Let's create OFFICE 2003 unattended installer

[maniaq]

hey everyone

well the things aren't going wery good for me and some other people, the thing is that i can't figure where is the problem of creating installer of Office 2003, so i thought taht it would be better that other can help me and us .The "shrinking method" we use is not perfect because we can only install office only once on clean windows and that that, so i basically want to create better unattended, shrinked office and i need your help!!!

below yu can see the the main sites where can yu learn more about repackaging using adminstudio 6

1.Download Adminstudio 6 from here yu can use it for 30days, plus repackager is for FREE

2.Go to this site for learning how to use Repackager or download an office document

p.s. yu can also watch a demo muvie to find out how to use adminsrudio in here

the main problem is that repackager stops when it tries to load registry entries, but have have managed to go pass it sucsesfully, but only once, i can't get it pass no more,so i need your help.

other problem is that when i open word it sais that, ms word is not installer for this current user

the methots i tried:

installed word on clean windows, tried to install over transform, tried to install over the "shrinked office", tried to install with .net frameworks, tried to install where was no frameworks on system

so if anyone cares, please help me and us, i think that that many people would want to have there own shrinked office that would install and work on there system many times

i know that there will be many unknown errors on that installer, but it should work for that OS and computer that they created OFFICE 2003

[evilvoice]

I think this is a great idea, and I dont necessarily want to step on your toes, but you contradict yourself...the first paragraph you say that the current office shrinker problem is that you can only install on clean windows (which is false btw more on that later though) and in your last paragraph you state how this method will only work for that OS and computer??? so why exactly is your method going to be better?

Now for office shrinker comment I made...You can install office 2003 at any time. the reason a lot of people in that thread state to do it with a clean window install is because you may not install every machine the same way. Some may have .net some may not. If you build the office 2003 shrinked installer with .net installed, you better be sure that every machine you want office 2003 on has .net installed. The same is trun for other programs, hell you could do a whole unattended install and have all your other programs install before office 2003, then run the shrink method, create your shrinked.exe and run it at the end (the exe will be even smaller now because some dlls were installed with the unattended programs installed before. But again, if you shrink it like that you MUST make sure you install those programs on EVERY machine before you install office 2003. So this theory that office shrinker can only be done on a clean windows is false.

Edited August 19, 2005 by evilvoice

[maniaq]

I think this is a great idea, and I dont necessarily want to step on your toes, but you contradict yourself...the first paragraph you say that the current office shrinker problem is that you can only install on clean windows (which is false btw more on that later though) and in your last paragraph you state how this method will only work for that OS and computer??? so why exactly is your method going to be better?

Now for office shrinker comment I made...You can install office 2003 at any time.  the reason a lot of people in that thread state to do it with a clean window install is because you may not install every machine the same way.  Some may have .net some may not.  If you build the office 2003 shrinked installer with .net installed, you better be sure that every machine you want office 2003 on has .net installed.  The same is trun for other programs, hell you could do a whole unattended install and have all your other programs install before office 2003, then run the shrink method, create your shrinked.exe and run it at the end (the exe will be even smaller now because some dlls were installed with the unattended programs installed before.  But again, if you shrink it like that you MUST make sure you install those programs on EVERY machine before you install office 2003.  So this theory that office shrinker can only be done on a clean windows is false.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

maybe yu are right, yu see i cant tell everything in enlsigh what i want to say, so i may mistake,

.net is not only reason why shrinked office is not installed, i think there are more reasons, but the main thing of creating this installer, that it would install and it should work if it installed not like the "shrinked office", well i think so, if there's a way to create that installer?

[Alanoll]

I don't really see the point in this project honestly...

to a capture program to work, you need to install the program in a clean state (it shouldn't have been installed previously) which is also the same requirement for the shrinker if I remember correctly.

you won't be able to distribute your work, just instructions on how to repeat it.

the main problem is that repackager stops when it tries to load registry entries, but have have managed to go pass it sucsesfully, but only once, i can't get it pass no more,so i need your help.

The amount of registry entries that Office installs is massive and would appear as though it freezes the capture program.

A better route to take may be to directly edit the Office 2003 MSI file, and manually deleting the files that way. But this is the way the previous shrinker does it somewhat as well.

[maniaq]

A better route to take may be to directly edit the Office 2003 MSI file, and manually deleting the files that way. But this is the way the previous shrinker does it somewhat as well.

nop, if i would directly edit, that i wouldn'y need transfrom, in that case setup should work perfectly, but this is very and very hard work, because not only that i have to delete the information from msi file, i would also need seach and detele the files, but is it worth it?

[maniaq]

i have found another way to create office2003, now it works for sure, the size is 100MB, but that size can be changed, it it because the info in the transfrom mst file.

the way to do it

1.yu don't need to create any adminstrave point, the best way is to have a clean office2003 installer, that should have 95 .CAB files and ~9 other files including the .mst file and 2 folders

2.create the unattended.mst file

3.create a new folder(the best way is to do on a clean windows)

4.copy these files and folders:

a)PRO11.msi

b)setup.exe

c)unattended.mst

d)SKU011.XML

and this folder with subloder and one file:

e)FILES\SETUP\setup.ini

to that new folder

now create a new batch file with this code

setup.exe TRANSFORMS=Unattended.MST /qf

and run it

5.setup progress will apear and don't change nothing just install

6.when yu see the error, showing that .CAB file is missing, just copy that .CAB file to your created new folder and click retry, than yu see another error and do this until it stops showing yu the errors

7. yu should see that office installer is much smaller

well, i managed to get office in 100MB(with word, excell,powerpoint, picture manager)

good luck

p.s. use that installer with on a clean windows, with .net support, with no .net support and add few required .CAB files to get working fully

when yu do that do what ever yu want with installer, make it 7-zip swtichless.....

well that all, it's better to put into unattended CD 100MB that 400MB office installer

hope yu getted all right, ask me if something goes wrong, i will help yu, believe it is worth it

Edited August 24, 2005 by maniaq

[coconut]

works great!! 97.8mb with word, excel, powerpoint, access and some extras (proofing, fonts, clip art, graphs). no functionality lost from what ive tested and sp1 installed without a problem. very nice maniaq

ps. i needed to add 'SKU011.XML' to new office folder, other than that i followed your steps exactly. needed to copy 41 cab files out of the 95