Install Office 2013 on XenApp 8

Not all off us have a big enough environment to spend the the time & resources to implement App-V so, in this article I plan to go through how to install & configure Office 2013 on XenApp, so all your users can successfully access the application remotely.

The first thing you need to do is get a copy off Office 2013 and have it accessible on a share in your network. Since at the time of writing 2013 Sp1 is out it might be an idea to use a “slip-streamed” copy, so you don’t have to install sp1 after you have installed the base version of 2013.

All you have to do is follow the instructions at howto-outlook.com and at the end instead of burning a DVD, just copy to a network location.

You could just now run the setup, but there are a number of things you want to customize as part of the installation, like activation, turning of Skydrive, or the annoying prompts for the customer improvement program. To do this we need to create a customization file (.MSP) and we do this by running running the following command that starts up the Microsoft Office Customization Tool.

….\Office2013\setup.exe /admin

Initial Screen

 

Installation Path

I am hoping you have created a D: or E: drive on your XenApp servers, where you are going to install all your apps, if not do it now, and change the installation path as below.

 

License

Here is where put in your license details, if you don’t have a KMS Server, just use your MAK key.

Settings

Now you can how Office 2013 will look on first run and disable anything you don’t want installed or configured

Below are a list of the general Options you will want to set, use these as a starter, and some you might not need and others you might want to change.

PRODUCT	PATH	SETTING	RECOMMENDED VALUES
Microsoft Access 2013	Miscellaneous	Disable the Office Start Screen for Access	Enabled | Not Configured
Microsoft Excel 2013	Excel Options – Save	Default file format	Enabled, Excel Workbook (*.xlsx)
Microsoft Excel 2013	Miscellaneous	Disable the Office Start Screen for Excel	Enabled | Not Configured
Microsoft Office 2013	Privacy – Trust Center	Disable Opt-in Wizard on first run	Enabled
Microsoft Office 2013	Privacy – Trust Center	Enable Customer Experience Improvement Program	Disabled | Not Configured
Microsoft Office 2013	Privacy – Trust Center	Automatically receive small updates to improve reliability	Disabled | Not Configured
Microsoft Office 2013	Privacy – Trust Center	Send Office Feedback	Disabled | Not Configured
Microsoft Office 2013	Privacy – Trust Center	Allow including screenshot with Office Feedback	Disabled | Not Configured
Microsoft Office 2013	Subscription Activation	Do not show ‘Manage Account’ link for subscription licenses	Enabled | Not Configured
Microsoft Office 2013	Subscription Activation	Automatically activate Office with federated organization credentials	Disabled | Not Configured
Microsoft Office 2013	Services	Disable Roaming Office User Settings	Enabled | Not Configured
Microsoft Office 2013	Services – Fax	Disable Internet Fax feature	Enabled
Microsoft Office 2013	Downloading Framework Components	Hide missing component download links	Enabled
Microsoft Office 2013	Microsoft Office Picture Manager	Disable File Types association dialog box on first launch	Enabled
Microsoft Office 2013	Miscellaneous	Show SkyDrive Sign In	Disabled | Not Configured
Microsoft Office 2013	Miscellaneous	Block signing into Office	Enabled | Not Configured
Microsoft Office 2013	Miscellaneous	Disable the Office Start screen for all Office applications	Enabled | Not Configured
Microsoft Office 2013	Miscellaneous	Disable Office Backgrounds	Enabled | Not Configured
Microsoft Office 2013	Miscellaneous	Suppress recommended settings dialog	Enabled
Microsoft Office 2013	First Run	Disable First Run Movie	Enabled | Not Configured
Microsoft Office 2013	First Run	Disable First Run on application boot	Enabled | Not Configured
Microsoft OneNote 2013	OneNote Options – Other	Add OneNote icon to the notification area	Disabled | Not Configured
Microsoft Outlook 2013	Outlook Social Connector	Turn off Outlook Social Connector	Enabled | Not Configured
Microsoft Outlook 2013	Outlook Social Connector	Do not show social network info-bars	Enabled | Not Configured
Microsoft Outlook 2013	Outlook Options – Preferences – Calendar Options – Office.com Sharing Service	Prevent publishing to Office.com	Enabled | Not Configured
Microsoft Outlook 2013	Outlook Options – Other – AutoArchive	AutoArchive Settings	Disabled
Microsoft Outlook 2013	Account Settings – Exchange – Cached Exchange Mode	Use Cached Exchange Mode for new and existing Outlook profiles
Microsoft Outlook 2013	Account Settings – Exchange – Cached Exchange Mode	Cached Exchange Mode (File | Cached Exchange Mode)	Disabled
Microsoft PowerPoint 2013	PowerPoint Options – Save	Default file format	Enabled, PowerPoint Presentation (*.pptx)
Microsoft PowerPoint 2013	Miscellaneous	Disable the Office Start Screen for PowerPoint	Enabled | Not Configured
Microsoft Project 2013	Miscellaneous	Disable the Office Start Screen for Project	Enabled | Not Configured
Microsoft Publisher 2013	Miscellaneous	Disable the Office Start Screen for Publisher	Enabled | Not Configured
Microsoft Visio 2013	Visio Options – Save – Save Documents	Save Visio files as	Enabled, Visio Document
Microsoft Visio 2013	Visio Options – Advanced – General Options	Put all settings in Windows registry	Enabled
Microsoft Word 2013	Word Options – Save	Default file format	Enabled, Word Document (*.docx)
Microsoft Word 2013	Miscellaneous	Disable the Office Start Screen for Word	Enabled | Not Configured

Outlook Configuration

To avoid having the user to configure their Outlook profile every time, we can use the OCT tool to automatically create a profile for them.

Navigate to Outlook –> Outlook profile then Select the Modify Profile radio button and in the Define changes to profile named: txt field, type in Outlook:

Select the Add accounts node and select the Customize additional Outlook profile and account information radio button then click on the Add button to create a new Outlook profile:

In the Exchange Settings window, enter the following, changing it for your environment.

Account Name: %UserName%@yourdomain

User Name: %UserName%

Exchange Server: exchangeserver

 

 

And that should be you, now just click file and save the MSP, I usually just put it in the same folder as the Office 2013 installation. In this example I will call it customfilename.MSP

Now you are actually ready to install Office 2013 on your XenApp servers, hooray!

So log on as an admin to your XenApp server

You can run the commands in a DOS box, but we are now in 2012 land so what works in a DOS box will work the same in a Powershell box.

Start Powershell, but run it as an admin, and enter.

change user /install  (if you haven’t run PS as an admin it will fail telling you need to be an admin)

To install Office 2013 using your customisation file run, navigate into the Office 2013 folder and run

./setup.exe /adminfile  customfilename.MSP

Office 2013 will install and usually ask to reboot, once rebooted, start up Word, Excell etc and register them.

I now usually run, not sure if I have to, but I just do.

change user /install

That should be you all you need to do now is run the install on all off your XenApp boxes, and publish the application in your delivery group, and test.

Any questions let me know.

Sources that helped me with this post, thanks guys.

http://terenceluk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/customizing-microsoft-office-2010-with.html

 

http://stealthpuppy.com/office-2013-customization/