened one of the applications, it prompted for the product key.

Thanks!

[EliasXP]

Hi,

I don't think this is a problem. Download the Office 2003 Resource Kit Tools

and do this :

Execute ork.exe to install the Office 2003 Resource Kit Tools. Go to Start > Programs > Microsoft Office Tools > Microsoft Office 2003 Resource Kit Tools and select Custom Installation Wizard.

You'll be presented with the first screen of 22 to go through. It won't take too long to go through, because most of these options can be skipped:

Custom Installation Wizard

In step 2, choose the MSI file in your Office2003 folder. That would be PROPLUS.msi for Office2003 Professional with Frontpage (and PRO.msi without Frontpage)

Location of MSI File

Step 3: Create a new MST file

Step 4: Name it Unattended.MST in C:\XPCD\$OEM$\$1\install\Applications\Office2003\

Step 5: Leave Alone, unless you want to specify a different destination directory to install Office 2003 into.

Go through the rest of the steps to customize your Office 2003 installation, and skip sections that you don't understand.

At the end, you are shown your command line to run:

Completed the Custom Installation Wizard

This command will perform a silent installation of Office 2003 using the Unattended.MST file you created in the Custom Installation Wizard to set your customized options. But we don't want to use the exact command shown above as this wouldn't exist when installing from a CD, so we will need to change this when we add it to a batch file:

TRANSFORMS=C:\XPCD\$OEM$\$1\install\Applications\Office2003\Unattended.MST /qb-
changed to...
TRANSFORMS=Unattended.MST /qb-
» Section 2 - The Office 2003 Batch Command

As you read at the end of the last section, we needed to change the path in the TRANSFORM syntax in order for it to work. Below are the full batch commands you can use, so add these lines to your batch file:

ECHO.
ECHO Installing Office 2003 Professional
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\Applications\Office2003\setup.exe TRANSFORMS=Unattended.MST /qb-

That's it!

Found in the unattended installation guide

( http://unattended.msfn.org/xp/office2003_advanced.htm)

Greets,

EliasXP

[bbdpbarker]

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm working with OEM copies of Office and every copy has a different product key. This setup is something similar to what I have currently, Office doesn't install.

I'm currently just copying the setup files to the local hard drive, then imaging the computer, then installing Office. What I would like to accomplish is install Office, image the computer, then after all I have to do is type a product key in.

Using the ORK, step 8 asks to configure local installation source, if you skip this, then it prompts to enter product key after you execute the .bat file. I don't have a VLK to type in here.

Thanks

[prathapml]

I've been trying to get OEM Office SB 2003 installed without prompting for the product key initially. I was able to do this in Office XP with a particular switch that doesn't work in 2003. The reason I'm trying to do this is I'm trying to ghost these machines and don't want the key in the image. The only thing I've been able to do is copy the setup files, ghost, then install office afterwards. I know it's possible because I just received a pre-configured laptop from HP with Office 2003 already installed. When I opened one of the applications, it prompted for the product key.

Yes, you can do the same with your version as well.

Run the "setup.exe" with the switch "/QB". For example:

setup.exe /QB

This you can do from a coummand-prompt or batch-file.

When you do that, office will install silently, and upon first run of any of the apps which is part of Office Suite, it will ask for key.

Does it work now?

[bbdpbarker]

With that switch, it looks like it's going to install. It goes thru unpacking the files, then goes into the setup, but stops with the error, "you have entered an invalid product key".

Thanks again for the reply.

[prathapml]

hmm... bbdpbarker,

Then it looks like this topic would be of interest to you - reseal office.

Don't forget to post back with results!

[EliasXP]

yes , that should help you out.

[bbdpbarker]

I tested it and it worked for that machine, THANKS! (i went w/ option 3)I'm going to image it later this week and will try typing in a different product key than I used to install orignially. Thanks for your help and quick replies.