More than a few useful replies regarding updating Office. I summarize them
below. URLs supplied by the authors are probably wrapped to multiple lines, and
so they will have to be reconstituted (put back together) before they'll work
properly. I have supplied TinyURL links for the long ones.
Cheers,
Russ - NTBugtraq Editor
1. Howard Van Martin III wrote;
Application Objects via Zen in Novell gets right around this problem......
2. James Roche said;
When Microsoft Office 2000/XP/2003 is deployed through an Admin Point
installation, this issue does not exist.
When "sneaker-net" installations are the means of distribution, this is where
we run into the home-user experience.
Admin Point installations are not the simplest method of distribution and also
have the potential of being unkind to laptops or systems over slow links.
More <http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/2003/two/default.htm>
<http://tinyurl.com/42xy5> from the deployment pages.
3. Tony Dalton-Richards supplied;
Some research on Windows Installer would tell you that the solution is already
in hand, see;
<http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/msi/setup/what_s_new_in_windows_installer_version_3_0.asp>
<http://tinyurl.com/yt7hk>
Note the focus on patching solutions:
"Patch installation using Windows Installer 3.0 can be significantly faster
than with earlier versions. Patching using Windows Installer 3.0 only updates
files affected by the patch. Windows Installer 3.0 can install multiple patches
with a single transaction that integrates installation progress, rollback, and
reboots. Patches installed together can be uninstalled individually. The
installer can account for obsolete or superseded patches."
See also;
<http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/msi/setup/applying_major_upgrades_by_patching_the_local_installation_of_the_product.asp>
<http://tinyurl.com/3vqnp>
"When patching a client installation, the installer ignores the installation
source and proceeds to patch the files that are already installed on the user's
computer."
4. Paul Wakeford points out;
It would be nice if Office patches could be deployed without access to the
original media - but they can still be deployed via HFNetChkPro. You need to
create a new deployment template, specify the location of the Office files
(e.g. on your deployment server, where your clients can access it) and use that
template when pushing patches to the clients. Check the Help in HFNetChk -
'Office deployment' in the index.
5. Chris Selby <chriss@uptime.net> pitched in;
I used to have the same sort of trouble when attempting to deploy Office2000+
to all of my users. What is extremely useful is the Administrative install for
all Office products setup.exe /a. This lets you specify a network location for
your setup files with some fields already filled in. When a new patch comes out
you have to check for administrative installation instructions on the Knowledge
Base similar to this:
<http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;304165&Product=Off2kset>
<http://tinyurl.com/5ejhl>
Some patches my have the ability to update administrative installations, some
may not. In the interim, you can make the patches available or use SMS 32-bit
installer repackage feature to deploy the patches. However, if you use the
office administrative install feature and the network share is available at all
times your users should have acess to the installation files at all times. Hope
this helps. If you have questions please email me and I will be glad to assist
you.
6. Nathan Yelton chimed in with;
Why not download the full-file patches from
<http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/updates/default.htm>
<http://tinyurl.com/6g7vg> ? For Office 2000 SP3 and greater, Office XP SP2
and greater, and Office 2003, you can download the larger full-file patch files
and apply them to Office installations without using the original CD or
installation point. Note there are some caveats for Office 2000 at
<http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/updates/filehash2000.htm>
<http://tinyurl.com/6cjjk> (I've never actually tried it with 2000) and for
Office XP at <http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=828451>
<http://tinyurl.com/7yfot> .
7. Brian S. Bergin scribed;
I'm no programmer but my understanding is the MSI can be scripted to either ask
for or not ask for the original media. IMHO, MS did this in a vain attempt to
stop people from sharing CD's with Office on it. Problem is CD-R drives were
more expensive and less common in 1999 when O2k was being developed. With $30
CD-R drives today one will simply copy the CD if they're going to steal it. So
MS put activation in place and never bothered to rewrite the MSI installers
(BTW, MS does publish "full" installers for most patches that often bypass the
need for original media, but they're not available via Office Update).
I could be wrong, but there are plenty of MS and ISV apps out there that use
the MSI and don't require the original media to patch. Again, I'm no expert,
but SQL Server 2000's setup CD is full of .msi files and source media is not
required to patch it. IMHO, the caching of files for O2003 is the Office
team's lazy attempt at quashing the complaints about original media and patches.
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