Chris Stauffer at myITForum.com

WOW this conferance is awesome. I dont have time to blog about the sessions because at present it isnt easy to get one of these computers. But many of the MYITFORUM guys are blogging so check their blogs out. Sherry said she has been blogging daily so go see what she has to say.

 2 things to say.

1. Thanks to management for sending me to MMS 2008 i am learning so much.
2. If you are a fellow believer Pray for my Father in-law. He had emergancy Brain surgery lastnight and could use all the love and prayer you can offer.

I will blog more when i have time but as wee speak i am late for my next session.

 Chris Stauffer <><

MMS 2008 registeration is Closed because it Sold out. But there is still hope see Rod's blog for a solution.

http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/myitforum/archive/2008/04/15/mms-2008-registration-is-closed-but-there-s-still-a-chance-to-attend-thanks-to-our-good-friends-at-securevantage.aspx

This year's MMS will have record attendance with more than 4,000 registered attendees! As we have now reached the venue capacity, we are required to close registration to new general attendees.

A waitlist has been created to accommodate attendees who wish to take places vacated by any late cancellations. To submit your name to the MMS 2008 waitlist, please email your full name, company, and a daytime phone number to mms-2008@microsoft.crgevents.com. If we are able to accommodate additional registrations, places will be allocated in the order that requests were received. The MMS 2008 Registration Center will contact you only if a place becomes available.

Hope you got your spot.

 Chris Stauffer <><

Having a 3 year old i live this on a daily basis and i just found it funny when the lady in the nurcery at church complained about our daughter not shareing at the age of 3

******************************************** 

If I want it, it’s mine.

If I give it to you and change my mind later, it’s mine.

If I can take it away from you, it’s mine.

If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine.

If it’s mine it will never belong to anybody else, no matter what.

If we are building something together, all the pieces are mine.

If it looks just like mine, it is mine!

Compare the 2007 Microsoft Office Suites

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/suites/FX101635841033.aspx

Config.xml file in the 2007 Microsoft Office system

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/e16af71c-fed4-40da-a886-95e596c3999e1033.mspx?mfr=true

Deployment for the 2007 Office release

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc178982.aspx

Technical reference for the 2007 Office release

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179032.aspx

2007 Office system Administrative Template files (ADM, ADMX, ADML) and Office Customization Tool version 2.0

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=92D8519A-E143-4AEE-8F7A-E4BBAEBA13E7&displaylang=en

Customize a Multilanguage deployment of the 2007 Office system

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179119.aspx

Deploy multiple language versions of the 2007 Office system

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179139.aspx

Here are some additional notes from my original posting for Office Deployment 

Staging files

• You can stage the office install files on a client by doing the following:

• Open the Product.ww\Config.XML and un rem this line

• <!-- <LIS CACHEACTION="CacheOnly" /> -->

• Then run Setup on the client and it will cache the files on the system but it will not install office. Use this command:
• Path\Setup.exe /config \\path\Config.xml
• To later install office use this command
• C:\MSOCache\{Product Guid}\Setup.exe

Uninstalling office

See this KB Article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928218

Add additional programs to the install

This example shows how to install SaveAsPDFandXPS.exe

• First extract the MSI from SaveAsPDFandXPS.exe
• Commandline: SaveAsPDFandXPS.exe /extract
• Save the MSI to a location you can access from the install

• Open the Product.ww\Config.XML and un-REM this line
• <!-- <Command Path="msiexec.exe" Args="/i \\server\share\my.msi" QuietArg="/q" ChainPosition="after" Execute="install" /> -->

• Change the line to read like this:

<Command Path="msiexec.exe" Args="/i \\server\share\ExPdfXps.msi" QuietArg="/quiet" ChainPosition="after" Execute="install" />

• Save changes
• Execute setup with the /config switch and point to the config file.

How to edit the Config.xml file in the 2007 Office system

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179195.aspx

I just spent 3 days in office 2003 Deployment training and here is what I took out of the 3 days of training. This training isn't offered to everyone so I asked if it was ok to share this info and I was told that everything we received was public knowledge so I hope this helps others out.

Office 2007 installation and deployment notes

First thing to know is that Office 2007 no longer has to use an admin share. Instead you just create a source folder and copy all of the office products and language packs to that folder. Office 2007 is self repairing because it puts a copy of the install on the C drive under the MSOCache folder. So if it needs to do a repair is doesn't need to go out to the network to get the source.

Here are the highlights of what I got from the class

Creating the source folder

• Office 2007 is language neutral
• All office Language files and folders get placed in the same directory as the source folders
• Source folders are
• Admin
• Catalog
• Update
• Product.WW
• Language packs are Product.EN-US or Product.FR-FR (ETC)
• All office source files can be places in the same directory
• Office
• Visio
• OneNote
• Publisher
• ETC
• Note: When you copy other products be sure to choose NOT to over right just add files and folders.
• Before trying to deploy get the latest Admin tool here
• http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=92D8519A-E143-4AEE-8F7A-E4BBAEBA13E7&displaylang=en
• Extract the files and copy the Admin folder to the source directory.
• Note: In this case choose to over right existing files, because you are upgrading the product.

Deployment

• If you want to just deploy the product without tweaking it just edit the Config.xml file located in the Product.WW folder.
• To edit the XML file simply remove the < !--  and -->  from the line that you want to use.
• Note: DO NOT EDIT the following as they are protected by Hash MD5 and will not work if altered
•  Setup.XML
• Product.XML
• (XXX)MUI.XML
• If you want to install Office 2007 with a custom install use the following command
• Setup.exe /Admin
• After running the installation wizard save the msp file in the update folder.
• After creating your MSP just run Setup.exe to install Office
• Note: if you choose to run the install silently make sure you put an installation PID in or the install will fail
• Install logs can be found in the %temp% folder
• Go to Run and type %temp% and it will open the correct folder

Repair and other commands

• To repair an install run C:\MSOCache\Setup.exe /repair (Porduct ID)
• To get help run C:\MSOCache\Setup.exe /?
• To extract any updates run native self extractor by running this command
• Product.exe /extract
• Save the extracted MSP file to the updates folder. Make sure that you overright any existing files so that you get the latest updates when you do the install.

I got a lot more out of the class but these are the highlights. If you get a chance to take this class, go for it.

Additional notes can be found here

http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/cstauffer/archive/2008/04/11/additional-office-deployment-notes.aspx  

I have tried several things to resolve the WDI.dll issue. I even posted previously that I had resolved the issue by removing all the VMWARE drivers but that solution was short lived. http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/cstauffer/archive/2008/01/18/wpeinit-exe-error-missing-wdi-dll-do-you-really-need-drivers-in-a-virtual-enviornment.aspx

Well I now have a solution that actually works (at least in my lab anyway), so here it is.

If you are running VMware ESX/GSX or Server 1.04

1. Downloaded the Intel e1000 drivers from  http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=1878&lang=eng for both XP and Vista.  I put them in a folder called D:\Drivers\Intel.
2. Use WinZip and extract the drivers to separate folders, one for Vista and one for XP
3. Go into SCCM and import the drivers
1. Make sure that you add the drivers to your VM drivers package (if you have one) and add the drivers to the boot image you are using.
2. Make sure that you update the DP's with the new packages.

• i. I got failures on the import but, when I looked at the drivers list and the packages everything was there. So I'm not sure what the errors where about.

4. Shut down the VM image that you want to try this on

Note : if this is an existing OS be sure to copy the drivers to the system before making these changes otherwise when you reboot you will not have network access to get the drivers.

5. Edit the *.vmx file to add the entry Ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000" after the Ethernet.preset = "TRUE" entry.
6. reboot the VM image that you made the changes on and install the new drivers for the new nic you just added.
7. Run the MDT 2008 TS and see if you still get the error.

I found most of my answer here

http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2969480&SiteID=17