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Posts Tagged Group Policy

Office 2010 – Deployment Options

Feb 4

Posted by Justin in Office 2010, Technology Related, Windows General | Comments off

As Office 2010 gets nearer RTM (another phase of releases went out the other day to TAP customers) many of us need to begin to think about how we’re going to deploy it.  Good news is that Microsoft has taken the thought out of the what’s and how’s and put it all together for us in a simple document.  Even better, they’ve given us three options – a PDF, an XPS or even a Visio (what the PDF and XPS were made from, no doubt).

In short, there are five ways to deploy Office 2010:

As with anything, each has its advantages and disadvantages, all outlined for you and downloadable from here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=85607061-5eb2-4659-afc5-5d942b84a024&displaylang=en

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Deploying Office 2010 via Group Policy & Scripts

Feb 4

Posted by Justin in Office 2010, Technology Related, Windows General | Comments off

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(Source: Deployment Options for Microsoft Office 2010)

Overview

Administrators can use Group Policy to assign computer startup scripts to deploy Office 2010. A script can be written in any language that is supported by the client computer. Windows Script Host-supported languages, such as VBScript and JScript, and command files are the most common.

Advantages
  • Leverages Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) and Group Policy infrastructure.
    AD DS handles the elevation of privileges required for application installation.
    Administrators can use a similar scripting process to apply security updates and service packs for each computer in the domain or organizational unit.
    A script can be written in any language that is supported by the client computer, such as VBScript and JScript, which are Windows Script Host-supported languages.
Limitations
  • The product installation is not managed in the same way as Group Policy Software Installation (GPSI).
  • Group Policy invokes the script and has limited awareness of the installation state thereafter.
  • Product uninstalls and installs for multiple computers have to be done by using a command-line script or batch file.
  • It might be difficult to determine exactly which updates and service packs were applied for each client computer.
Recommendations

Group Policy startup scripts is a solution for organizations that do not have a desktop management application, such as Microsoft System Center Essentials or System Center Configuration Manager, but that need an automated way to deploy Office 2010 to many computers.

Deployment Help &Tools

Group Policy Management Console (GPMC)
Scripting languages, such as Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript) and JScript
Sample Group Policy Startup Script
Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit

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