Installing Office via GPO: how do I go about it?
What's in the box?
Nowadays, Microsoft Office is used in many companies, but installing it on workstations can be very time-consuming and repetitive if you don't use a suitable method. If you're using an Active Directory domain, you can install Office via GPO, using the ODT tool offered free of charge by Microsoft. ODT stands for Office Deployment Tool.
Using ODT, you can do several things:
- Télécharger les sources d’installation de Microsoft Office pour les mettre à disposition sur un partage
- Installer la suite Microsoft Office sur des machines
- Mettre à niveau la suite Microsoft Office sur des machines où il y a déjà Office
You should also know that ODT supports the deployment of several versions of Office including Office 2019, Office 2021 and Microsoft 365 Apps (version accessible via an Office 365 subscription). This applies to the various versions of Windows.
1. Using the ODT tool: config.office.com
To operate, ODT needs an XML configuration file that tells it what actions to perform, what options to configure, etc.... ODT also has a Download mode and a Configure mode. Before we talk about installing Office via GPO, we need to spend a little time on this tool.
To create this XML file, we could do it by hand, but that's not what I have in mind.... I'd prefer to point you in the direction of config.office.com: a wizard available within a web page that lets you create your configuration in a few clicks and obtain the corresponding XML file. You'll save time.
Even before downloading ODT, the first step is to create this XML file. Go to the site and click on " Create "to get started. Then you need to fill in the form: choose the architecture, choose the Office version, choose the language, etc. The various options are to be reviewed and configured according to your needs.
When it's finished, click on the " " button. Export Click on "Download" in the top right-hand corner to download the XML file corresponding to your configuration. I assume that this file is called "config-office.xml".
2. Using the ODT tool: download sources
When using ODT, you can tell it to download Office sources from the Internet or to retrieve them from a share. If you take the Internet option, beware of bandwidth consumption. In any case, to install Office by GPO or manually, you need the sources.
Start by downloading ODT itself from this page:
Install ODT, which will actually extract 4 templates in XML format on your machine and an executable named " setup.exe" . ODT is now ready for use.
Important note: the setup.exe file must be shared with your XML file. In other words, it must be accessible to client workstations.
To download only the sources, run this command:
.\setup.exe /download config-office.xmlSources will be downloaded to the location specified in the XML file ("SourcePath" option). After downloading, you'll find the Office suite installation sources in this folder! You need to put these sources on a share accessible by the computers in your domain, so that they can download the data.
3. Office installation via GPO
Let's talk about Office installation via GPO. We have the XML file describing our expectations for the Office configuration and we have the installation sources. The next step is to create a GPO that will execute a script to call setup.exe and the XML file.
This time, setup.exe will be called with the "/configure" option to proceed with the installation.
A simple Batch script (example: office.bat) with the following line will suffice to install Office via GPO :
\serveur-tutobox\odt$\setup.exe /configure \serveur-tutobox\odt$\config-office.xmlOf course, adapt the above line to your environment. Create your own.
On the domain controller, open the " Group Policy Management" Create a new GPO. Browse the settings like this:
Computer configuration > Policies > Windows settings > Scripts (startup/shutdown) > Startup
Open the " Start "We want Office to be installed at Windows startup, via this script. In the " Scripts" click on " Add "Enter the network path to the Batch script (which is not necessarily in the same place as setup.exe). For example :
Confirm. The GPO is ready. So that we can install Office via GPOThere's just one step left: link the GPO to the OU containing the machines on which you wish to deploy the Office suite. Then, access a machine, perform a "gpupdate /force" and reboot. Office should now be installed!
Thanks to this article from the tutorial box, you're now able to install Office via GPO using ODT. Congratulations!
Resources :
