Automate Software Deployment 

One challenge faced by companies is the rolling out of software across all nodes on a network. For example, you need to install essenial software such as office suite, anti-virus, firewall and page-design software, on 10 new desktop installations in your company. Doing so consecutively on each machine will take you almost an entire day! To avoid this, you can create a software installer that will install all apps in one go. You can then burn this installer on CDs and distribute it or put the installer on a network share. We show you how you can build your own Office XP

installer. 

STEP

ONE



The Office XP installer uses a file called setup.ini, which contains information about components of Office that have to be installed, and the product keys. It can recognize both .exe and .msi files. You can build your own setup.ini files for apps that you want to install. For this, you need the Microsoft Resources Office XP kit, which you can install from our this month’s CD. 

Adding application path for setup.ini

STEP

TWO



First, browse the original Office XP CD using IE and set the Explorer to view all the hidden files. Do so from Tools>Folder Options>View. Next, create a new folder on your hard disk and copy the entire CD and all other software that you want to include with the installer to it. 

STEP

THREE



Run ‘Setup INI customization Wizard’ from Start>All Programs>Microsoft Offices>Microsoft Office XP Resource kit tools. 

This will ask you to provide the administrative install path. Give the path to 

STEP

FOUR



the location where you have copied the Office XP CD and other content. Click on Next to continue. 

The wizard will now show all Microsoft Office components contained in Office XP. You can add, remove and modify the components as per your requirements. Plus, you can add all other packages that you want to include in the installation. Click on Next when you’re through. 

STEP

FIVE



You can also automate the process of entering the product license keys during installation. For this, select the product from the left-side panel and click on the

STEP

SIX



 ‘Additional properties’ button on the right panel.

Here, click on the Add button, which will open a small window containing two items: Property Name and Property Value.

Here, set Property Name=PIDKEY and Property Value=Product license key of the product. Click on OK to save changes and then on Next to go the next step.

The wizard will ask you to save the installer configuration (setup. ini). Click on the Save As button, give it any name (we used setup.ini) and save it on your network. 

To create a CD, take the custom setup.ini file and copy it to \FILES\SETUP, which is in the directory that you saved your Office XP installation files and other installers in. Burn this content on a CD and you’re ready to roll. 

But, do ensure that you have the required number of licenses and permission from Microsoft to do this for your organization.

Sanjay Majumder