OfficeXp and Package assignment

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G

Guest

Hi
After sharing the officeXp cd and and mapping a network drive to it, I tried
to assign the package to computers thorugh GPO but I get this error message
" Cannot verify path is a network location. If this package is not available
from network share, clients will not be able to install it. Are your sure you
want to deploy this package using this path". Any Idea! thanks

P.S
By the way, I choosed proplus.msi
 
The package must be hosted on a NTFSv5 volume, a shared CD drive is not.

--
Regards
Christoffer Andersson
Microsoft MVP - Directory Services

No email replies please - reply in the newsgroup
 
And one more thing: you can not enter the path to the proplus.msi file via
a mapped network drive. It must be in the UNC format ( aka
\\servername\sharenaem\file.msi ).

HTH,

Cary
 
You should also (maybe you don't have to though) create an administrative
install otherwise it'll be looking for a license number and such during
setup. Setup /a, pop it in a folder on your server. Share the folder (me, I
use \\Server\Apps$\Off2k3ProEnt) and then point your GPO at that and see if
it'll swallow.
 
Yep!

Great point. Should have mentioned that as well. Sometimes the extremely
obvious falls out of sight. You would be surprised how many people want to
join Windows XP Home to a domain as well as how many people, when using GPO
to deploy applications, want to use a mapped network drive ( he says,
raising his hand to be included in that group! ).

The Administrative Installation Point is a crucial part of this process.
Another thing is the permissions ( please do not forget that there is both
Share and NTFS ).

Cary
 
Thanks a lot for your input. I will try your recommendation and will get back
to you soon. By the way, how can I view from server console which resource is
used by which users and then send an instant message to the remote user to
disconnect. I guess I can do that with Net command but I was wondering if
there is a better way of doing it.
 
Well, I would not put it that way.

I would state that you need to do an Administrative Installation. So, you
are not truly 'copying' anything. If you are unclear what an Administrative
Installation is then think of it in these terms: you are installing Office
XP but it will not necessarily be available to anyone logged on that
computer - it is simply another form of 'media' that is forever stored on
the Server and that you use instead of running around with the CD Media in
your hand!

So, instead of sitting at someone's computer and dropping the CD Media into
the CD-ROM drive on that computer you simply navigate to the shared resource
and double click the executable ( either .exe or .msi ). And, in this case,
you could use a mapped network drive! Well, this is if you are not using
GPO to deploy Office XP. This would be a really common scenario if you were
still an NT 4.0 domain!

In your case, since you are using a GPO to deploy Office XP you create the
Administrative Installation and the follow the normal procedure for creating
a GPO. Only, when you are specifying the path to the .msi file you - M * U
* S * T - use the UNC method ( \\servername\sharename ) to the .msi file.

Also, one of the cool things about an Administrative Installation is that
you can update / patch that AIP ( Administrative Installation Point ) with
any Service Pack that comes out or any patch that comes out. This is
usually done via a .msp file ( Microsoft Patch ). You would then simply
deploy the application again. If you were not using a GPO then you would
have to sit at the client's computer and enter start msiexec.exe /i
\\servername\sharename\file.msi REINSTALL=ALL REINSTALLMODE=vomu /qb - or
something similar - after you have updated the AIP. You would typically do
this via msiexec /p \\servername\sharename\file.msp /a
\\servername\sharename\dfile.msi SHORTFILENAMES=TRUE /qb. The
SHORTFILENAMES=TRUE is of extreme importance! If you are using a GPO to
deploy then you would simply go to the GPO and select 'redeploy
application'. At the next logoff / log on or shut down/start up the
application would be deployed - at the new level!

HTH,

Cary
 
Cary, Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge with a novice person like me. I
will read up more on Admin Installation point and hope things will work
smoothly. By the way, in my previous posting I wanted to know how to view
which resources are used by clients on the server, and send a message in case
I need it to reboot the server. Thanks again for your input!
 
Hi

I setup admin install point on the server, and then I assigned the package
to computers. However, domain users when they login to the domain , the setup
does not install because of permission (admin or eq). And even when admin
logon and install the app, the application is not available for the user and
give the same permission error. By the way, do you have an answer to my
previous question on monitoring user connections to the server? Thanks!
 
The install is not working because you are assigning the package to the
computer configuration side of things. You need to make sure that the
computer account objects are directly in an OU to which this GPO is linked.
Yes, IIRC, you do need to log on first with a domain user account object
that is a member of the local Administrators group. But it has been a long
time since I have deployed a software application to the computer
configuration side of things so I will have to check this.

I am not sure what you mean when you say that you log on as an admin (
member of the Domain Admins group or a local user account object ) and it
does not work.

The answer to your other question, right off the top of my head, is to go My
Computer, right click, select Manage and then go to the shares folder. You
will see who is connected to what.

HTH,

Cary
 
Cary,
I will look into it today and will get back withyou on the result. Thanks
for your prompt respond.
 
hello Cary and everyone,
Thanks a lot for your help Cary and for anyone who shared their knowledge
and time to help others . That issue has been resolved. Thanks again.
 
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