Office Deployment Support Team Blog

SharePoint Workspace 2010 is unexpectedly installed when you install the Office 2010 SP1 update

Eric Ellis [MSFT] — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 17:56:00 GMT

Installing Service Pack 1 for Office 2010 may cause the SharePoint Workspace (SPW) feature to be added to the installation, when it was previously set to "Not Available". This issue is the subject of Microsoft Knowledge Base article 2612800.

The screenshots below illustrate the SPW feature state as displayed in the Control Panel and the Office Customization Tool (OCT) when set to "Not Available":

(click to view larger images)

A related update was recently published to the Microsoft Download Center:

x86/32-bit (Office2010-kb2598245-fullfile-x86-glb.exe)
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29250

x64/64-bit (Office2010-kb2598245-fullfile-x64-glb.exe)
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29249

This update must be applied prior to the installation of SP1 to prevent the SPW feature from being added by SP1 or a later update.

Enterprise customers who are using the Updates folder for new installations of Office 2010 and including SP1 MSP files can use these steps to prevent the installation of SharePoint Workspace 2010:

1) Extract the contents of the update executable to a temporary location using the “/extract:<path>” switch (see KB912203 for addt'l switches).

(click to view larger image)

2) Note the contents and subfolder in the location of the extracted update:

(click to view larger images)

3) Copy the pre_rmaddlocal-x-none.msp and osetup.dll files, SP1 MSP files, and any other update or OCT generated MSP files into the Updates folder. The osetup.dll file can be found in the Admin subfolder, and the presence of this file will cause the pre_*.msp file to be applied before SP1, and after any OCT files.

(click to view larger images)

There are currently no plans to add this update to the Microsoft Update Catalog, as doing so would cause it to be offered to all Microsoft Update users. In this case, only users who have set the SharePoint Workspace feature to Not Available will be affected by the issue.

See the following articles for additional information:

KB2612800 Office 2010 SP1 installs SharePoint Workspace
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2612800

KB2598245 Description of the Office 2010 update: March 29, 2012
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2598245

Office Sustained Engineering and Release Team Blog post, "Update to Office 2010 SP1 to prevent unintentional installation of SharePoint Workspace"
http://blogs.technet.com/b/office_sustained_engineering/archive/2012/03/30/update-to-office-2010-sp1-to-prevent-unintentional-installation-of-sharepoint-workspace.aspx

How to discover Office and Windows KMS hosts via DNS and remove unauthorized instances

Eric Ellis [MSFT] — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 19:16:00 GMT

When troubleshooting KMS configuration and activation issues, our customers are often surprised to find unexpected Windows or Office KMS hosts in their environment.

By default, Windows and Office clients discover KMS hosts via DNS and a related _vlmcs SRV record. To determine whether a KMS client can locate a KMS host and/or whether undesired KMS hosts exist on the network, run a command line similar to the following:

nslookup -type=srv _vlmcs._tcp >%temp%\kms.txt

Review the kms.txt file. It should contain one or more entries similar to the following:

_vlmcs._tcp.contoso.com                            SRV service location:
                  priority       = 0
                  weight      = 0
                  port          = 1688
                  svr hostname   = kms-server.contoso.com

Running this nslookup command frequently reveals _vlmcs SRV entries which are tied to unauthorized Windows or Office KMS hosts.

In many cases, Windows KMS hosts may have been unintentionally set up by users who mistakenly entered a KMS host product key, rather than a Windows client product key. To remedy this issue, perform the following steps on the machine(s) in question, to replace the KMS product group key and "convert" it to a KMS or MAK client:

1) Open an elevated command prompt.
2) Run a command similar to the following:

cscript slmgr.vbs /ipk xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx (where xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx is a 25 digit, Windows product key)

3) To prevent instability in the license service, the system should be restarted or the Software Protection Service should be restarted. The following command lines can be used to restart the Software Protection Service:

net stop sppsvc
net start sppsvc

4) Run a command line similar to the following to display the license information for the installed, active Windows edition:

cscript slmgr.vbs /dli

5) Using DNS Manager, in the appropriate forward lookup zone, delete the _vlmcs SRV records that exist for each machine which is not to serve as a Windows KMS host.
6) See the following articles for additional information:

Slmgr.vbs Options
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff793433.aspx

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Customer Hosted Volume Activation Guide / Deploying KMS Activation
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff793409.aspx

Unintentional creation of an Office KMS host is less common, because setting up an Office KMS requires a specific product key and the installation of the Microsoft Office 2010 KMS Host License Pack.

To determine whether a machine has the Office 2010 KMS Host License Pack installed and is an active Office KMS host, run a command line similar to the following:

cscript slmgr.vbs /dlv bfe7a195-4f8f-4f0b-a622-cf13c7d16864

The output of a machine which has the Office 2010 KMS Host License Pack installed will resemble the following. Key items are "Partial Product Key: GB7AH" and "License Status: Licensed", which indicate that the Office 2010 KMS host key is successfully installed and activated.

Name: Microsoft Office 2010, KMSHost edition
Description: Microsoft Office 2010 KMS, VOLUME_KMS channel
Activation ID: bfe7a195-4f8f-4f0b-a622-cf13c7d16864
Application ID: 59a52881-a989-479d-af46-f275c6370663
Extended PID: 55041-00096-199-000004-03-1033-7600.0000-3632009
Installation ID: 008523674214771124199799184000850026888810090415321136
Processor Certificate URL: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkID=88342
Machine Certificate URL: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkID=88343
Use License URL: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkID=88345
Product Key Certificate URL: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkID=88344
Partial Product Key: GB7AH
License Status: Licensed
Remaining Windows rearm count: 1
Trusted time: 10/16/2011 2:07:42 PM

Key Management Service is enabled on this computer
    Current count: 0
    Listening on Port: 1688
    DNS publishing enabled
    KMS priority: Normal

Perform the following steps to remove an Office KMS host in your environment:

1) Open an elevated command prompt.
2) Run a command similar to the following:

cscript slmgr.vbs /upk bfe7a195-4f8f-4f0b-a622-cf13c7d16864

CAUTION: If the above command line is run without the Office activation ID ("bfe7a195-4f8f-4f0b-a622-cf13c7d16864"), all installed product keys are uninstalled, including those for Windows.

3) Run following command line again, to check the status of the Office KMS host:

cscript slmgr.vbs /dlv bfe7a195-4f8f-4f0b-a622-cf13c7d16864

4) If the Office KMS host product key has been removed, the output will be similar to that below. Key items are "This license is not in use" and "License Status: Unlicensed".

Name: Microsoft Office 2010, KMSHost edition
Description: Microsoft Office 2010 KMS, VOLUME_KMS channel
Activation ID: bfe7a195-4f8f-4f0b-a622-cf13c7d16864
Application ID: 59a52881-a989-479d-af46-f275c6370663
Extended PID:
Installation ID:
Processor Certificate URL: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=88342
Machine Certificate URL: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=88343
Use License URL: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=88345
Product Key Certificate URL: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=88344
This license is not in use.
License Status: Unlicensed
Remaining Windows rearm count: 1
Trusted time: 8/16/2011 7:49:23 AM

5) Using DNS Manager, in the appropriate forward lookup zone, delete the _vlmcs SRV records that exist for each machine which is not to serve as an Office KMS host.
6) See the following articles for additional information:

Deploy volume activation of Office 2010
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee624357.aspx

Troubleshoot volume activation for Office 2010
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee624355.aspx

How to install Office 2010 with a MAK key and have it perform an automatic activation attempt after install (Part Deux)

Eric Ellis [MSFT] — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 14:00:00 GMT

In a previous Office Deployment Support Team Blog post, we explained how to automatically activate Office 2010 by using a customized config.xml file and setting element/property, AUTO_ACTIVATE.

This blog post will expand on that a bit and explain how to perform the same actions using an MSP file created with the Office Customization Tool (OCT).

NOTE: Adding the AUTO_ACTIVATE property to an install will trigger an attempt to activate only once. If that fails for whatever reason (i.e., proxy issues, user rights, Internet connectivity issues, etc.), another attempt will not be made and Office users will later be prompted to activate Office 2010.

The following is a simplified example of a custom config.xml file, which can be used with volume license source files for Office 2010 Professional Plus to automate the process of inputting an Office MAK product key and activating the product at install time. In addition, the installation operation will be silent, with a related verbose log file created in the %temp% directory.

These options are typical for many customers who deploy Office in an enterprise environment. For more information, see the Config.xml file in Office 2010 article at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179195.aspx

</Configuration>

1) In the above, "ABC12xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx34XYZ" is a placeholder for what should be your organization specific MAK product key for Office 2010.
2) Install Office 2010 as a user with local administrator rights by using a command line similar to the following:

<path to Office 2010 source files>\setup.exe /config <path>\config.xml

3) Alternatively, this file can be added to the root of source files for Office 2010 (i.e., the same location of Setup.exe on a CD/DVD or network share), and running the setup executable will cause the config file to be automatically parsed at install time.

The following steps can be used to accomplish the same thing using the Office Customization Tool (OCT). In addition to providing for more advanced customization of an Office installation, adding a MAK product key to and OCT generated MSP file instead of a config.xml causes the key to be obfuscated, rather than appearing in plain text as it is in a config.xml file.

1) Run the OCT by typing setup.exe /admin at the command line from the root of the network installation point that contains the Office 2010 source files. For example, use \\server\share\Office14\setup.exe /admin.
2) In the OCT, select Licensing and user interface in the left pane, and in the right pane select Enter another product key, add your organization specific MAK Office product key in the Product key field, and other options as desired.

3) In the OCT, select Modify Setup properties in the left pane and then click the Add... button in the right pane.
4) In the Add/Modify Property Value dialog and type AUTO_ACTIVATE in the Name field. Note that property names are case sensitive.
5) In Value field, type 1, and then click OK.

6) Note that the AUTO_ACTIVATE property has been added to the MSP file and has a value of 1.

7) Click the File menu and then click Save as to save the Setup customization file. If the file is saved in the Updates folder that is part of the Office source file location/installation point, running the Office Setup.exe file will automatically detect the customization file in the Updates folder and apply the customizations.
8) As an alternative to placing the customization .msp file in the Updates folder, you can use the Setup command-line option /adminfile to specify the fully qualified path of the location of the MSP file. For example, type setup.exe /adminfile \\server\share\mychanges\custom.msp.

Office 2010 Service Pack 1 and version 2 of the Office 2010 policy templates/OCT files now available for download

Eric Ellis [MSFT] — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 20:01:00 GMT

The 32 and 64-bit versions of Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Office 2010 are now available!

Service Pack 1 for Microsoft Office 2010 (KB2460049) 32-bit Edition
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26622

Service Pack 1 for Microsoft Office 2010 (KB2460049) 64-bit Edition
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26617

See the following Knowledge Base articles for an overview of Service Pack 1 improvements and technical details:

KB2460049 Description of Office 2010 SP1
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2460049

KB2532118 Technical details about the Microsoft Office 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1) releases
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2532118

To obtain an Excel workbook that lists the issues which are addressed by this service pack, click here.

Version 2 of the Group Policy template files and OCT files for the SP1 release of Office 2010 are also now available for download!

Office 2010 Administrative Template files (ADM, ADMX/ADML) and Office Customization Tool
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=18968

NOTE: If you are using the Office Customization Tool to create MSP files for custom installations of Office 2010, we recommend that you use the most recent version of the OCT files.

Updating OCT files is simple – just replace the /Admin folder in your Office 2010 installation files or installation image with the new /Admin folder after extracting it from the download package.

If your Office 2010 installation files include 32 and 64-bit versions, you will need to replace the contents of the /Admin folder in the x64 and x86 directories with those from the appropriate download package.

See the following article for additional information:

Office 2010 Administrative Template files (ADM, ADMX, ADML) and Office Customization Tool
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc178992.aspx

Need Service Pack 1 for SharePoint 2010 and/or Office 2010 Web Apps? We've got you covered!

Download Service Pack 1 for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26623

KB2460045 Description of SharePoint Server 2010 SP1
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2460045

Download Microsoft Office Web Apps Service Pack 1
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26639

KB2460073 Description of Office Web Apps SP1
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2460073

KB2532120 Technical details about the Microsoft SharePoint 2010 and Office server Service Pack 1 (SP1) releases
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2532120

MSI Restart Manager - How it relates to Office updates and application restarts

Eric Ellis [MSFT] — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 16:35:00 GMT

Windows Installer 4.x and later includes the “MSI Restart Manager” which is designed to reduce required operating system reboots during Installer maintenance mode operations, by restarting applications rather than rebooting the operating system.

A typical Office update scenario where the MSI Restart Manager is used may be similar to the following:
1) Windows 7 machines have Office 2010 installed.
2) A customer deploys an Office update during the business day (or during off hours, prior to rebooting machines/ensuring that no Office applications are in use).
3) The command line used to deploy the update is a typical, enterprise-type MSI command line:

%windir%\System32\msiexec.exe /P <path>\POWERPNT.msp REBOOT=ReallySuppress /L*V <path>\POWERPNT.log /QN

4) If a user has PowerPoint and a related document open at this point, an expected reboot will not be called for or suppressed.
5) Instead, the MSI Restart Manager is invoked, closes PowerPoint, allows files in use to be updated without a reboot, and reopens PowerPoint.
6) The resulting behavior is that, upon restart, PowerPoint’s auto recovery functionality has saved the file that was previously open, and the user is prompted how they want to proceed with the auto-recovered file.

In order to prevent the application restart from occurring and disable the MSI Restart Manager, a command line similar to the following can be used:

%windir%\System32\msiexec.exe /P <path>\POWERPNT.msp REBOOT=ReallySuppress MSIRESTARTMANAGERCONTROL=Disable /L*V <path>\POWERPNT.log /QN

It is important to note that if the MSI Restart Manager is disabled, a reboot is suppressed, and Office files to be updated are in use, changes to files will not occur until after the machine is rebooted (this would be a scenario where the log file ends with a return code of 3010).

The screenshots below illustrate the behavior which occurs when installing updates while Office apps are open, with and without the MSIRESTARTMANAGERCONTROL=Disable property being set.

1) If the MSI Restart Manager is not disabled, and the update process is run in quiet mode versus silent mode (“/QB” vs. “/QN”), the user will be prompted to close open applications:

2) If the MSI Restart Manager is not disabled, and the update process is run in quiet mode, with only reboots suppressed, open Office applications will automatically be restarted. Upon restart, open documents will be auto saved and auto recovered.

3) Clicking the “Recovered” button will result in the Document Recovery pane being displayed, and the user will be prompted as to which copy of the document that they wish to save.

4) If the MSI Restart Manager is disabled, the update process is run in silent mode, and reboots are suppressed, Office applications will not be restarted, but the resulting log file will contain a 3010 exit/return code (see attached LogFile.zip and the KB2464594.log file that it contains).

See the following articles for additional information on the MSI Restart Manager and the MSIRESTARTMANAGERCONTROL property:

Using Windows Installer with Restart Manager
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa372466.aspx

MSIRESTARTMANAGERCONTROL Property
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa370377.aspx

How to programmatically install the PowerPoint 2003 hotfix related to KB2543241 and KB2464588

Eric Ellis [MSFT] — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:34:00 GMT

If you have installed the KB2464588 update for Microsoft PowerPoint 2003, which is related to Microsoft Security Bulletin MS11-022, you may be aware of/experiencing the following known issues:

When you open presentations that contain layouts with background images in PowerPoint 2003, an error may occur. When the error occurs, you receive a message that states that some contents (text, images, or objects) have corrupted. You can determine what content has been lost by viewing the layout, but not by viewing the slide content. Items that were removed will display a blank box or a box that contains "cleansed."

The KB2543241 hotfix was created to alleviate these issues. The following steps can be used to install the KB2543241 hotfix in a manner that is conducive to an enterprise environment (i.e., via command line, silently, and requiring no user interaction):

1) Extract the MSP file from the KB2543241 executable, by using a command line similar to the following ("C:\KB2543241" is an example of a path where files could be extracted to):

<path>\office2003-KB2543241-ENU.exe /C /T:C:\KB2543241 /Q

2) Attempt to silently install the KB2543241 MSP file, generate a verbose installation log, and suppress reboots using a command line similar to the following (change "/QN" to "/QB" to display only a basic progress indicator):

%windir%\System32\msiexec.exe /P C:\KB2543241\POWERPNT.msp REBOOT=ReallySuppress /L*V C:\KB2543241\KB2543241.log /QN

3) Check the end of the verbose log file (i.e., KB2543241.log) for a return code. A value of zero indicates success with no further action required. A return code of 3010 also indicates a successful installation of the MSP file, but a reboot is required to complete the update process.

4) See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa368542(v=vs.85).aspx for additional info on Windows Installer return/error codes.

5) Machines with Windows Installer 4.x and later (Windows 7 ships with Installer 5.x) contain functionality provided by the MSI Restart Manager. The design of the MSI Restart Manager is to reduce required system restarts caused by required files being in use during a maintenance mode or update process.

6) With the MSI Restart Manager, if a file that is to be updated is held in use by another process or application (i.e., PowerPnt.exe), that application is restarted in order to allow for an "on the fly" update.

7) This has the potential to cause issues with open Office applications, which may be unexpectedly restarted. To prevent applications from being restarted, a command line similar to the following can be used:

%windir%\System32\msiexec.exe /P C:\KB2543241\POWERPNT.msp REBOOT=ReallySuppress MSIRESTARTMANAGERCONTROL=Disable /L*V C:\KB2543241\KB2543241.log /QN

8) It is important to note that if the MSI Restart Manager is disabled, a reboot is suppressed, and Office files to be updated are in use, changes to files will not occur until after the machine is rebooted (this would be a scenario where the log file ends with a return code of 3010).

9) See the following articles for additional info on the MSI Restart Manager:

MSI Restart Manager - How it relates to Office updates and application restarts
http://blogs.technet.com/b/odsupport/archive/2011/04/29/msi-restart-manager-how-it-relates-to-office-updates-and-application-restarts.aspx

Using Windows Installer with Restart Manager
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa372466.aspx

MSIRESTARTMANAGERCONTROL Property
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa370377.aspx

10) For further information on the KB2543241 and KB2464588 updates & hotfixes, see the following blog posts, articles, and bulletin:

Office Sustained Engineering and Release Team Blog post, "Issues after installing PowerPoint 2003 update KB2464588"
http://blogs.technet.com/b/office_sustained_engineering/archive/2011/04/23/issues-after-installing-powerpoint-2003-update-kb2464588.aspx

KB2543241 Description of the PowerPoint 2003 hotfix package
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2543241

Office Sustained Engineering and Release Team Blog post, "April 2011 Office Security Update Release"
http://blogs.technet.com/b/office_sustained_engineering/archive/2011/04/12/april-2011-office-security-update-release.aspx

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS11-022 - Important
Vulnerabilities in Microsoft PowerPoint Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2489283)
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS11-022.mspx

KB2464588 MS11-022: Description of the security update for PowerPoint 2003: April 12, 2011
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2464588

How to programmatically install the Outlook 2007 hotfix related to KB2512788 and KB2509470

Eric Ellis [MSFT] — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:33:00 GMT

After installing the April 2011 Public Update for Outlook 2007 (KB2509470), some users have reported difficulty with print previewing messages. The KB2512788 hotfix was created to address these issues.

The following steps can be used to install the KB2512788 hotfix in a manner that is conducive to an enterprise environment (i.e., via command line, silently, and requiring no user interaction):

1) Extract the MSP file from the KB2512788 executable, by using a command line similar to the following ("C:\KB2512788" is an example of a path where files could be extracted to):

<path>\office-kb2512788-fullfile-x86-glb.exe /extract:C:\KB2512788 /Q

2) Attempt to silently install the KB2512788 MSP file, generate a verbose installation log, and suppress reboots using a command line similar to the following (change "/QN" to "/QB" to display only a basic progress indicator):

%windir%\System32\msiexec.exe /P C:\KB2512788\outlook-x-none.msp REBOOT=ReallySuppress /L*V C:\KB2512788\KB2512788.log /QN

3) Check the end of the verbose log file (i.e., KB2512788.log) for a return code. A value of zero indicates success with no further action required. A return code of 3010 also indicates a successful installation of the MSP file, but a reboot is required to complete the update process.

4) See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa368542(v=vs.85).aspx for additional info on Windows Installer return/error codes.

6) With the MSI Restart Manager, if a file that is to be updated is held in use by another process or application (i.e., Outlook.exe), that application is restarted in order to allow for an "on the fly" update.

%windir%\System32\msiexec.exe /P C:\KB2512788\outlook-x-none.msp REBOOT=ReallySuppress MSIRESTARTMANAGERCONTROL=Disable /L*V C:\KB2512788\KB2512788.log /QN

9) See the following articles for additional info on the MSI Restart Manager:

Using Windows Installer with Restart Manager
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa372466.aspx

MSIRESTARTMANAGERCONTROL Property
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa370377.aspx

10) For further information on the KB2509470 and KB2512788 updates & hotfixes, see the following blog posts and articles:

Office Sustained Engineering and Release Team Blog post, “Issues after installing Outlook KB KB2509470"
http://blogs.technet.com/b/office_sustained_engineering/archive/2011/04/28/issues-after-installing-outlook-kb-kb2509470.aspx

KB2512788 Description of the Office Outlook 2007 hotfix package (Outlook-x-none.msp): April 26, 2011
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2512788

KB2509470 Description of the Extended Protection for Authentication update for Outlook 2007
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2509470

How to automate the uninstallation of an Office patch programmatically

EricAshton — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 20:51:18 GMT

We can automate the silent uninstallation of Office patches via a command line like so:

%windir%\System32\msiexec.exe /package {Office GUID} /uninstall {Patch GUID} /QN

First we will need to determine what the GUID is for Office, and next what the GUID is for the patch that we are trying to uninstall.
To determine what the GUID is for the installed version of Office, look in the uninstall hive in the registry.

x86 OS
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{GUID}
x64 OS
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{GUID}

On my two example machines I have Office 2003, and Office 2007 installed.

The GUID for Office 2003 will be similar or equal to {90110409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0150048383C9}
The GUID may be slightly different then what I have listed here. Verify you found the correct GUID by verifying the product under the “Displayname” key listed in the GUID.

See also - Description of numbering scheme for product code GUIDs in Office 2003
Here is a screenshot of this registry key on my machine that has Office 2003.

The GUID for Office 2007 will be similar or equal to {90120000-0011-0000-0000-0000000FF1CE}
The GUID may be slightly different then what I have listed here. Verify you found the correct GUID by verifying the product under the “Displayname” key listed in the GUID.

See also - Description of the numbering scheme for product code GUIDs in 2007 Office suites and programs
Here is a screenshot of this registry key on my machine that has Office 2007.

Notice that there are many GUIDS that end in 0FF1CE in my screenshot above. The reason for this is because Office 2007/2010 is a multi-msi based product, and because of that there is a GUID for each component in Office 2007/2010. So for example if I clicked on {90120000-0015-0000-0000-0000000FF1CE} in my example above the “Displayname” would show “Microsoft Office Access MUI (English) 2007”. This is not the GUID for the Office suite. This is only the GUID for the Access MUI component. For Office 2007/2010 make sure that you find the GUID that has a display name that correlates with the name of the suite. ie.. Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007, or Microsoft Office Standard 2007 etc..

Next we need to discover the GUID of the patch we are trying to uninstall. To do this we will want to look at the properties of the MSP file that is contained within the patch .exe.

First we will need to extract the MSP(s) from the patch executable.

The method to extract the contents from Office patches has changed since Office 2003.

To extract the contents from 2003 patches-
I will download the Office 2003 patch from KB2464588 as an example. (office2003-KB2464588-FullFile-ENU.exe)
For Office 2003 patches we will need to extract the MSPs from the executable using an extraction command like so to extract the MSPs from this patch executable to the c:\temp directory:
office2003-KB2464588-FullFile-ENU.exe /c /t:c:\temp

To extract the contents from 2007 patches-
I will download the Office 2007 patch from KB2464594 as an example. (PowerPoint2007-KB2464594-fullfile-x86-glb.exe)
For Office 2007 patches we will need to extract the MSPs from the executable using an extraction command like so to extract the MSPs from this patch executable to the c:\temp directory:
PowerPoint2007-KB2464594-fullfile-x86-glb.exe /extract:c:\temp

Now that we have the MSP from the patch executable we need to find the GUID of the patch.

We can find this by right clicking on the msp and going to properties. We will be looking for the revision number.
Sometimes there will be a lot of numbers in the revision number section. Copy/paste the list of revision numbers into notepad, and delete all but the first one. The first number in the list of revision numbers is the GUID.

*note* - In Vista you will not be able to find the GUID this way.

So using the POWERPNT.MSP file from KB2464588 as an example we discover that the GUID for this patch is {AB0D3DA9-FC93-4F57-ADE2-B6669749B25E} because that is the first number in the revision number properties.

From Windows XP:

From Windows 7:

So now we know that the Office 2003 suite GUID in my example is {90110409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0150048383C9}, and we know that the GUID for the Office 2003 patch from KB2464588 is {AB0D3DA9-FC93-4F57-ADE2-B6669749B25E}. So the command that could be used to programmatically remove this patch would be:

%windir%\System32\msiexec.exe /package {90110409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0150048383C9} /uninstall {AB0D3DA9-FC93-4F57-ADE2-B6669749B25E} /qn

*note*
You could use /qb for an automated uninstall with a progress bar, or use /qn for a totally silent uninstall.

We found that the GUID for Office 2007 in my example above was {90120000-0011-0000-0000-0000000FF1CE}, and the GUID for the Office 2007 patch KB2464594 is {E6B7C11E-21E9-4BA0-9677-29AD603B953C}.

So the command that could be used to programmatically remove this Office 2007 patch would be:

%windir%\System32\msiexec.exe /package {90120000-0011-0000-0000-0000000FF1CE} /uninstall {E6B7C11E-21E9-4BA0-9677-29AD603B953C} /qn

*note*
You could use /qb for an automated uninstall with a progress bar, or use /qn for a totally silent uninstall.

FAQ-

How can we determine if the patch is installed programmatically if we know the GUID of the patch?
A- This can be done once we convert the patch GUID to a compressed GUID. (How to convert an Office GUID, or Office patch GUID to a compressed GUID)
Then query for the compressed GUID at this registry location:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Patches\

So for example the patch GUID for KB2464588 is {AB0D3DA9-FC93-4F57-ADE2-B6669749B25E}. Once converted we find that the compressed GUID is 9AD3D0BA39CF75F4DA2E6B6679942BE5.

So if KB2464588 is installed the following registry key would exist:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Patches\9AD3D0BA39CF75F4DA2E6B6679942BE5

Is it possible to uninstall a patch that is not natively uninstallable?
A- While it is not recommended, nor supported by Microsoft it is possible to uninstall patches that are marked as not uninstallable. Once again we will need to convert the patch GUID to a compressed GUID. (How to convert an Office GUID, or Office patch GUID to a compressed GUID)
Using the same example above we know that KB2464588 has a compressed GUID of 9AD3D0BA39CF75F4DA2E6B6679942BE5. The registry key that determines whether or not this patch is uninstallable will be located here:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products\[Office guid]\Patches\9AD3D0BA39CF75F4DA2E6B6679942BE5

"Uninstallable"=dword:00000001

If the patch is not uninstallable natively, it would be possible to change the "Uninstallable" value at this registry location to “1” and then the patch would be available to uninstall.

We have a patch that has multiple MSP files inside of it. Is this normal? Would we need to uninstall them all?
A- It is not uncommon for Office patches to contain multiple MSP files. If you wanted to completely remove the patch you would need to uninstall each of the MSPs.

It is also not uncommon for Office patches to apply to multiple products and as such show up multiple times in Add/Remove. In these cases to completely remove the patch you would need to run the uninstall command targeting the GUID for each Office product that has the patch installed.

How to extract the contents from an .ISO file without burning the .ISO to disc.

EricAshton — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 21:32:55 GMT

When Office products are downloaded from the Volume License Service Center they come down as .ISO files. .ISO is not a file format that Windows can open natively.

An ISO file is an image of a CD/DVD. Typically you would be able to use a burning program like Nero, or ImgBurn, to then burn that ISO file directly to a disk.

How do I use .ISO files?

Once you have downloaded an .ISO file, there are several possible options you can use to install the software:

Use .ISO image file software to download and save the .ISO image file to a CD-R or a DVD-R.
If you are planning to install an Operating System on a PC or install software across multiple machines, this is one of your best options. A CD/DVD gives you the flexibility to make clean installs and to be used as a “boot CD.”
If you are using a PC with Windows 7, you don’t need any additional software to burn a CD-R or DVD-R. Simply double click on the .ISO file you downloaded, and then follow the steps in the Image Burner Wizard.
If you are using any other Operating System, you may need additional software. If your computer is equipped with a CD/DVD burner, this software is probably already loaded on your PC. Most CD-R/DVD-R writing software enables disk creation from an image file. Select a menu item such as Copy Image to CD or Burn Image to access this feature. For detailed instructions, see the software’s Help documentation.
Virtually mount and access ISO files as a virtual device.
If you don’t have a CD/DVD burner installed on your machine or you don’t have media available to you (a blank CD-R/DVD-R), you can “mount” the ISO file as a virtual drive. With this method, your machine will believe that the file is a real disk drive, and you will be able to read files from this “virtual disk.” This approach is advisable only for installation of applications (such as Office) or minor system upgrades. You will not be able to install an Operating System using this approach, because the virtual drive would disappear at some point during the installation.
There are several software options for the virtual drive approach. Though they have not been tested and are not supported by the VLSC team, customers report that Daemon Tools and Pismo File Mount offer such capability as well as Microsoft Virtual CD Control Tool.
Extract the .ISO files to your hard drive.
Contents of .ISO image files can be accessed directly using third-party tools that allow file extraction from the file to a temporary folder on your hard drive (similar to .zip files). As with the virtual drive, this approach is advisable to install application software or system upgrades. An example of this approach is the creation of an installation thumb drive to install software on netbooks or other devices with no optical drive.
The following tools offer .ISO file support:
- IsoBuster
- CDmage
- Daemon Tools
- Winrar
Note: While other products may work to manipulate .ISO files, they have not been tested and are not recommended by Microsoft.

The purpose of this blog will be to demonstrate the usage of my favorite third party freeware program that can be used to “mount” the ISO file and allow the extraction of the contents.

As you can see there are many programs that we could use to extract the contents from ISO files, but there are few reasons that I prefer Pismo File mount.

- Free
- Easy to use
- Non invasive

Let me demonstrate how I use Pismo File Mount to extract the contents from an Office ProPlus 2010 ISO I downloaded from the VLSC.

1. Downloaded and ran the installer for Pismo File Mount Audit Package.
2. After the installation, I right click on the ISO file that I had downloaded and choose “Mount Image”

3. After mounting the image you will notice that the icon for the ISO has changed and how looks like this:

We can now double click on this and it will open like so:

Now we will want to select all and copy the contents to another local folder on the machine.

4. After I have copied the contents to another folder on the machine, I will “unmount” the ISO so that it is no longer in use by Pismo File Mount.

Now that I have the contents extracted I can delete the ISO and copy the contents to a network share, burn to a disc, or copy to a thumbdrive for installation on other machines. At this point I uninstalled Pismo File Mount.

Note: While this blog article is written with ISO files in mind, it also pertains to .IMG files.

Getting invalid product key error when trying to input MAK key for Volume License version of Office 2010

EricAshton — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:44:25 GMT

There are a couple common scenarios that occur that can cause an invalid product key error with Office 2010 volume license edition when attempting to install the VL MAK key.

1. After purchasing a Volume License edition of Office 2010, when entering the key that came with the discs that were sent in the mail, you get invalid product key.

2. After installing the Volume License edition of Office 2010 and entering the MAK product key that you obtained from the Volume License Service Center you get invalid product key error

First it is important to understand that 32 bit versions of Office 2010 that are volume license will not ask you for a product key during the installation. Both of the scenarios above assume that you have already installed Office 2010 VL, and are now trying to enter the product key post installation by clicking on “change key”.

Issue #1

When you purchase Office 2010 from a Volume License retailer and you opt for physical media to be sent to you, you will find that it comes with 3 discs and a product key.

After you install Office 2010 successfully and try to input the product key that comes with the media you will get an invalid key error. The reason for this is because the product key that ships with the media is for “Office Web Apps” and not in fact for Office 2010 ProPlus.

To obtain the VL MAK key for Office 2010 you will need to logon to the Volume License Service Center. After you purchased your Volume License version of Office 2010, you should have received an email from the Volume Licensing Service Center (msvlop@microsoft.com) welcoming you to register at the VLSC. You will need to find this email, and login to the VLSC and obtain your VL MAK key from there. If you didn’t receive this email and you expect that you should have, or need assistance logging on to the VLSC you can call the following number for VLSC support (866-230-0560 Option 3) They should be able to pull up your VL agreement using the email address or company name of the purchaser.

Issue #2

After installing the Volume License edition of Office 2010 and entering the MAK product key that you obtained from the Volume License Service Center you get invalid product key error.

It is not uncommon for folks to install the volume license version of Office 2010 on a machine without first uninstalling the preinstalled OEM version of Office 2010 from the machine. Then when running Microsoft Office 2010 from the start menu they are actually launching the OEM version of Office 2010 rather than the VL Standard/Proplus version. The Office 2010 OEM version has an icon that looks like this:

If you are clicking on this icon, it is expected that your VL MAK key would give you an invalid key error message, because the OEM version is being run and that version will not accept a VL key.

Solution-
Check programs and features in the control panel, and ensure that you only have one entry for the Office 2010 suite. Uninstall the OEM version of the Office 2010 suite.

Here is an example of what Programs and Features will look like when the OEM version is installed along side the Office 2010 ProPlus VL version.

The entry above that says “Microsoft Office 2010” is the OEM version of Office 2010 and will not accept a VL product key. Since you installed the Volume License version of Office 2010 Standard/ProPlus feel free to uninstall the version that is labeled “Microsoft Office 2010”.

After you uninstall the OEM version of Office 2010 now you can click on start, programs, Microsoft Office, and click on an Office application. (IE Word, Excel). Then you can input the MAK key by going to file, and help inside the application and choosing Change Product Key.

How to obtain and use Offscrub to automate the uninstallation of Office products

EricAshton — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 17:23:57 GMT

Sometimes you cannot uninstall the existing 2003, 2007 or 2010 Microsoft Office suite on your computer by using the Add or Remove Programs feature in Control Panel of Windows XP or the Programs and Features feature in Control Panel of Windows Vista/Win7. To help with this Microsoft has created Fix it utilities at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301.

Office uninstallation can fail if any of these are true:

The installation process did not complete when you tried to install a new program. Therefore, you are left with a partially installed program. When you try to install the program again, you are unsuccessful.
A previously installed program cannot be removed because the installation files are corrupted.
If you had problems installing Office 2010 from a previous attempt.
Office cached patches, or cached source is corrupt.

These fix it utilities can remove Office 2003-2010 products regardless of the current health of Office. These fix it utilities are provided as MSI files and run automatically without user invention. This is a good solution for folks that have a single machine that cannot uninstall the Office Suite under normal conditions. There are some limitations to the fix it solutions however. Because it is automatic, the end user cannot specify which products to remove, and the MSIs will only remove Office Suites. It will not help with the removal of standalone products. Also, the fix its lack the ability to be automated. So if you needed to run these on multiple machines, you would need to do so manually.

Fortunately, the VBS engine that the fix it uses can be obtained from the fix it and can then be automated.

Instructions to obtain Offscrub.vbs from the fix it utilities:

1. Download the fix it for the appropriate version of office, and run it.
2. Agree to the EULA and click next.
3. When you get to this screen stop and browse to the %temp% directory.

4. Find the Fixit directory in the %temp% directory and copy it to the desktop

5. You can now cancel the Fixit utility. Browse to the Fixit folder you copied to the desktop, and inside you will find offscrub.vbs. (OffScrub07.vbs in my example since I ran the Fixit for Office 2007)

Now that we have obtained the Offscrub07.vbs script from the Office 2007 Fixit, we can run it manually outside of the Fixit. We can also automate it’s usage from a command line with a variety of variables.

If you run the Offscrub2007.vbs script manually, by double-clicking or by calling it with cscript without any switches you will be presented a screen like the following:

In my example screenshot we can see that Offscrub found Access 2007 Standalone, Office 2007 Standard, and Visio Standard 2007 are installed. If I click ok on this screen the way it is, Offscrub will remove all three products from the machine. If I only wanted to remove Visio, I would remove everything in this box except VISSTD and click ok.

Using this manual method you can use Offscrub to remove Office 2007 standalone products, which you would not be able to do if you were running the Fixit alone.

If you want to automate Offscrub you can do so via command line.

Usage: OffScrub07.vbs [List of config ProductIDs] [Options]

        /?                               ' Displays the help
        /Force                           ' Enforces file removal. May cause data loss!
        /S           ' Does not search the local hard drives for shortcuts (*NOTE* The help file lists /SkipShortcutDetection as a valid switch to skip shortcut detection but this is incorrect. Use /S instead.)

        /Log [LogfolderPath]             ' Custom folder for log files
        /NoCancel                        ' Setup.exe and Msiexec.exe have no Cancel button
        /OSE                             ' Forces removal of the Office Source Engine service
        /Q                         ' Setup.exe and Msiexec.exe run quiet with no UI
        /Preview                         ' Run this script to preview what would get removed

Examples:
        OffScrub07.vbs CLIENTALL         ' Remove all Office 2007 Client products
        OffScrub07.vbs SERVER               ' Remove all Office 2007 Server products
        OffScrub07.vbs ALL                     ' Remove all Office 2007 Server & Client products
        OffScrub07.vbs ProPlus,PrjPro   ' Remove ProPlus and Project

Stages of the script
===============
- Basics :    Non customizable tasks
- Stage 1:    Component detection. Builds a list of files which are installed/registered to a product that's going to be removed.
        Depending on the amount of applications that are removed - this can be a very time consuming task.
        "/Bypass 1" allows to bypass this detection.
- Stage 2:     Remove products with Setup.exe
- Stage 3:     Remove products with direct calls to Windows Installer
- Stage 4:     CleanUp - scrub files and registry settings that remained from the previous stages.
        In combination with 'Stage 1' this is the core of the removal concept.

Usage Examples
==============
- "Safe" (Similar to calling setup.exe)
    OffScrub07.vbs ALL /Bypass 1,3,4
    OffScrub07.vbs ALL /Bypass 1,3,4 /Quiet
    OffScrub07.vbs ProPlus /Bypass 1,3,4 /Quiet

- "Preview"
    OffScrub07.vbs ALL /Preview
    OffScrub07.vbs ALL /Bypass 2 /Preview

Note: The preview option will not give the same results as the true removal.
Still useful to get a good picture of what will be removed on the client

- "Quiet"
OffScrub07.vbs ALL /Quiet

Note: The CMD output window will still receive all messages but the UI for Setup and Msiexec tasks will be suppressed.

- "NoCancel"
OffScrub07.vbs ALL /NoCancel

Note: Setup and Msiexec tasks have no "Cancel" option

So if we were going to script the automation of Office 2007 ProPlus so that the uninstallation was silent, and couldn’t be cancelled, we would run a command like so:

cscript offscrub2007.vbs ProPlus /Q /NoCancel /BYPASS 1

I would advise that when automating Offscrub you skip the component detection (Stage 1) . You do this by using “/Bypass 1”.
The reason is because I have seen instances where component detection causes third party products to attempt repair. Usually this is not big deal, but if the third party product is in an unhealthy state (for example it’s missing it’s cached MSI) than it will prompt the user to locate the MSI and thus stall Offscrub. Obviously not desired if we are looking to automate the removal with no user intervention.

FAQ-

How can we remove the black window that populates when Offscrub is run?
A- If the command prompt screen is closed while offscrub is running it will fail to continue. We can prevent that by hiding the command prompt window. Edit the the Offscrub.vbs file and find for the following code at the bottom of the script:

Sub RelaunchAsCScript
Dim Argument
Dim sCmdLine

sCmdLine = "cmd.exe /k " & WScript.Path & "\cscript.exe //NOLOGO " & Chr(34) & WScript.scriptFullName & Chr(34)
If Wscript.Arguments.Count > 0 Then
For Each Argument in Wscript.Arguments
sCmdLine = sCmdLine & " " & chr(34) & Argument & chr(34)
Next 'Argument
End If
oWShell.Run sCmdLine,1,False
Wscript.Quit
End Sub 'RelaunchAsCScript

Replace with the following code and resave:

We have elected to use the Offscrub method and hide the CMD prompt window that Offscrub populates, but now find that there is no message to the user that the Office installation is taking place. Can we generate a notice to the users so they know that Office is being installed, and don’t try to shut down or disconnect the PC in the middle of the install?
A- It is not uncommon for folks to want to disable the command prompt window that Offscrub generates, because if that command prompt window is closed by the end user, then Offscrub will not complete.

You can launch a custom IE window or a CMD window to act as the user notification if you wish. As an example, you could add the following to launch a nice notice to the user:

start "----NOTICE----" cmd.exe /t:ec /Q /k "echo OFFICE 2010 IS BEING INSTALLED. THIS WINDOW WILL CLOSE WHEN COMPLETE&&prompt $h"

Then after the install completes, close the CMD notification with:

XP
taskkill /IM cmd.exe /FI "WINDOWTITLE EQ ----NOTICE----"
Win7
taskkill /IM cmd.exe /FI "WINDOWTITLE EQ Administrator: ----NOTICE----"

The shortcut detection seems to take a long time. Can it be avoided?
A- Yes. The shortcut detection will try to scan all drives on a machine for the Office shortcuts that align with the product being removed. This can be skipped by use a “/s” option switch when running Offscrub.

How to automate the uninstallation of Office 2007 products via command line

EricAshton — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 21:57:00 GMT

When automating the removal of Office 2007, we need to call setup.exe to perform the work.
Because Office 2007 is a multi-msi based product we cannot use msiexec for the installation, nor the uninstallation of Office 2007.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc982159(office.12).aspx#BKMK_UninstallProd

To run Setup.exe to remove a specified Office product from the user’s computer, use the /uninstall command-line option, which uses the following syntax:

/uninstall [ProductID]

where:

[ProductID] is the value for the product that you want to modify. Look up the value of [ProductID] in the Setup.xml file for the product.

The following example shows how to use the /uninstall command to remove an Office Professional Plus 2007 installation. Office12 is the root of the network installation point for ProPlus:

\\server\share\Office12\setup.exe /uninstall ProPlus

In enterprise deployments, we recommend that you run a silent uninstall. To run a silent uninstallation of a Office 2007 product that requires no user interaction, you must modify the Config.xml file for the product that you want to uninstall and set the Display element's Level attribute to "none" (Display Level="none"), and then save the Config.xml file as UninstallConfig.xml. You may also want to prevent the reboot of the machine after the uninstallation. We can also set this in a custom Config.xml.

Example Uninstallconfig.xml:

<Configuration Product="ProPlus">
<Display Level="none" CompletionNotice="no" /> 
<Setting Id="SETUP_REBOOT" Value="NEVER" />
</Configuration>

To then uninstall Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007 after you modify the Config.xml to set silent options, use the following command where \\server\share\Office12 is the path of the Office 2007 Professional Plus source files, and <pathtoUninstallConfig.xml> is the location of your modified Config.xml file for Office Professional Plus:

\\server\share\Office12\setup.exe /uninstall ProPlus /config <pathtoUninstallconfig.xml>\UninstallConfig.xml

How to automate the uninstallation of Office 2003 products

EricAshton — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 21:40:00 GMT

When automating the uninstallation of Office 2003, we can call msiexec to perform the work from a command line.

Example syntax:
msiexec /x {GUID} /qb

*note*
You could use /qb for an automated uninstall with a progress bar, or use /qn for a totally silent uninstall.
You could also use a /norestart switch to prevent a reboot of the machine after installation.
The GUID for the Office 2003 products is different depending on which version of Office 2003 you are using.

To find the GUID for Office 2003 products look at the following registry key:

x86 OS
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{GUID}

x64 OS
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{GUID}

Here is a screenshot of this registry key on my machine

So on my machine I can automate the silent uninstallation of Office 2003 via the following command line:

Msiexec /x {90110409-6000-11D3-8CFE-0150048383C9} /qn /norestart

How to perform an uninstall-upgrade to Office 2010

EricAshton — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 19:26:00 GMT

There are a few upgrade options available when planning to move to Office 2010 from a previous version. Microsoft has a technet article that touches on these various options here:

Plan an upgrade to Office 2010
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee624354.aspx

There are three options for upgrading to Office 2010:

In-place upgrade The earlier version of Office, such as the 2007 Microsoft Office system, is already installed on computers.
Uninstall upgrade The earlier version of Office, such as the 2007 Office system, is first uninstalled before the upgrade to Office 2010.
New operating system upgrade The computers get a new version of the operating system, such as Windows 7, and an upgrade to Office 2010.

One of the options that is discussed is performing uninstall-upgrades.

For a single machine this is pretty simple. Remove the previous version of Office via add/remove programs or KB290301, and then manually install Office 2010. For enterprise deployments though this gets to be trickier as these deployments will typically be automated. The purpose of this blog post is to demonstrate how to perform automated uninstall-upgrades.

The idea is that we will create a script that can automatically remove the previous version of Office, and then proceed to install Office 2010. To do this we need to first understand how to automate the removal Office 2003/2007.

There are two methods for automating the removal Office 2003/2007.

1. Uninstall Office using the supported uninstall command line
How to automate the uninstallation of Office 2003 products via command line
How to automate the uninstallation of Office 2007 products via command line

2. Uninstall Office by utilizing the Office removal tool. (Offscrub.vbs)
How to obtain and use Offscrub to automate the uninstallation of Office products

When choosing between which method to use for the automated removal of Office there are a couple things to consider.

If you choose to remove Office 2003/2007 with the command line uninstall option, keep in mind that the uninstallation could fail if the health of the product is poor. IE… if the source cache directory is corrupt, or if cached patches are broken. If you are removing Office 2007 and are wanting to have the uninstallation be silent, and you want to prevent the reboot, you will need to create a config.xml that contains those options and have it accessible on a share to call via the uninstall command line.

If you choose to remove Office 2003/2007 via the Offscrub technique, be familiar with the switches available for Offscrub and the FAQ.

Now that we know how we can automate the removal of Office 2003/2007 and we have decided on a method, we just need a script that can perform the uninstall actions, and then the install actions for Office 2010.

For my examples below I am modifying the script from the technet article entitled Deploy Office 2010 by using Group Policy computer startup scripts.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff602181.aspx

*note*
If you decide to use GPO to deploy, make sure that you are familiar with the above article as there are some other considerations.
If you use this script, ensure that your share for Office 2010 doesn’t have any spaces. ie.. \\server\share\Office14
If you are deploying this script via a deployment mechanism that utilizes the SYSTEM account, make sure the system account can access the shares that are specified in the script.

In the example below, the script will first check to see if Office 2010 is installed, if it is not it will automate the removal of Office 2003/2007 via the uninstall command line, and then perform the installation of Office 2010.

Check for Office 2010, if not installed, uninstall Office 2007 via command line, and then after that is finished, install Office 2010.

uninstall-upgrade.bat

setlocal REM ********************************************************************* REM Environment customization begins here. Modify variables below. REM ********************************************************************* REM Get ProductName from the Office product's core Setup.xml file, and then add "office14." as a prefix. set ProductName=Office14.PROPLUS REM Set DeployServer to a network-accessible location containing the Office source files. set DeployServer=\\server\Office2010SourceFiles REM Set ConfigFile to the configuration file to be used for deployment (required) set ConfigFile=\\server\Office2010SourceFiles\ProPlus.WW\config.xml REM Set LogLocation to a central directory to collect log files. (the user doing the install needs write access) set LogLocation=\\server\Office2010LogFiles REM ********************************************************************* REM Deployment code begins here. Do not modify anything below this line. REM ********************************************************************* IF NOT "%ProgramFiles(x86)%"=="" (goto ARP64) else (goto ARP86) REM Operating system is X64. Check for 32 bit Office in emulated Wow6432 uninstall key :ARP64 reg query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432NODE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\%ProductName% if NOT %errorlevel%==1 (goto End) REM Check for 32 and 64 bit versions of Office 2010. (Office 64bit would also appear here on a 64bit OS) :ARP86 reg query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\%ProductName% if %errorlevel%==1 (goto DeployOffice) else (goto End) REM If 1 returned, the product was not found. Run setup here. :DeployOffice start /wait \\server\share\Office12\setup.exe /uninstall ProPlus /config \\server\share\UninstallConfig.xml start /wait %DeployServer%\setup.exe /config %ConfigFile% echo %date% %time% Setup ended with error code %errorlevel%. >> %LogLocation%\%computername%.txt REM If 0 or other was returned, the product was found or another error occurred. Do nothing. :End Endlocal

If we wanted to use Offscrub.vbs to perform the uninstall we could use the same script and just change the uninstall line for Office 2007 to use offscrub rather then the uninstall command line.

Check for Office 2010, if not installed, uninstall Office 2007 via Offscrub2007.vbs, and then after that is finished, install Office 2010.

uninstall-upgrade.bat

setlocal REM ********************************************************************* REM Environment customization begins here. Modify variables below. REM ********************************************************************* REM Get ProductName from the Office product's core Setup.xml file, and then add "office14." as a prefix. set ProductName=Office14.PROPLUS REM Set DeployServer to a network-accessible location containing the Office source files. set DeployServer=\\server\Office2010SourceFiles REM Set ConfigFile to the configuration file to be used for deployment (required) set ConfigFile=\\server\Office2010SourceFiles\ProPlus.WW\config.xml REM Set LogLocation to a central directory to collect log files. (the user doing the install needs write access) set LogLocation=\\server\Office2010LogFiles REM ********************************************************************* REM Deployment code begins here. Do not modify anything below this line. REM ********************************************************************* IF NOT "%ProgramFiles(x86)%"=="" (goto ARP64) else (goto ARP86) REM Operating system is X64. Check for 32 bit Office in emulated Wow6432 uninstall key :ARP64 reg query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432NODE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\%ProductName% if NOT %errorlevel%==1 (goto End) REM Check for 32 and 64 bit versions of Office 2010. (Office 64bit would also appear here on a 64bit OS) :ARP86 reg query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\%ProductName% if %errorlevel%==1 (goto DeployOffice) else (goto End) REM If 1 returned, the product was not found. Run setup here. :DeployOffice call cscript \\server\share\Offscrub07.vbs ProPlus /bypass 1 /q /s /NoCancel start /wait %DeployServer%\setup.exe /config %ConfigFile% echo %date% %time% Setup ended with error code %errorlevel%. >> %LogLocation%\%computername%.txt REM If 0 or other was returned, the product was found or another error occurred. Do nothing. :End Endlocal

These are example batch files. You could certainly create a VBS script, or use any other method of deployment that follows the same logic.
#1. Uninstall Office 2003/2007 using one of the available methods for automated uninstallation
#2. Wait for the uninstallation to complete.
#3. Install Office 2010.

FAQ

Will user settings still migrate if we are removing the previous version of Office 2003/2007 prior to installing Office 2010?
A- Any user settings that would migrate during a typical upgrade would still migrate when performing an uninstall-upgrade. The user settings will migrate upon the first user of each Office 2010 application.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee624354.aspx#section2
The registry keys that are included or excluded when you use the in-place upgrade or the uninstall-upgrade option to migrate Microsoft Office 2003 or Office 2007 user data to Microsoft Office 2010 are listed in the following article.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee624352.aspx

We are pushing the uninstall-upgrade using a deployment method that will perform the installation while a user is logged on to the machine. We have elected to use the Offscrub method and hide the CMD prompt window that Offscrub populates, but now find that there is no message to the user that the Office installation is taking place. Can we generate a notice to the users so they know that Office is being installed, and don’t try to shut down or disconnect the PC in the middle of the install?
A- It is not uncommon for folks to want to disable the command prompt window that Offscrub generates, because if that command prompt window is closed by the end user, than Offscrub will not complete. See Offscrub FAQ

You can launch a custom IE window or a CMD window to act as the user notification if you wish. As an example, you could add the following to launch a nice notice to the user:

start "----NOTICE----" cmd.exe /t:ec /Q /k "echo OFFICE 2010 IS BEING INSTALLED. THIS WINDOW WILL CLOSE WHEN COMPLETE&&prompt $h"

:DeployOffice
start "----NOTICE----" cmd.exe /t:ec /Q /k "echo OFFICE 2010 IS BEING INSTALLED. THIS WINDOW WILL CLOSE WHEN COMPLETE&&prompt $h"
call cscript \\server\share\Offscrub07.vbs ProPlus /bypass 1 /q /s /NoCancel
start /wait %DeployServer%\setup.exe /config %ConfigFile%
taskkill /IM cmd.exe /FI "WINDOWTITLE EQ ----NOTICE----"
taskkill /IM cmd.exe /FI "WINDOWTITLE EQ Administrator: ----NOTICE----"
echo %date% %time% Setup ended with error code %errorlevel%. >> %LogLocation%\%computername%.txt

*note*
I am using taskkill twice in my example to ensure that the notice window would close correctly in WinXp or Win7. (cmd.exe operates slightly different in newer operating systems). It is expected that one of the lines will fail silently.

Troubleshooting Office installation failures

EricAshton — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 21:16:54 GMT

This blog will cover techniques on how to identify and resolve Office installation failures. The techniques described can be applied to the installation of Office 2003-2010, and Office patches.

ENABLE VERBOSE LOGGING

The first thing to do when troubleshooting Office install failures is to ensure that MSI verbose logging is enabled. In Office 2007/2010 there is a setup.exe log file that gets created by default, but it does not give the amount of detail that is usually required to diagnose an installation failure. With verbose MSI logging enabled we will get a verbose log file for each component that Office 2007/2010 installs. We will have a verbose log for the install of the Word component, one for Excel, and so on.

To enable verbose logging you will want to set the following registry keys.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer]
"Debug"=dword:00000007
"Logging"="voicewarmup"

If you would prefer to automate the addition/removal of these keys rather than adding them manually via regedit you can use the fixit programs from the following KB article:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/958052
*note* This fix it will also enable verbose logging for the windows updates site but troubleshooting windows update will not be covered in this blog article.

We should also enable verbose logging for the setup.exe log as well. This is done by adding the following line to the config.xml that is in the .ww folder of the product you are attempting to install. (This does not apply to versions of Office that are earlier than Office 2007)

<Logging Type="verbose” Path="%temp%" Template="Microsoft Office Standard Setup(*).txt" />

For more information on the configuration of the config.xml see here.

PERFORM THE INSTALLATION ATTEMPT

If you are running your installation manually on the machine as a logged in user by double clicking on setup.exe then the log files will get generated in the %temp% directory of the user performing the installation.

The easiest way to get there:
Winxp-2003 = Click on start, then goto run, and type in %temp% and hit enter.
Windows Vista-Win7 = Click on start, and the type in %temp% in the search field and hit enter.

If you are running your installation via a deployment mechanism that utilizes the system account during the install, then the log files will get generated in %windir%\temp.

Now that you have enabled verbose logging and know where to look for the logs, go ahead and reattempt your installation. It it failed previously, expect it to fail again but this time we are ready to capture log files that will be detailed enough to help us diagnose the failure point.

ANALYZING THE LOGS

After your install attempt you will find that you have somewhere between 1 and 20 logs from the installation attempt in your temp directory.

Here is a screenshot of the verbose logs from an install attempt from my machine.

When looking through the MSI logs we will typically want to look for a value 3 entry in the logs. Windows installer returns codes during the install which will indicate if a particular function was successful or not.

Value 1 = Success
Value 2 = Cancel
Value 3 = Error

In a good install, you would typically not see any value 3 entries in the logs.
So there are a lot of logs here to look at. I would recommend that we start with the setupexe log. This log will usually have a value 3 in it when there is a failure, but will not always be clear enough to diagnose the issue. If it doesn’t have a value 3 look for the first instance of Rolling back package. Rolling back package indicates that the Office installation had failed and now is attempting to “roll back” the installation. You should be able to identify the failure immediately above that point. Once you find the value 3 or the Rolling back package in the setup.exe log you should be able to identify which component is failing, and from there look for the particular MSI log that corresponds with that component.

There will often be more than one value 3, or rolling back package. You should focus on the first one you find.

Below you will find a couple real life examples of office installation failures and how we were able to identify the failure point.

ANALYZE LOGS EXAMPLE 1 – Proplus 2010 install
In this example, I will search the setup log for a value 3. It is not uncommon to not find a value 3 in the setup log. In this case I didn’t get a value 3 in the setup.exe log, so next I searched the setup.exe log for Rolling back package.

Here is what I found:

Error: Failed to install product: C:\MSOCache\All Users\{90140000-0011-0000-0000-0000000FF1CE}-C\ProPlusWW.msi ErrorCode: 1603(0x643).

Log level changed from: Standard to: Verbose
Rolling back chain
08/30/2010 14:12:56 Rolling back package: ProPlusWW

This does not tell me why it failed, but it does tell me that the failure occurred during the install of the ProPlusWW.msi. Now that I know that I want to find the verbose MSI log that correlates with ProPlusWW.msi.

*note*
In cases where you know the failure is in the ProPlusWW.msi log but you don’t want to save time in finding which MSI log is for Proplus, it will usually be the largest log file.

If you don’t know which log is the correct log for the ProPlusWW.msi component, open each log one at a time and scroll to the bottom. It will indicate there what component it just attempted to install/rollback.

For example, from the bottom of the MSIb0bc7.LOG:

MSI (s) (50:CC) [14:24:12:332]: Note: 1: 1724
MSI (s) (50:CC) [14:24:12:332]: Product: Microsoft Office Outlook MUI (English) 2010 -- Removal completed successfully.

So this is the verbose MSI log for the Office Outlook MUI component and was from the rollback. (The install failure would have occurred earlier than this)
Eventually I found the ProPlus log (it was the biggest one) and the log does indicates it is the proplus log here:

******* Product: C:\MSOCache\All Users\{90140000-0011-0000-0000-0000000FF1CE}-C\ProPlusWW.msi

I searched the log for a “value 3” and this time didn’t find one, but did see this at the bottom of the log when it ended abruptly:

MSI (s) (B0:14) [14:12:56:537]: Internal Exception during install operation: 0xc0000017 at 0x7C812AFB.
MSI (s) (B0:14) [14:12:56:537]: WER report disabled for silent install.
MSI (s) (B0:14) [14:12:56:537]: Internal MSI error. Installer terminated prematurely.

Out of memory. Shut down other applications before retrying.
MSI (s) (B0:14) [14:12:56:537]: MainEngineThread is returning 1603

Now I have something to go off of. So I take this error and search the net for articles that may help with this error.

http://www.bing.com/search?q=%22Internal+MSI+error.+Installer+terminated+prematurely%22&form=QBRE&qs=n&sk=

I end up finding this article which lists my error almost verbatim, mentions a known issue with Windows installer 4.5, and an available hotfix.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972397/EN-US

Turns out that this particular machine is running WI 4.5. After installing the hotfix and rebooting, the install is successful.

ANALYZE LOGS EXAMPLE 2 - Access 2010 standalone install

In this next example, again I didn’t find a value 3 in the setupexe log, so next I searched the setup.exe log for Rolling back package.

Here is what I found:

Error: Failed to install product: C:\MSOCache\All Users\{91140000-0015-0000-0000-0000000FF1CE}-C\AccessRWW.msi ErrorCode: 1601(0x641).

Log level changed from: Standard to: Verbose
Rolling back chain
12/14/2010 12:06:05 Rolling back package: AccessRWW

Again, this does not tell me why it failed, but it does tell me that the failure occurred during the install of the AccessRWW.msi. Now that I know that I want to find the verbose MSI log that correlates with the AccessRWW.msi.

Looking through the log files I find the one for the AccessRWW.msi:

******* Product: C:\MSOCache\All Users\{91140000-0015-0000-0000-0000000FF1CE}-C\AccessRWW.msi

I search it for value 3 and found:

CAInitSPPTokenStore.x86: OMSICA : Initializing CustomAction CAInitSPPTokenStore.x86
CAInitSPPTokenStore.x86: Error: Failed to initialize the SPP Token store. HResult: 0x80070057.
CAInitSPPTokenStore.x86:
MSI (s) (2C:D0) [10:12:03:911]: User policy value 'DisableRollback' is 0
MSI (s) (2C:D0) [10:12:03:911]: Machine policy value 'DisableRollback' is 0
Action ended 10:12:03: InstallExecute. Return value 3.

This was resolved by ensuring that the network service is running, and that the following reg keys were present after ensuring the network service was running.

HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-20
AND
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-19

ANALYZE LOGS EXAMPLE 3 - ProPlus 2010

In this next example, I did find a value 3 in the setupexe log.

MSI(ERROR): 'Error 1304. Error writing to file: C:\WINDOWS\winsxs\Policies\x86_policy.8.0.Microsoft.VC80.ATL_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_x-ww_5f0bbcff\8.0.50727.4053.policy. Verify that you have access to that directory.'
Log level changed from: Standard to: Verbose
Not showing message because suppress modal has been set. Title: 'Setup', Message: 'Error 1304. Error writing to file: C:\WINDOWS\winsxs\Policies\x86_policy.8.0.Microsoft.VC80.ATL_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_x-ww_5f0bbcff\8.0.50727.4053.policy. Verify that you have access to that directory.'
Message returned: 2
MSI(USER): 'Are you certain you want to cancel?'
MSI(INFO): 'Action ended 14:03:01: InstallExecute. Return value 3.'

When you do see a value 3 in the setup.exe log it will sometimes give you enough information to resolve the issue without needing to look at the verbose MSI log. In this case the verbose MSI log simply repeated what we found in the setup.exe log as seen below.

MSI (s) (20:DC) [14:02:56:138]: Product: Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 -- Error 1304. Error writing to file: C:\WINDOWS\winsxs\Policies\x86_policy.8.0.Microsoft.VC80.ATL_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_x-ww_5f0bbcff\8.0.50727.4053.policy. Verify that you have access to that directory.

Error 1304. Error writing to file: C:\WINDOWS\winsxs\Policies\x86_policy.8.0.Microsoft.VC80.ATL_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_x-ww_5f0bbcff\8.0.50727.4053.policy. Verify that you have access to that directory.
Are you certain you want to cancel?
MSI (s) (20:DC) [14:03:01:646]: User policy value 'DisableRollback' is 0
MSI (s) (20:DC) [14:03:01:646]: Machine policy value 'DisableRollback' is 0
Action ended 14:03:01: InstallExecute. Return value 3.

In this case we should consider updating .net framework, and verifying the permissions in c:\windows\winsxs\

-BELOW ARE A FEW KNOWN ERRORS FROM VERBOSE LOGS AND POSSIBLE RESOLUTIONS TO TRY-

*NOTE*
Some of these suggestions discuss working with the registry.
Important- Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
322756 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ ) How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

ERROR 1935

Error 1935. An error occurred during the installation of assembly component {89EDD3A9-944B-3257-8484-D6EB6A00DDF5}. HRESULT: 0x80070003. assembly interface: IAssemblyCache, function: CreateAssemblyCacheItem, assembly name: Microsoft.VC90.ATL,version="9.0.30729.4148",type="win32",processorArchitecture="amd64",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b"

MSI (s) (1C:9C) [10:14:26:628]: User policy value 'DisableRollback' is 0
MSI (s) (1C:9C) [10:14:26:628]: Machine policy value 'DisableRollback' is 0
Action ended 10:14:26: InstallExecute. Return value 3.

Possible solution(s)

-This most commonly occurs due to issues while upgrading Office. First thing to try is to remove the previous version of Office prior to installing new version. You can remove the previous version of Office automatically using the appropriate fix it from KB290301. After removing the previous version of Office, then attempt to install the newer version of Office.

-The fix it from the following article. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946414

ERROR 1913

Error 1913: Setup cannot update file C:/windows/win.ini.
Verify that the file exists in your system and that you have sufficient
permissions to update it

Possible solution(s)

There is a known issue with Trend Micro that could be causing this issue and preventing the Office install.
If using Trend Micro, consider uninstalling it, rebooting and trying the install again.

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/officeinstall/thread/f5f97e01-3b8a-4886-ad49-d11c279b1186

ERROR 1714

Error 1714. Setup cannot remove the older version of Microsoft Office Product_Name 2007. Contact Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS) for assistance. For information about how to contact PSS, seeC:\DOCUME~1\<username>\LOCALS~1\Temp\Setup00000d64\PSS10R.CHM.

Possible solution(s)

-Remove the previous versions of Office first if you are attempting to perform an upgrade. (Office can be removed with the Fix Its from KB290301)
-Perform a side-by-side installation rather than upgrading. (Customize button)

ERROR 1719

Error 1719. Windows Installer Service could not be accessed. This can occur if the Windows Installer is not correctly installed. Contact support personnel for assistance

Possible solution(s)

-Reg keys could be corrupt or incorrect at

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSIServer

Export from a known good machine that uses the same OS and msiexec version.
Backup and then delete existing msiserver key on the bad machine under:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\msiserver
Import the reg file from the known good machine.
Reboot, and reattempt install

-http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324516
-http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315346&Product=winxp#kb4

ERROR 1406

'Error 1406.Setup cannot write the value to the registry key \CLSID\{13DE4A42-8D21-4C8E-BF9C-8F69CB068FCA}. Verify that you have sufficient permissions to access the registry or contact Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS) for assistance. For information about how to contact PSS, seeC:\Users\ADMINI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\Setup00000e64\PSS10R.CHM.'

Log level changed from: Standard to: Verbose
MSI(INFO): 'Action ended 20:24:59: InstallExecute. Return value 3.'

Possible solution(s)
This error indicates incorrect registry permissions. In the example above we would find incorrect reg perms on
HKCR\CLSID\{13DE4A42-8D21-4C8E-BF9C-8F69CB068FCA}

ERROR 1920

Error 1920. Service 'Office Software Protection Platform' (osppsvc) failed to start. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to start system services.

Log level changed from: Standard to: Verbose
MSI(INFO): 'Action ended 14:15:40: InstallExecute. Return value 3.'

Possible solution(s)
This error indicates possible incorrect permissions on the OfficeSoftwareProtectionPlatform folder, or incorrect permissions on HKCR\APPID

1. To resolve this issue, give the Network Service account full control on the 'OfficeSoftwareProtectionPlatform' folder.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2401987

2. To resolve this issue, compare the rights on HKCR\APPID from a good machine, with the problem machine. Try granting “RESTRICTED” the following permissions: Query Value, Enumerate Subkeys, Notify, Read Control

ERROR - IHxRegisterSession::CreateTransaction() returned 8004036e.

IHxRegisterSession::CreateTransaction() returned 8004036e.
BeginTransaction() ERROR: Attempt failed because another transaction was running.
Trying to Rollback current transaction ({2318682E-D486-40D6-8530-80CEEA1A16B5})
IHxRegisterSession::ContinueTransaction() returned 80004005.
BeginTransaction() ERROR: Could not restart current transaction.
BeginTransaction() ERROR: Could not Rollback current transaction. HelpFile registration will abort.
Registration session {2318682E-D486-40D6-8530-80CEEA1A16B5} was *not* created.
Action ended 14:30:54: InstallFinalize. Return value 3.

Possible solution(s)

-http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927153

ERROR: FAILED TO REGISTER PLUGIN. HRESULT: 0x80070005

MSI (s) (08:6C) [12:32:40:502]: Invoking remote custom action. DLL: C:\WINDOWS\Installer\MSI4D4.tmp, Entrypoint: CAInstallSppPlugin
CAInstallPlugin.x86: OMSICA : Initializing CustomAction CAInstallPlugin.x86
CAInstallPlugin.x86: Registering PlugIn 'C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OfficeSoftwareProtectionPlatform\OSPPOBJS.DLL' 'C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OfficeSoftwareProtectionPlatform\osppobjs-spp-plugin-manifest-signed.xrm-ms'
CAInstallPlugin.x86: Error: Failed to register plugin. HResult: 0x80070005.
CAInstallPlugin.x86:
MSI (s) (08:58) [12:32:42:830]: User policy value 'DisableRollback' is 0
MSI (s) (08:58) [12:32:42:830]: Machine policy value 'DisableRollback' is 0
Action ended 12:32:42: InstallExecute. Return value 3.

Possible solution(s)

Policy set on the problem machine (local or through GPO) that is misconfigured.

Opened Gpedit.MSC
Computer configuration/Windows Settings/Security Settings/local policies/user rights assignment
Ensure that everyone has rights on Bypass traverse Checking. (Everyone would be listed by default)

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/823659

ERROR - Error 0x80070005: CAQuietExec Failed

CAQuietExec: "wevtutil.exe" im "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\BCSEvents.man"
CAQuietExec: The publishers and channels are installed successfully. However, we can't enable one or more publishers and channels. Access is denied.
CAQuietExec: Error 0x80070005: Command line returned an error.
CAQuietExec: Error 0x80070005: CAQuietExec Failed
CustomAction RegisterEventManifest returned actual error code 1603 (note this may not be 100% accurate if translation happened inside sandbox)
MSI (s) (88:04) [15:15:03:285]: User policy value 'DisableRollback' is 0
MSI (s) (88:04) [15:15:03:285]: Machine policy value 'DisableRollback' is 0
Action ended 15:15:03: InstallExecute. Return value 3.

Possible solution(s)

This issue can occur because permissions have been incorrectly set on the folder: C:\Windows\System32\winevt\Logs
Grant “everyone” full rights to that folder, and reattempt the install. If this is successful you can remove the everyone group afterwards.

ERROR - Error 0x800706b5: CAQuietExec Failed

CAQuietExec: "wevtutil.exe" im "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\BCSEvents.man"
CAQuietExec: The publishers and channels are installed successfully. However, we can't enable one or more publishers and channels. The interface is unknown.
CAQuietExec: Error 0x800706b5: Command line returned an error.
CAQuietExec: Error 0x800706b5: CAQuietExec Failed
CustomAction RegisterEventManifest returned actual error code 1603 (note this may not be 100% accurate if translation happened inside sandbox)
MSI (s) (6C:84) [10:10:59:733]: User policy value 'DisableRollback' is 0
MSI (s) (6C:84) [10:10:59:733]: Machine policy value 'DisableRollback' is 0
Action ended 10:10:59: InstallExecute. Return value 3.

Possible solution(s)

This issue can occur if the Windows Event Log service is not running.
Click on start, search and type in services.msc and hit enter.
Scroll down to the Windows Event Log service, and ensure it is set to automatic. If it is not running right click on it and choose start.
If you get an error like the following:

Error 4201: The instance name passed was not recognized as valid by a WMI data provider.

Then please check the permissions on "c:\windows\system32\logfiles\wmi\RTbackup"

If the system account doesn’t have full control, grant the system account full control and reboot.
After reboot check and see if the Windows Event Log service is started in services.msc. If it now started correctly attempt your Office 2010 install again.

This is a living blog and will be updated with more known problems/solutions over time.

Volume License editions of Visio 2010 install Premium edition by default

EricAshton — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 23:01:17 GMT

KMS host key = This key is obtained from the VLSC. This is the key that you would use during the install of the KMS host when setting up a Office 2010 KMS server

KMS Client Key = This is a generic key that is hardcoded into all of the Office 2010 client products. ie.. ProPlus, Visio, Project.
This key allows the product to be installed without manually entering a product key. Also, when this key is installed it triggers the Office product to attempt to locate and activate against a KMS server.

Volume license versions of Office 2010 are hardcoded with a generic KMS Client Key. This key can be located by opening the setup.xml file from the *.ww folder of the product.

As an example, here is the built-in KMS Client Key from the Visio 2010 volume license setup.xml

Visio is a unique product in the volume license space in that Visio can install as Visio Standard, Visio Professional, or Visio Premium based upon the key that is input. By default, Visio 2010 uses this Visio Premium 2010 KMS client key, which enables all the features that are available for Visio Premium 2010. If you are licensed to use Visio Standard 2010 or Visio Professional 2010, you must install the appropriate KMS client key. Different features or applications are available, depending on the kind of key that is installed. This makes it easier for you to upgrade or downgrade without having to deploy a different product edition.

If your license agreement with Microsoft is for Visio Standard 2010 or Visio Professional 2010, use the appropriate Generic KMS client key shown in the following table.

Visio edition	KMS client key
Visio Standard 2010	767HD-QGMWX-8QTDB-9G3R2-KHFGJ
Visio Professional 2010	7MCW8-VRQVK-G677T-PDJCM-Q8TCP
Visio Premium 2010	D9DWC-HPYVV-JGF4P-BTWQB-WX8BJ

For information about how to plan your Visio Professional 2010 installation, see Plan customizations and options for Visio 2010.

There are two scenarios to consider for installing an appropriate KMS Client key.

Scenario 1

Visio 2010 has already been deployed in your organization.
At the time of the deployment no key was specified and as a result everyone has Visio Premium installed although the organization is licensed for Visio Standard 2010 or Visio Professional 2010.

To downgrade these versions from Premium to Pro or STD, they will need to change the installed KMS Client key to the generic PRO, or STD key using a script that calls ospp.vbs , or by using VAMT. After the key is changed it will automatically activate against the KMS s host server, provided the KMS host is healthy and reachable.

Method 1 – Using a script that calls ospp.vbs on the machine to install a new KMS Client key. This script can be pushed out as a startup script via GPO to the affected machines.

Here is a simple, example batch file script that I have used to install the Visio 2010 Client key for Standard edition post install. This should work on X86 and X64 machines. I have placed a registry key query in this script so that it checks for the existence of a registry key that does not exist natively, and then when the script runs it adds that dummy registry key. This way the next time the script runs (if deployed as a startup script for example) it will simply end when it locates the dummy key that had been added during the script’s previous run.

OSPP.BAT

@echo off

if "%PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE%"=="x86" if "%PROCESSOR_ARCHITEW6432%"=="" goto x86
set ProgramFilesPath=%ProgramFiles(x86)%
goto OSPP

:x86
set ProgramFilesPath=%ProgramFiles%

:OSPP
reg query HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Common\OSPPRUNONCE
if %errorlevel%==1 (goto RUN) else (goto END)

:RUN
C:\Windows\system32\cscript.exe "%ProgramFilesPath%\Microsoft Office\Office14\ospp.vbs" /inpkey:767HD-QGMWX-8QTDB-9G3R2-KHFGJ
C:\Windows\system32\cscript.exe "%ProgramFilesPath%\Microsoft Office\Office14\ospp.vbs" /act
REG ADD "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Common\OSPPRUNONCE"

:END
Exit

Method 2 – Use the VAMT tool to install a different KMS Client key for Visio 2010 post install.

For more information and a walkthrough of the Volume Activation Management tool

Managing Office 2010 Activations using the Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT 2.0)
http://blogs.technet.com/b/odsupport/archive/2010/08/06/managing-office-2010-activations-using-the-volume-activation-management-tool-vamt-2-0.asp

Scenario 2

Visio 2010 has not yet been deployed in the organization and we need to ensure that correct edition of Visio 2010 is deployed.

If the organization is not licensed for Premium, they will either need to ensure that they modify the config.xml (in the visio.ww folder) and include the generic KMS client key for Pro or STD, or create a custom.msp file with the Office customization tool and specify the generic KMS client key for Pro or STD. After the install Visio will activate against KMS without issue if the KMS host is activated, healthy and has had the 5 minimum unique requests.

Method 1

Modify the config.xml to specify the KMS Client key to use. If we specify the KMS Client key for Standard edition in the config.xml file from the Visio.ww folder, than Visio will install with that KMS Client key instead of the built-in key for Premium.

As an example, here is a modified config.xml with the generic KMS Client key for Standard specified.

Method 2

Create a custom MSP file with the Office Customization Tool to specify the KMS Client key to use. If we specify the KMS Client key for Standard edition in the Office Customization Tool and save the custom MSP in the updates folder, Visio will install with that KMS Client key instead of the built-in key for Premium.

Open the Office Customization Tool by calling setup.exe with the /admin switch

In the OCT under the Licensing and user interface section, you can choose “Enter another product key” and input your generic Pro or STD KMS Client key.

After saving the custom MSP file from the Office Customization tool, make sure to place the custom MSP file in the updates folder of the Visio source. Now when your Visio installation takes place it will use the custom msp file you created in the updates folder and apply your generic Pro/STD key rather than the built in Premium key.

This is also discussed in the following technet article:

Deploy volume activation of Office 2010
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee624357.aspx

Office 2010 Deployment Workshops and experts coming soon to a city near you…

Eric Ellis [MSFT] — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 19:57:00 GMT

Thinking about deploying Microsoft Office 2010 in your environment? Curious about the how, when, and whys of a customized deployment of Office? Do you want your installation of Office to go as easily and smoothly as possible?

If the answer to any of the above questions is yes, you should consider attending one of the Office 2010 Deployment Workshops that will be delivered in cities around the country in the coming months.

These workshops are designed to provide customers with information necessary to design, deploy, customize and manage an Office 2010 installation through instructor-led training and hands-on labs. Instructors are members of the Microsoft Office Deployment Support team, who will draw upon years of real world experience while working with attendees to share tips/tricks/best practices, and engage in fruitful discussions.

Key Focus Areas:
•    Preparing to Deploy (Requirements, deployment overview, & 32/64-bit considerations)
•    New Features and Options (Ribbon UI, application changes, Click to Run & Office Web Applications)
•    Licensing and Activation (Overview, KMS/MAK, troubleshooting)
•    Multi-Lingual Deployment (Multilanguage pack, proofing tools & considerations)
•    Customizing the Office 2010 Installation (Office Customization Tool, config.xml files & policy templates)
•    Enterprise Deployment Methods (SCE/SCCM, Group Policy, Terminal Server, imaging & virtualization)
•    Troubleshooting and Maintenance (Setup.exe, logging, patching & maintenance)
•    Application Compatibility Tools (OMPM, OEAT & OCCI)

Recommended Audience:
IT Professionals responsible for the deployment, maintenance, and troubleshooting of Office installations. Application-specific and/or help desk-type issues are not included in the scope of this offering.

Delivery Dates and Locations:
•    January 18-20, 2011 – Downers Grove, IL
•    January 25-27, 2011 – Alpharetta, GA
•    February 1-3, 2011 – Tampa, FL
•    February 8-10, 2011 – New York, NY
•    February 15-17, 2011 – Irvine, CA
New dates and locations will be announced here as they become available.

Pricing:
$1500 USD per person

To register or for more information:

• To register online, visit http://www.microsoft.com/events, click the Find Events and Webcasts link, and perform an advanced search using the following EventIDs or keywords "Office 2010 Deployment":

o    Downers Grove, IL: 1032469733
o    Alpharetta, GA: 1032471261
o    Tampa, FL: 1032471263
o    New York, NY: 1032471264
o    Irvine, CA: 1032471267

• To register via email, send mail to ProfessionalServices@Microsoft.com and include the following information:

o    Company Name
o    Attendee Name
o    Physical Address
o    Phone Number
o    Number of Attendees
o    Desired Event Location/Date

• To register via phone, call 1-888-875-9071

• Email inquiries to ProfessionalServices@Microsoft.com

Understanding 64-bit versions of Office 2010 and related deployment considerations, advantages, and disadvantages

Eric Ellis [MSFT] — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 23:18:00 GMT

If you are considering the deployment of a 64-bit version of Microsoft Office 2010, it is important to understand the differences between the 32 and 64-bit versions, and be aware of the deployment considerations.

See the following blog posts and TechNet articles for related information:

Microsoft Office Product Development Group blog post, Understanding 64-Bit Office
http://blogs.technet.com/b/office2010/archive/2010/02/23/understanding-64-bit-office.aspx

64-bit editions of Office 2010
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee681792.aspx

Deployment considerations
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee681792.aspx#BKMK_DeploymentConsiderations

Blocking and nonblocking Office applications in 64-bit installations
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee681792.aspx#BKMK_AppsAffectingInstall

The images below are excerpts from a visual representation of the 64-bit Client Installation of Microsoft Office 2010, which can be found at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=168620.

How to install Office 2010 with a MAK key and have it perform an automatic activation attempt after install

EricAshton — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 19:59:07 GMT

By default when you install a volume license version of Office 2010 it will not ask for a product key. All Office 2010 client VL builds are pre-PID’ed with a single global product key. When you install Office 2010 VL without a product key it automatically enables Office to seek out a KMS host to activate against.

You may want to deploy Office 2010 VL with a MAK key however. When you deploy Office 2010 VL with a MAK key you may find that on first launch a user gets the activation screen like so.

You can attempt to avoid this screen by automating the MAK internet activation by adding the following line in the config.xml

*Note*
Activation success will depend upon the internet status of the machine. Naturally if the machine (or the user that does the install) is not connected to the internet, or proxy info for that user is not setup correctly during the install the automatic activation attempt will fail.

Office 2010 Activation errors - 0xC004F074 "...No Key Management Service (KMS) could be contacted" and 0xc004f050 "The Software Licensing service reported that the product key is invalid"

Eric Ellis [MSFT] — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 14:34:00 GMT

When launching Office 2010 applications, a message appears indicating that Office is not activated. Attempts to activate Office may result in the following error:

"Error 0xC004F074: The Software Licensing Service reported that the computer could not be activated. No Key Management Service (KMS) could be contacted. Please see the Application Event Log for additional information."

Error 0xC004F074 equates to, "The Key Management Server (KMS) is unavailable". This error occurs when volume license versions of Office 2010 are installed on client machines using the built-in, KMS client key and an Office KMS host is not available to activate installations of Office 2010.

The following is a partial Office Web Apps Setup product key, required for product installation on Microsoft SharePoint, rather than a product key that is specific to client installations of the Office 2010 suites:

FC7HF-CF42G-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

Attempting to enter this key via the File/Help and Change Product Key link will result in the error, "This is not a valid Office Product key. See above examples to learn more".

Attempting to input this key via the ospp.vbs script will result in the error, "0xc004f050 The Software Licensing service reported that the product key is invalid"

To resolve this issue, obtain a Multiple Activation Key (MAK) volume license product key for Office 2010, and then do one of the following:

1) Open an Office 2010 application (i.e., Microsoft Word), go to File/Help, and then click on the Change Product Key link. Enter the Office 2010 product key. After the process of installing the product key completes, close all open Office applications, open Microsoft Word, go to File/Help, and check to see if “Product Activated” is displayed.

—or—

2) From an elevated command prompt, run command lines similar to the following (if you are running 32-bit Office 2010 on a 64-bit operating system, the path should include Program Files (x86)):

%windir%\System32\cscript.exe "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\OSPP.VBS" /inpkey:xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx (where xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx is your 25 digit MAK product key for Office 2010)

%windir%\System32\cscript.exe “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\ospp.vbs” /act

For most Microsoft products, there are two ways to obtain volume license product keys:

1) Go to the Product Keys section of the Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC) for Open, Open Value, Select, Enterprise Agreements and the Services provider License Agreement (SPLA) - https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/servicecenter/home.aspx

2) Call your Microsoft Activation Center - http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/existing-customers/activation-centers.aspx

Related links:

Frequently asked questions: Volume activation of Office 2010

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff678211.aspx

Volume activation quick start guide for Office 2010

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee624359.aspx

Microsoft Volume Licensing Product Activation and Key Information

http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/existing-customers/product-activation.aspx

Microsoft Volume Licensing Frequently Asked Questions About Volume License Keys

http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/existing-customers/product-activation-faq.aspx

When launching an Office 2010 application you receive “This copy of Microsoft Office is not activated”

Sean Fr - MSFT — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 20:09:12 GMT

If you are running a volume licensed edition of Office 2010 and it needs to be activated, you may see this message when you open any Office 2010 application:

This message means Office is failing to activate against a KMS host on your network. KMS activation is the default activation type when you install a volume license edition of Office 2010. There are two ways of getting Office 2010 activated:

Enter a MAK key and activate over the internet or phone
Setup an Office 2010 KMS host and activate using it.

Option 1: Enter a MAK key and activate over the internet or phone

To enter a MAK key, click the “Change Product "Key” button and enter your key when prompted:

Click “Continue”, then “Install Now”.

Office will configure itself. Close any open Office 2010 applications. The next time you launch an Office application you will see a screen like this:

Go through the activation wizard. Once it is done you will be activated and should not see any of these messages again.

Option 2: Setup an Office 2010 KMS host and activate using it.

See this blog post for a very detailed guide on how to setup an Office 2010 KMS Host: http://blogs.technet.com/b/odsupport/archive/2010/06/01/office-2010-kms-installation-and-troubleshooting.aspx

How to check the activation type and status of Office 2010 installations

Sean Fr - MSFT — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 20:55:08 GMT

Use the following steps to see detailed information about what type of activation your Office 2010 installation us using and what the status of your activation is.

Open an administrative level command prompt.
Navigate to the Office14 folder:
- 32bit Office on 64bit OS – “cd \Program Files(x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14”
- 32bit Office on 32bit OS and 64bit Office on 64bit OS – “cd \Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14”
Execute “cscript ospp.vbs /dstatus”
Look at “LICENSE NAME” for license type and “LICENSE STATUS” for activation status

If Office is KMS activated you will see “KMS_Client edition” in the license name field:

If Office is MAK activated you will see “MAK edition” in the license name field:

If Office is Retail activated you will see “Retail edition” in the license name field:

Multiple Exchange accounts created in Outlook 2010 with existing Outlook profiles after upgrading from an earlier Office version using a custom MSP

Eric Ellis [MSFT] — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:33:00 GMT

7/19/2011 UPDATE: This issue has been addressed in the Service Pack 1 (SP1) version of the Office Customization Tool (OCT).

To prevent multiple Exchange accounts from being created in one profile when you upgrade users to Outlook 2010, you must download and use the Service Pack 1 (SP1) version of the OCT, which is available at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=189316.

To update the OCT, replace the /Admin folder that is in your Office 2010 installation files or installation image with the new /Admin folder that is included in the download package.

When using the Office Customization Tool (OCT) to create an MSP file for a customized installation of Office 2010, you may find that after installing Office 2010, users with existing Outlook profiles have multiple Exchange accounts configured instead of a single one that is desired.

The following screenshot depicts an example of this behavior:

To prevent this issue from occurring, use the following steps:

1) Use the Office 2010 Customization Tool (OCT) to open an existing MSP file, then:

a. Under the Outlook section, select the Export Settings option.

b. Click Export Profile Settings.
c. Save the .prf file to the local drive as Custom14.PRF or any other desired filename. This file will eventually be embedded in the MSP and copied to client machines during the installation of Office 2010.

2) Open the exported .prf file using Notepad and make the following changes:

a. Add the following line to the [General] section:

BackupProfile=False

The following is an example of this change:

[General]
Custom=1
DefaultProfile=Yes
OverwriteProfile=Append
ModifyDefaultProfileIfPresent=true
BackupProfile=False

b. In the section that corresponds to the Microsoft Exchange Service (as shown in the [Server List] section), change the line with UniqueService=No to UniqueService=Yes.

Note: The Microsoft Exchange Service section is typically the [Service1] section.

The following is an example of this change:

[Service1]
OverwriteExistingService=No
UniqueService=Yes
MailboxName=%UserName%
HomeServer=Exchange07

c. Save and close the file (ensure that the .prf file extension is maintained).

3) Back in the OCT:

a. Click Outlook profile.
b. Select the Apply PRF option.

c. Click Browse and select the modified .prf file from step 1c above.

d. Save and close the MSP file.

4) Use the custom MSP file to deploy a customized installation of Office 2010.

NOTE: If Outlook/Exchange settings in the MSP file need to be edited in the future, the custom PRF file created to work around this issue must be copied to the same location as it was when originally imported into the OCT (i.e., C:\Custom14.PRF) on the machine that you’re running the Office Customization Tool on when modifying the MSP file.

The following screenshot depicts an error which will occur when editing an MSP on a machine where the custom PRF file does not exist in the location that it was originally imported into the MSP from:

Managing Office 2010 Activations using the Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT 2.0)

Sean Fr - MSFT — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:12:00 GMT

If you are deploying volume editions of Office 2010 using KMS or MAK activation, the Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT) 2.0 can be used to manage activation for these products. In this video I walk you through using VAMT 2.0 to activate Office 2010 installations and manage Office 2010 product keys.

If you haven’t already downloaded VAMT 2.0 you can grab a copy here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ec7156d2-2864-49ee-bfcb-777b898ad582

This article on TechNet that walks you through VAMT 2.0 usage. It is focused on Windows activation, but the same steps apply for Office 2010: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff686878.aspx

View Video
Format: wmv
Duration: 12:17

Activate Office 2010 KMS host via phone activation

EricAshton — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:41:00 GMT

Sometimes it is required to activate the Office 2010 KMS host in a disconnected environment. Here are the steps required to activate Office 2010 KMS via the phone.

*NOTE* If you don’t already have Office 2010 KMS installed please install it as described in the following blog post:
Office 2010 KMS installation and troubleshooting

After installing the Office 2010 KMS host pack from here, and entering your product key, you should get an error during activation if you are not connected to the internet.

Open a command prompt and change the directory to c:\windows\system32.
Type in “cscript slmgr.vbs /dlv bfe7a195-4f8f-4f0b-a622-cf13c7d16864” and hit enter.

You will see your Office 2010 KMS server all of the license files that have been installed on your KMS server.

Copy the activation ID, and the installation ID into a notepad file.
I would then recommend that you put dashes after every 6 characters in the installation ID. like so:

020362-296235-955944-683420-831782-083181-398723-978944-769744

If you are in the USA, you can then dial phone # 888-725-1047 to input your installation ID.
If you are NOT in the USA, at a command prompt type “c:\windows\system32\slui.exe 4”. Then choose your country to get the phone #. After you get your phone # from this screen, Close the windows activation window, as we ONLY wanted the phone #.

After you give the automated voice your installation ID, it will return with a confirmation ID.

For example my confirmation ID might be

XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX

Remove the dashes from your confirmation ID:

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Then to activate use the following command under C:\Windows\system32:

cscript slmgr.vbs /atp XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX bfe7a195-4f8f-4f0b-a622-cf13c7d16864

Here is a Video demonstration of how to activate Office 2010 KMS host via phone activation in a disconnected environment.

View Video
Format: wmv
Duration: 5:51

Office Deployment Support Team Blog

SharePoint Workspace 2010 is unexpectedly installed when you install the Office 2010 SP1 update

How to discover Office and Windows KMS hosts via DNS and remove unauthorized instances

How to install Office 2010 with a MAK key and have it perform an automatic activation attempt after install (Part Deux)

Office 2010 Service Pack 1 and version 2 of the Office 2010 policy templates/OCT files now available for download

MSI Restart Manager - How it relates to Office updates and application restarts

How to programmatically install the PowerPoint 2003 hotfix related to KB2543241 and KB2464588

How to programmatically install the Outlook 2007 hotfix related to KB2512788 and KB2509470

How to automate the uninstallation of an Office patch programmatically

How to extract the contents from an .ISO file without burning the .ISO to disc.

Getting invalid product key error when trying to input MAK key for Volume License version of Office 2010

How to obtain and use Offscrub to automate the uninstallation of Office products

How to automate the uninstallation of Office 2007 products via command line

How to automate the uninstallation of Office 2003 products

How to perform an uninstall-upgrade to Office 2010

There are three options for upgrading to Office 2010:

Troubleshooting Office installation failures

Volume License editions of Visio 2010 install Premium edition by default

Managing Office 2010 Activations using the Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT 2.0) http://blogs.technet.com/b/odsupport/archive/2010/08/06/managing-office-2010-activations-using-the-volume-activation-management-tool-vamt-2-0.asp

Office 2010 Deployment Workshops and experts coming soon to a city near you…

Understanding 64-bit versions of Office 2010 and related deployment considerations, advantages, and disadvantages

How to install Office 2010 with a MAK key and have it perform an automatic activation attempt after install

Office 2010 Activation errors - 0xC004F074 "...No Key Management Service (KMS) could be contacted" and 0xc004f050 "The Software Licensing service reported that the product key is invalid"

When launching an Office 2010 application you receive “This copy of Microsoft Office is not activated”

How to check the activation type and status of Office 2010 installations

Multiple Exchange accounts created in Outlook 2010 with existing Outlook profiles after upgrading from an earlier Office version using a custom MSP

Managing Office 2010 Activations using the Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT 2.0)

Activate Office 2010 KMS host via phone activation

Managing Office 2010 Activations using the Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT 2.0)
http://blogs.technet.com/b/odsupport/archive/2010/08/06/managing-office-2010-activations-using-the-volume-activation-management-tool-vamt-2-0.asp