Removing Office 2004/2008 and Installing office 2011

[acdesigntech]

Here's one for the boards. I'm pretty stumped on WHAT'S going on, but at least I know at what point I am seeing success/failure?

Here it goes: I have a policy that runs a removal script for Microsoft Office 2004/2008, installs Office 2011 14.0, then 14.1, then 14.2.3, then copies several pref files for autoupdate, setupassistant, bladdy blah to users' folders and the user template.

The next morning when the user logs in, they open Outlook 2011 and a script runs to auto migrate their Entourage database.

Here's the problem: This works like a charm if a user is logged in while the policy runs to uninstall entourage/install office. Outlook can open, data is migrated, everyone is happy. When no one is logged in and the policy runs, outlook will fail to start, asking for a license key (and yes, we do have a site license).

I have it narrowed down to some sort of process that Office 14.0 is running when it installs -- I see an office folder icon pop on the dock, do something, then disappear. When this happens Office 2011 works just fine. Obviously it cannot happen if no one is logged in. I've also tested reinstalling Office 2011 after-the-fact once someone DOES log in, and the office icon pops, runs, then all is well...

I'm using the packages that Microsoft provides, I have not repackaged them. Any ideas?

I've tried not migrating any preference files, still does the license dance.

Andrew

[rtrouton · Accepted solution]

The license issue you're finding is a known issue when using the 14.0 installer, then updating (eventually) to Office 2011 SP2.

The easiest fix would be to download the 14.2.0 SP 2 full installer from the MS volume license site, then install 14.2.0 followed by 14.2.3.

Alternatively, you can:

A. Install 14.0, 14.1, open any of the Office apps to make sure the license is being registered properly, then install 14.2.3.

B. Install 14.0, 14.1, back up /Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.office.licensing.plist to a different location, install 14.2.3, move com.microsoft.office.licensing.plist back to /Library/Preferences.

[rtrouton · Accepted solution]

The license issue you're finding is a known issue when using the 14.0 installer, then updating (eventually) to Office 2011 SP2.

The easiest fix would be to download the 14.2.0 SP 2 full installer from the MS volume license site, then install 14.2.0 followed by 14.2.3.

Alternatively, you can:

A. Install 14.0, 14.1, open any of the Office apps to make sure the license is being registered properly, then install 14.2.3.

B. Install 14.0, 14.1, back up /Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.office.licensing.plist to a different location, install 14.2.3, move com.microsoft.office.licensing.plist back to /Library/Preferences.

[nessts · Accepted solution]

you can also install office on a machine update it with downloaded updates, then use composer to capture installed software and just deploy a package that has the updates, that's the way i do it.

[bprettyman]

Would you be willing to share the script you used to import Entourage?

[Sonuw]

@ acdesigntech It will be great if you share the scripts to remove office 2004/office 2008 and import Entourage.
We will appreciate your help :)

[acdesigntech]

Here's a link to the article and the code I ended up using:

http://acdesigntech.wordpress.com/2012/08/26/integrating-jamfhelper-full-screen-window-and-applescri...

I did end up needing to chmod -R 755 /Library/Application Support/JAMF/bin/jamfHelper, as standard user account do not have access here, and this script is running in the user context.

Also, the bit about deleting exchange account 2 at the end of that script only applies if you are changing the servers that the exchange account resides on. Otherwise you can take that line out. We happen to be changing our servers, so I needed to add this part.

[Sonuw]

@acdesigntech

Thanks so much!!!