Office 2008 .mpkg & ARD 3 question

[pyrdek]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: Power PC

I am not sure of something so I figure, ASK.

I am trying to install (with a proper site license) to multiple systems, both INTEL and PPC based and primarily 10.4.11 with a few 10.5.2 system eventually also getting the Office 2008 suite. This is a higher ed environment.

Now my question. Normally I can do a multiple system install of new software using the Apple metapackage file system by using Apple Remote Desktop 3 with an administrator level account. The install for everything I have done up to Office 2008 simply installed the software (or updates) and then sometimes required a restart. After the restart the program was available for use by the students on the system without additional problems (other than MS Office 2004 installing the fonts on the hard drive for each first time user).

Trying to deploy Office 2008 in the same manner does not work the same way for me. I start the ARD install using "Install Packages" and move the Office 2008 .mpkg file into the install window. It downloads into the client systems and starts installing. A few seconds later it terminates the install with an error. If I copy the install .mpkg to the desktop of the system, it will initiate the install and proceed to ask for all the assortment of "agree"," Install" buttons (10 or 15 of them). Then once the install completes, each user ends up getting the same user registration window to fill out on their first use. Obviously my having to do the ten or fifteen clicks individually on each system and then each user having to register is far from a preferred way to install this software.

Something that may be a complication is that I received the installation files from our (PC oriented) software license controller (individual not a computer) in an .ISO format. I do not know if there is some other file that did not come along with the install .mpkg or if something got corrupted when he downloaded the file(s?) from Microsoft.

I would have thought that for simplicity sake, the download file would have been provided in a .dmg format but I was told that the ISO was the only one provided. There were no instructions provided so I do not know what, if anything, may have to be modified inside the .mpkg folder to allow an "automatic" install using ARD & .mpkg. Our resident Apple "guru" that used to handle the software licensing / installation preparation etc. chores has moved on the greener pastures and the process of finding his replacement has, so far, not yet provided a new "guru". Any help the group can provide would be appreciated.

 

[vincentvanier]

We're trying to do something similar using an Office 2004 package. That package was updated to 11.3.4, and so we downloaded updates 11.3.5 through 11.4.2 which came in .dmg form. I added all of these updates and came up with the same result as this user. Anyone out there have an Office 2004 installer package that's patched? We're fully licensed, but it's extremely difficult to properly install these patches using ARD. Any help the group can provide would be appreciated.

 

[John McGhie]

Sorry, the rest of your post did not make it out to the server where those
providing the help actually work. There's a bug in the system.

Unfortunately, that means we do not know what "something similar" means, and
so we have no idea what you want to do.

Please re-post a complete question.

We're trying to do something similar using an Office 2004 package. That
package was updated to 11.3.4, and so we downloaded updates 11.3.5 through
11.4.2 which came in .dmg form. I added all of these updates and came up with
the same result as this user. Anyone out there have an Office 2004 installer
package that's patched? We're fully licensed, but it's extremely difficult to
properly install these patches using ARD. Any help the group can provide would
be appreciated.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[CyberTaz]

Yeah John, he postaed as a reply to this:

But it's an old message (back in March) to which there were no replies that
isn't being picked up by my news reader either.

Sorry, the rest of your post did not make it out to the server where those
providing the help actually work. There's a bug in the system.

Unfortunately, that means we do not know what "something similar" means, and
so we have no idea what you want to do.

Please re-post a complete question.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

It would have been a better idea to post a NEW thread, as Office 2008
uses a different installer, so this is a totally different problem.

Since Office 2004 is desperately in need of a new combo updater, if I
were you, I'd hold on until it's out. Can't be much longer now. Also, I
would do a straight google to see if anyone is talking about creating
patched installers for Office--this tends to be more of a end-user
rather than administrator group, so that conversation isn't centered here.

 

[William Smith]

We're trying to do something similar using an Office 2004 package.
That package was updated to 11.3.4, and so we downloaded updates
11.3.5 through 11.4.2 which came in .dmg form. I added all of these
updates and came up with the same result as this user. Anyone out
there have an Office 2004 installer package that's patched? We're
fully licensed, but it's extremely difficult to properly install
these patches using ARD. Any help the group can provide would be
appreciated.

Rather than applying patches, I uninstall the old Microsoft Office 2004
folder and replace it with a fully patched version. This may seem like
overkill but on a 100MB network the time to do this is just a few minutes.

If you want to use ARD to do this then use its Terminal command to
delete the Office folder:

rmdir -R /Applications/Microsoft\ Office\ 2004

Use a packaging utility such as Composer from JAMF Software
<http://www.jamfsoftware.com> or Apple's PackageMaker to make a .pkg
file that you can push with ARD.

Hope this helps!

--

bill

William M. Smith, Microsoft Interop MVP - Mac/Windows
Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>