A common question among OMPM customers is “How do I estimate how long OMPM will take to run?” Though we don’t have a simple calculation to provide, we do have some tips to share from consultants and customers.

First, we’d like to share some customer advice from M. Nothnagel, who posted his estimation method in the Application Compatibility forums on TechNet. He uses a combination of light scans and deep scans to estimate completion time. You can find his forum post here:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/officeappcompat/thread/fa70f627-a208-455a-934d-dc1e39106d34

A Microsoft Premier Field Engineer, Lee Palmer, suggests the following tip to speed up scanning:

I know a performance gain is not scanning for 64-bit macro compatibility. This can make a real difference in the scan times. As we recommend 32-bit Office and most customers are not deploying 64-bit, then it is not really necessary to have this option set in the ini file.

And Curtis Sawin, a Senior Consultant, shared his tips for using Robocopy to estimate scan times:

In general, a big impact on the time it takes to perform a scan is how “close” the scanning computer is to the target file share.  You can use “tracert” to find out how many hops are between the scanning computer and file share.  The fewer hops, the faster scan results.

Additionally, what I like to do is provide an estimate of how long a scan will take, by:

1. Identify some folders to scan as a pilot scan (try to get at least 500-1000 files). 
2. Configure offscan.ini to scan the pilot folders.
3. Determine the number of files in the pilot folder list.
4. Execute the pilot scan.
5. Determine the duration of the pilot scan.
6. Determine the number of files in a production scan.
7. Configure offscan.ini to scan the production folders.
8. Estimate the amount of time the production scan will take based on the data from steps 3, 5, and 6.

I’ve used robocopy in a batch file to determine the number of files (steps 3 and 6).  Below is the contents of such a batch file:

robocopy %cd% %cd% /xj /w:5 /r:2 /s /ndl /l /if *.xls /if *.xlt /if *.xla /if *.xlc /if *.xlm /if *.ppt /if *.pot /if *.pps /if *.ppa /if *.doc /if *.dot /if *.wiz >> "%userprofile%\desktop\DocumentTotals.log"

This approach helps customers “see” how long a scan will take, and gives them a better comfort level and the ability to plan…or to scale out and use more than one scanning computer.

The above steps can be done from computers that are close and far from the file share to demonstrate the difference the number of hops makes.

Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 is officially released.  SP1 contains new fixes for areas of each product as well as all Cumulative Updates and Public Updates that have already shipped. The fixes are contained in a downloadable spreadsheet that is useful to those testing or evaluating the service pack.

Here’s the official word on the  Microsoft Office Updates blog. Here you can find the links to the downloads as well as their respective descriptions. For more information, see Apply Office 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1). Updated Administrative Template files and Office Customization Tool (OCT) settings are available as a separate download. For more information, see the article Office 2010 Administrative Template files (ADM, ADMX, ADML) and Office Customization Tool.

SP1 will be available through Microsoft Update as an automatic update in 90 days. It's available there now as a manual update to those who've installed all Office Automatic Updates.

Today, Steve Ballmer announced the worldwide availability of Office 365, which brings together Office, SharePoint, Exchange, and Lync in an always-up-to-date cloud service. For more information, see the Office 365 page in the Microsoft News Center.

A customer recently left the following comment in our Changes in Access 2010 topic in the Office Resource Kit:

“lookin all over for a reference document on Access 2010 VBA... have an excellent one downloaded for Excel VBA but can not find Access.”

You won't find VBA content in the Office Resource Kit, so you'll need to check out MSDN. The Access 2010 writers suggest the Access 2010 Developer Reference as a starting point. In particular, the topic on What's New may be of interest. You might also find the article Getting Started with VBA in Office 2010 useful.

So how can you leave questions or comments about articles in the Office Resource Kit? You can easily leave feedback on any topic by using the Feedback feature. Just click the stars in the upper-right hand corner of the article, like this:

Many thanks to Steven and Michael for helping me locate the Access 2010 VBA content.

Maybe you've heard about connecting to SharePoint from your favorite Office applications but you're not sure how it works.  Or maybe you don't know about this capability.

Inspired by a training video that showed how to connect SharePoint libraries to Office, this blog post - created by our counterparts in the SharePoint team, steps through the process for 4 use cases, including:

• Updating a SharePoint library document from an Office application
• Sharing or publishing a new document from an Office application to a SharePoint site library.
• Inserting images, videos, and audio files from a SharePoint Asset Library into Office documents. ​

http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/Blogs/GetThePoint/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=479

Enjoy!

Continuing on from Sequencing Office 2010 for App-V, Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3, Matt and Jason from 43Tc to share their real world experiences with Office 2010 and App-V and provide guidance on sequencing Office for App-V. In part 4 we look at preparing and distributing your Office 2010 App-V package.

Preparing the clients to receive the Office 2010 Package

In order to enable the activation proxy and the additional proxies for interaction with local operating system components, the Microsoft Office 2010 Deployment Kit for App-V must be installed and configured on the client. This section will cover the steps necessary for installing the Deployment Kit on the clients.

We recommend perform this section manually on a client PC first to become familiar with it.

In a production setting, you will most likely want to create a deployment package around these instructions to automate deployment to all of your clients using your preferred deployment solution for physical (non-virtualized) applications.

Note: These 2 installation commands must be executed separately (they cannot be joined in one command line). As such, we will install the Office 2010 Deployment Kit twice, once for licensing, and the second to register the Feature Proxies. This means you may need to create two separate deployment packages, depending on your ESD solution, for deployment to production clients.

Also, you will need to have the Package GUID copied from the sequencer in Part 3 available to you on the client. We recommend having this in your clipboard for use in Installation 2.

• First, copy the folder that contains the Office 2010 Deployment Kit installation files (example: C:\Office2010DK_x86) from the sequencing machine to the client

  OR

  If you are deploying to a 64 bit client, you must install the 64 bit Office 2010 Deployment Kit for App-V.

  • Download the x64 Deployment Kit from: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=479f12f2-5678-493e-bce1-682b3ece5431
  • Run the downloaded .exe to extract the files to a folder (example: C:\Office2010DK_x64)
• Next, open an elevated command prompt by selecting the Start Button and typing cmd into the search line. From the Programs right click cmd.exe and select Run as administrator.

  At the command prompt, enter a command to change directory to the folder containing the Office 2010 Deployment Kit installation files (example: cd C:\Office2010DK_x86)

  Note: Your choice of KMS or MAK must match the choice that was made during sequencing. The following commands are cAsE sEnSiTive and won't provide immediate feedback if an entry error is made during these steps. As such, we recommend you copy and paste the command line syntax in Part 2.

• Installation 1: Install the Deployment Kit for Licensing.

  If using KMS licensing execute the following command:

  msiexec /i OffVirt.msi PROPLUS=1

  Note: If using Office 2010 Standard, replace PROPLUS=1 with STANDARD=1

  OR

  If using MAK licensing execute the following command:

  msiexec /i OffVirt.msi PIDKEYS=XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX USEROPERATIONS=1

  Note: Enter your product key in place of the xxxxx's.

• Installation 2: Install the Deployment Kit to register the Feature Proxies

  Execute the following easy to remember command:

  msiexec /i c:\OffVirt.msi ADDDEFAULT=Click2runOneNoteProxy,Click2runOutlookProxies,Click2runWDSProxy,Click2runOWSSuppProxies PACKAGEGUID={XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX} PACKAGEVERSION=14 OUTLOOKNAME="Microsoft Outlook 2010" ONENOTENAME="Microsoft OneNote 2010" MAPISERVER="Microsoft Virtual Office Simple Mapi Proxy Server" VIRTUALSEARCHHOST="Search MAPI Protocol Handler Host" MLCFG32CPL="Windows Control Panel" OWSSUPPServer="Microsoft SharePoint Client Support Manager"

  IMPORTANT: Replace the XXXX's in the PACKAGEGUID= braces in the above command with the Package GUID value you saved earlier in Part 3

  Note: This command is all one long command string and should not be combined with the original installation command.

Additional Note: If you make a mistake in the above command lines you cannot simply re-run the command. You will need to uninstall the Deployment Kit then re-install. Because of this we recommend using copy/paste here in you are able.

Distribution

You are now ready to deploy the Office 2010 Virtual Application Package to the client. The process for deployment varies depending on whether you are using SCCM, App-V Full Infrastructure or Standalone Mode for deploying your virtual applications.

The specific instructions for deploying virtual applications via these differing methods are already covered in other documents, as such, they won't be repeated here.

Below are links to documentation that will assist you in learning how to deploy virtual applications.

The documents are available on Microsoft TechNet at: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/appvirtualization/cc843994.aspx

For System Center Configuration Manager deployment: Read the document titled, "Virtual Application Management with Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.6 and System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2"

General process flow:

• Create SCCM Virtual Application Package(s) for the Office 2010 Deployment Kit for App-V
• Copy to Distribution Point
• Create SCCM Virtual Application Package for the Office 2010 sequence
• Copy to Distribution Point
• Create SCCM Task Sequence that;
• 1^st: Publishes the Office 2010 Deployment Kit package for licensing
• 2^nd:Publishes the Office 2010 Deployment Kit package for Feature Proxies
• 3^rd: Publishes the Office 2010 sequence package
• Advertise the Task Sequence to machine based SCCM collection(s)

For an App-V Full Infrastructure deployment: Read the document titled, "Microsoft Application Virtualization Version 4.6 Trial Guide"

General process flow:

• Publish the Office 2010 Deployment Kit for App-V package(s) you created above to your clients via your chosen ESD solution
• Publish the Office 2010 sequence on App-V Management server

  If you want to make use of the "Print to OneNote" feature:

1. Execute the following command:

SFTMIME ADD PACKAGE:"Office2010_x86" /MANIFEST \\\\app-v.management.server.address.here\content\Office2010_x86\Office2010_x86.manifest.xml /GLOBAL

Note: For testing, you can perform the above command-line manually rather than creating a package or login script.

1. Publish the above package to your clients
2. Users will need to launch OneNote once before "Print to OneNote" will work.

This concludes the guidance on building that first Office 2010 virtual package. The result of your work is a fully functional Office 2010 package that tightly integrates with the local operating system, providing the best experience available with application virtualization and Office.

Continuing on from Sequencing Office 2010 for App-V, Part 1 and Part 2, Matt and Jason from 43Tc to share their real world experiences with Office 2010 and App-V and provide guidance on sequencing Office for App-V. In part 3 we look at Sequencing Office 2010.

Installation Phase

1. Click Start | All Programs | Microsoft Application Virtualization| Microsoft Application Virtualization Sequencer
2. Click Create a new Virtual Application Package
3. Select Create Package, and click Next
4. At the Prepare Computer screen, click Next
5. At the Type of Application screen, select Standard Application and click Next
6. At the Select Installer screen, browse to and select the Setup.exe file from your installation location and click Next
7. At the Package Name screen, enter Office2010_x86 as the package name and click Next

   Note: for future reference, you can leverage Office customizations you maintain with tools like Office Customization Tool, however in this example we will explicitly customize the installation.

8. Click the Check Box to accept the license terms and click Continue
9. Select Customize from the Choose the installation you want page
10. On the Installation Options tab click Microsoft Office and select Run all from My Computer

    Note: Items cannot be set to "Install on First Use". The user will be unable to add any such marked items once the application is virtualized.

11. Click the File Location tab and select Browse
12. In the Browse for Folder dialogue select Q:\Office2010_x86
13. Click OK to confirm the destination folder, and then click Install Now
14. The installation will take time to install as it is performing normal installation tasks on the sequencer station
15. When the setup is complete, click Close to exit the Setup Wizard
16. Back in the Sequencer, check the box next to I am finished installing and click Next
17. At the Configure Software screen, select Microsoft Word 2010 and click Run Selected
18. On the Welcome to Microsoft Office 2010 screen select Don't make changes and select OK

    Note: It is a best practice to disable any automatic updates for virtual applications. When virtualizing applications, updates will be managed centrally and performed on the sequencer. This avoids application updates being placed in the User Package Volume file and unnecessarily growing the user profile.

19. Close Microsoft Word
20. Launch and close Excel, Access and PowerPoint as well.

    Note: DO NOT Launch Outlook or One Note or access a SharePoint site due to user specific customizations that take place on first run/hit that we do not want to capture

21. Once you have launched and closed the applications, click Next
22. At the Installation Report screen, click Next
23. At the Customize screen, select Customize. Further configure the virtual application package and click Next
24. On the Edit Shortcuts screen, delete any of the automatically generated application entries that you do not wish to present to end users by right-clicking those applications in the left-hand pane and selecting Remove. By the way, ctrl-click for multi-select works here. Do not click Next yet!

Add applications for Feature Proxies

In this section we will create individual virtual application entries for the Feature Proxies provided by the Office 2010 Deployment Kit for App-V. We are still on the Edit Shortcuts screen from the last step.

1. Click the Add button once for each of the below new application entries, and add the following application info below.

   IMPORTANT: entries are cAsE SeNsItIvE. To make each entry easier we recommend copy/pasting the Application Path lines if you are able. Once the Application Path line is entered, the other fields will auto propagate. Add each bullet item below separately. See the below screen shot for an example.

     

   Description: Instant Search (Virtual Search Host) using Windows Desktop Search (WDS)

   Application Path: %commonprogramfiles%\microsoft shared\virtualization handler\VirtualSearchHost.exe.

   Name: Search MAPI Protocol Handler Host

   Description: Virtual SharePoint Proxy

   Application Path: %commonprogramfiles%\microsoft shared\virtualization handler\VirtualOWSSuppManager.exe

   Name: Microsoft SharePoint Client Support Manager

   Description: Simple MAPI

   Application Path: %commonprogramfiles%\microsoft shared\virtualization handler\MapiServer.exe.

   Name: Microsoft Virtual Office Simple Mapi Proxy Server

   Description: Virtual Mail Control Panel Applet

   Application Path: %windir%\system32\Control.exe %SFT_MNT%\Office2010_x86\Office14\mlcfg32.cpl

   Name: Windows Control Panel

   Description: Office Document Cache

   Application Path: Q:\Office2010_x86\Office14\MSOSync.exe

   Name: Microsoft Office Document Cache

2. Expand the Office Document Cache element in the Applications tree
3. Select Shortcuts and click the Edit Locations button (see screenshot below for example)

    

4. Edit the shortcut location to be Start Menu\Programs\Startup
5. Expand the Microsoft SharePoint Client Support Manager element in the Applications tree
6. Select Shortcuts and click the Edit Locations button
7. Edit the shortcut location as Start Menu\Programs\Startup
8. Click the Applications node at the top of the left-hand pane.
9. In the right-hand pane, click the Edit button for each application and change each application's version to 14 (see screenshot below for an example)

    

10. Once you have changed the version for every listed application, Click Next.

Building Feature Blocks and configuration

Office 2010 will be a very large package (in the area of 2 gigabytes). As such the next steps will walk you through splitting the package in to Feature Blocks. Feature blocks separate the specific bits of the package that are most commonly used and needed to launch the application from lesser used bits. The result is that on first launch, rather than the user getting the entire package, they will only receive the most commonly used bits (in the area of only a few hundred Megs). The remaining bits will remain on the server until they are used by the user.

IMPORTANT: DO NOT launch OneNote, Outlook, or SharePoint due to their automatic user specific customization settings.

1. At the Prepare for Streaming screen, select Microsoft Word 2010 and click Launch.
2. Once launched, close Word 2010 to establish the minimum Primary Feature Block.
3. This step should be repeated for the other office applications that your users most commonly use such as Excel, and PowerPoint so they are also placed in the Primary Feature Block.

   REMEMBER: DO NOT launch OneNote, Outlook, or SharePoint due to their automatic user specific customization settings.

4. Click Next
5. At the Target OS screen, Windows 7 32-bit will already be selected, if you wish to use this package with other platforms, you may select them as well.
6. Click Next
7. At the Create Package screen, select Continue to modify package without saving using the package editor and click Next
8. At the Package Completed screen, click Close
9. In the Sequencer, click the Deployment tab.
10. Under Server URL, make the following changes:
11. Hostname: example.server.name (Name of your App-V Management Server goes here. If you are using SCCM for deployment: leave it as is, SCCM ignores this setting)
12. Path: Office2010_x86 (Only if using an App-V Management Server. If you are using SCCM for deployment: leave it as is, SCCM ignores this setting)
13. Under Operating Systems, notice that Windows 7 32-bit is already selected.
14. Generate .MSI: Checked (useful for testing packages on stand-alone clients)
15. Compress Package: Checked

    Note: To further reduce the amount of network traffic during streaming, you can elect to compress the package. This can sometimes impact first-launch performance by a couple of seconds as the client must decompress each block it receives.

Virtual Registry and Open Software Description (OSD) file changes

1. Click the Virtual Registry tab.
2. Expand the registry by double-clicking on Registry and continue to the paths listed below. Right-click and select Key and New to create a new Key under each of the following keys (example screen shot provided below):
   1. MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{9203C2CB-1DC1-482D-967E-597AFF270F0D}
   2. MACHINE\Software\Classes\CLSID\{BDEADEF5-C265-11D0-BCED-00A0C90AB50F}

    

3. Right-Click each new key and select Key and Rename.
4. Type TreatAs and select the parent key.
5. Right-click each TreatAs key, select Key, select the checkmark next to Override Local Key (example screenshot provided below).

    

6. Change the following virtual registry key property to Merge with Local by Right-clicking the key, select Key, select Merge with Local Key (example screenshot provided below).
   1. MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0

    

7. Click on the OSD tab
8. Repeat the following steps for each application in the pull-down list under Select Application (example screenshot provided below).
   1. Expand IMPLMENTATION under SOFTPKG.
   2. Expand VIRTUALENV
   3. Expand POLICIES and select LOCAL_INTERACTION_ALLOWED.
   4. In the Element Text: field replace the word FALSE with the word TRUE
   5. 
   6. IMPORTANT: Repeat for every application listed in the pull-down list under Select Application. When completed, continue to the next step.
9. Click on the Properties tab
10. Copy the Package GUID and paste it into a notepad document. You will need to use this GUID later.  

Saving the sequence

1. Click File | Save.
2. Browse to the Desktop and create a folder named Office2010_x86.
3. Open the Office2010_x86 folder.
4. Confirm that the File name: is Office2010_x86.sprj and click Save.
5. Once the package is saved open the new Office2010_x86 folder on your desktop and examine the files that were created. Your package files should look pretty much like they do in the below screenshot.

You should now have:

• The Icons folder (self explanitary)
• An .OSD file for each application to which you will be providing shortcuts (as well as the shortcuts provided for the feature proxies)
• The .MSI file (useful for testing on a stand-alone client)
• The .SFT file which is the application package itself (notice it's a little less than 1.5GB in size)
• The .SPRJ file (the package's sequencer project file)
• The manifest.xml file (used for SCCM deployment)

Stay tuned for Part 4, in which we prepare the clients to receive the Office 2010 package.

Continuing on from Sequencing Office 2010 for App-V, Part 1, Matt and Jason from 43Tc to share their real world experiences with Office 2010 and App-V and provide guidance on sequencing Office for App-V. In part 2 we look at preparing the sequencing workstation.

It is recommended to sequence using the same OS on the sequencer that will be used on the clients. For the purposes of this guide, please sequence on Windows 7 x86.

Prepare the Sequencing Workstation

Note: App-V 4.6 SP1 is REQUIRED for sequencing Office 2010 using the steps in this guide.

1. Install the App-V Sequencer
2. Have the Office 2010 installation media ready
3. To ensure the necessary Side-by-Side extensions are captured, add the value VSL to the multi-string value for the following registry key:
   1. 32-bit Sequencer Operating System HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SoftGrid\4.5\Sequencer\SxSAppExtensions
4. Install the following components, if required on the sequencing station;
   1. Windows Search 4.0
   2. XPS Viewer

Note: The above two components are built-in to Windows 7. Installers for XP or Vista can be found at http://download.microsoft.com.

1. In Computer Management\Services, adjust the settings on the following services
   1. Windows Search set to Manual or Automatic
   2. Windows Update set to Disabled
2. Optional: This would be an appropriate time to make a snapshot of the VM to allow you to quickly return to this point in the event that you make a mistake and need to start again.

Install the Office 2010 Deployment Kit for App-V

About the Office 2010 Deployment Kit for App-V and Feature Proxies

Along with providing licensing capabilities, the Office 2010 Deployment Kit for App-V provides "Feature Proxies" which are designed to facilitate the enhanced integration with the operating system to allow the use of features like:

• Fast search in virtualized Outlook 2010 using Windows Desktop Search
• Ability for virtualized Office 2010 applications to open, edit, and save Office files hosted with Windows SharePoint
• Search indexing support for Office file types
• URL protocol redirection to virtualized Outlook 2010
• Print to virtualized OneNote 2010

Download the Office 2010 Deployment Kit for App-V to your desktop from here.

Remember: Download the x86 version!

1. Run Office2010AppVKit-x86.exe to extract the files
   1. Accept the License Terms and click Continue
   2. In the Browse for folder window, select Computer, C:, and click the Make New Folder button
   3. Name the new folder (example: Office2010DK_x86) and click Ok
   4. At Files extracted successfully, click Ok
2. Install The Office 2010 Deployment Kit for App-V

• Open an elevated command prompt and change directory to the folder to which you extracted the Deployment Kit installer in the step above (example: C:\Office2010DK_86)

Now it is time to set up the Deployment Kit to handle Volume License Activation. Perform ONE of the following options (IMPORTANT: Commands are cAsE SeNsItIvE)

If you are using KMS activation, enter the following command:

msiexec /i OffVirt.msi ADDLOCAL=Click2runMapi,Click2runOWSSupp,Click2runWDS,OSpp,OSpp_Core PROPLUS=1

Note: If you are using Office 2010 Standard, replace PROPLUS=1 in the line above with STANDARD=1

OR

If you are using MAK activation, enter the following command:

msiexec /i OffVirt.msi ADDLOCAL=Click2runMapi,Click2runOWSSupp,Click2runWDS,OSpp,OSpp_Core PIDKEYS=XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX USEROPERATIONS=1

Note: The above command is all one line, but is not actually a valid multiple activation key (surprise!). Enter your organization's own MAK in place of the xxxxx's.

Now that the sequencing workstation is set up, we are ready to sequence Office 2010… in Part 3!

Application Virtualization is a technology that we are really excited about in the Office team. However, due to the close interactions Office 2010 has with the Operating System, Servers and other applications it does pose some unique challenges. We provide the Office 2010 Deployment Kit for App-V and Feature Proxies to alleviate some of these issues, but to me there is an “art” to getting Office 2010 sequenced for App-V. So, we asked App-V artists Matt and Jason from 43Tc to share their real world experiences with Office 2010 and App-V and provide guidance on sequencing Office for App-V. In part 1 we look at considerations for Office 2010 and App-V.

Office 2010 and App-V 4.6 SP1 bring the capability of integrating a virtual version of Office 2010 more closely with the local operating system.  These enhancements enable key scenarios to provide operating system integration capabilities like fast search, mail configuration, SharePoint integration, as well as integrating the new volume activation process.  In order to enable these key capabilities, proper sequencing of Office 2010 will be required using the Office 2010 Deployment Kit for App-V. 

This post assumes that you have sequenced applications for App-V before.  We don’t recommend making Office 2010 your first shot at sequencing.  Office 2010 is particularly complex application to sequence and does not represent the typical sequencing experience. The purpose of this document is to attempt to simplify the more complex aspects by walking you through the decision making, sequencing and deployment processes from start to finish using the App-V 4.6 SP1 Sequencer ONLY.  Packages sequenced with the App-V 4.6 SP1 sequencer will work properly on App-V 4.6 Clients.

If you have never sequenced an application before and/or need instruction on how to properly set-up your sequencing workstation we STRONGLY recommend first going through the App-V 4.6 SP1 Trial Guide available from Microsoft.

Follow the instructions provided in this blog series exactly!  This is your first time sequencing Office 2010, so don’t be creative or adventurous this time around and stick to our instructions.  We took the time to document this for you, so at least stay on the path the first time round.  Ok?  Trust me, you’ll thank us.

The main tasks involved with sequencing Office 2010 are:

1. Considerations and Decision making
2. Preparing the Sequencing workstation with the Office 2010 Deployment Kit
3. Sequencing Office 2010
4. Preparing the clients to receive the Office 2010 Package
5. Completion
   

Considerations and Decision making

There are a number of things to consider when sequencing Office 2010 and getting these decisions made ahead of time will help make the sequencing process much easier. These are documented in detail on the Office 2010 App-V TechNet site, but it’s worth reiterating the key points.

Office 2010 can only be sequenced with the App-V Sequencer versions 4.5 SP2 and 4.6 and 4.6 SP1.

What version of Office 2010 to sequence?

Both x86 and x64 versions can be sequenced.  However, only the x86 version of Office 2010 supports the Feature Proxies which allow you to make the most out of the office integration features including SharePoint integration.  Feature Proxies are not supported on the x64 versions of Office 2010.  In addition, an application sequenced on an x86 OS will generally work on an x64 OS but an application sequenced on an x64 OS will never work on an x86 OS.

Considering the above facts, we Strongly Recommend sequencing the x86 version on an x86 sequencing machine to allow full use of all Office features and to have one sequence that will work on both an x86 and an X64 OS.

As such, in order to create a document that will be both easy to follow and target the most common scenario, the instructions in this document are for sequencing the x86 version of Office on an x86 OS only.

Only volume license versions of Office 2010 can be sequenced

• Key Management Server (KMS) or Multi-Activation Key (MAK) activation is supported
• MSDN and TechNet provided MAK keys cannot be used as they will not work.  You must obtain the software bits and keys from a valid volume license source – trials, MSDN/TechNet subscription, retail, and Office 365 versions of Office are not supported for sequencing.
• If MAK is chosen, be aware that users will be prompted to activate upon deployment.
• The instruction for KMS as written assumes Office 2010 ProPlus is being sequenced.
• The command syntax also assumes that your KMS server is registered with DNS and is using the standard port 1688.
• You can change your activation configuration later.  If you are setting up an initial proof of concept we suggest you use KMS.

The “Print to OneNote” feature considerations and limitations

If you wish to enable the use of the “Print to OneNote” feature you may do so.  However, you need to be aware of some limitations or complexities introduced by this feature when it comes to deploying the Office 2010 sequence to your clients.

The complexity arises out of the requirement that, in order for the “Print to OneNote” feature to work, the sequence must be deployed to the clients using SFTMIME /global.  This is usually an automated behind-the-scenes publishing operation.  The issue is that SFTMIME does not apply /global by default except when using SCCM deployment with the advertisement targeted to machines (rather than users) and is not done when using an App-V Full Infrastructure.

Its decision time again:

• Deployment via SCCM
  • You must target your advertisement for the Office 2010 package to machines.
  • You cannot target your advertisement for the Office 2010 package to users.
  • Deployment via App-V Full Infrastructure
    • You need to deploy the following command to your client machines either via log-on script or a standard app package using an Electronic Software Distribution (ESD) technology like Configuration Manager.

SFTMIME ADD PACKAGE:”Office2010_x86” /MANIFEST \\\\app-v.management.server.address.here\content\Office2010_x86\Office2010_x86.manifest.xml /GLOBAL

Note: The OneNote application will have to be launched once by every user before that user can make use of the “Print to OneNote” feature.

Other interfacing programs or Add-ins

For your reference, if you were to also include any Office plug-ins or programs that need to interoperate with Office, you would install those components immediately after sequencing Office and then continue with the process as written.  HOWEVER, for the purposes of this guide we ask that you do not include any Office plug-ins or add-ons on your first run through this guide.

In summary:

The tasks provided in this series of blog posts, when followed exactly, will result in an Office 2010 package that includes all available features that will work on both an x86 and x64 client while reducing complexity and ambiguity.

Points to Remember:

• We will be sequencing the x86 version of Office 2010 using the x86 version of the App-V 4.6 SP1 Sequencer on an x86 operating system. 
• We will be including all Feature Proxies and using either KMS or MAK activation using either Office 2010 ProPlus or Standard volume license editions ONLY.
  • Using MAK activation requires user interaction upon first use
  • KMS uses automatic background activation (no end user interaction needed)
  • If you need to make use of the “Print to OneNote” feature it will affect your options for deployment

Again, if this is your first time sequencing Office 2010 DO NOT STRAY from the instructions provided.  Once you’ve gotten a good grasp of the overall Office 2010 sequencing experience feel free to use the information in the links provided above to customize your sequencing more granularly.  However, we don’t think you’ll need to.

Stay tuned for Part 2 – Preparing the sequencing workstation.

About the authors

Jason Welton is a Principal Consultant with 43Tc.  Prior to 43Tc, Jason worked for Microsoft and Softricity, the developer of “SoftGrid” which became “App-V” after Softricity’s acquisition by Microsoft.  Jason has been supporting and consulting around App-V since 2005.

Matt McDermott is the Practice Manager for 43Tc and an App-V MVP.  Matt has worked in technology consulting for over ten years including working with Microsoft to create documentation, courseware and delivery.

43Tc is a Virtualization Services company that focuses on Microsoft and Citrix technologies in User-State, Application, Session, VDI, and Server based solutions.

You can use the Microsoft Security Compliance Manager tool, which includes the Office 2010 Security Baseline, to help plan, deploy, and monitor the security baselines of computers running Microsoft Office 2010.

What is the Security Compliance Manager tool?

The Microsoft Security Compliance Manager provides security configuration recommendations from Microsoft, centralized security baseline management features, a baseline portfolio, customization capabilities, and security baseline export flexibility to accelerate your organization’s ability to efficiently manage the security and compliance process for the most widely used Microsoft products, including Microsoft Office 2010.

What is the Office 2010 Security Baseline? 

The Office 2010 Security Baseline, included with the Security Compliance Manager tool, is a collection of configuration items for Microsoft Office 2010 that provides prescribed values to solve a specific use case or scenario. The Office 2010 Security Baseline baseline provides guidance and supporting technical data required to implement an effective and efficient security infrastructure, enabling you to:

• Understand threats to Office 2010.
• Learn about Office 2010-specific recommendations.
• Implement Office 2010 countermeasures.

Is the Microsoft Office 2010 Security Guide included with the Security Compliance Manager tool?

Yes, the previously stand-alone Microsoft product-specific security guides, including the Microsoft Office 2010 Security Guide, are now included within the Microsoft Security Compliance Manager (SCM) tool.

Where can I get the Security Compliance Manager tool and find more information about the tool?

• Download
• Check out the SCM TechNet Wiki for more details on how to get up and running with the tool.
• Learn more about the Security Compliance Manager.

Ross Carter, CISSP (Office 2010 Security Resource Center on TechNet)