Open Office Technology

This step creates a Group Policy Object or "GPO" that will install the software packages.

1. Launch the Group Policy Management Console on your administrative workstation. Note: The Group Policy Management Console can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/gpmc/
2. Expand the tree for your domain, then right-click on “Group Policy Objects” and select “New”. Enter a name such as “OpenOffice-Enterprise Installation”. Your new Group Policy Object will appear in the tree under “Group Policy Objects”. Right-click on its name and select “Edit...”. This will open the Group Policy Object Editor.
3. In the Group Policy Object Editor, under “Computer Configuration”, expand “Software Settings”, right-click on “Software Installation” and select “New --> Package...”.
4. Click on “My Network Places”. (Note: This is a required step. You must select the package to install from a network location rather than a local location. If you do not first click on “My Network Places”, the selection of a package to install will not be accepted.)
5. Navigate to the network location where you placed the Java JRE install file “jre1.6.0_14.msi” and double-click on this file. If you are not installing Java, skip this step and move down to the first package you are installing.
6. For the deployment method, select “Assigned”. The JRE installation package should appear in the view pane.
7. Right-click on “Software Installation” and select “New --> Package...” again.
8. Navigate to the network location containing your OpenOffice suite administrative install, and double-click on the .msi file “openofficeorg31.msi”.
9. For "Deployment Method" select “Advanced” and click “OK”. After a short pause, the Properties dialog should appear.
10. Under the "Deployment" tab of the Properties dialog, select "Advanced...", check the box next to "Ignore language when deploying this package", then click "OK".
11. Several installation transform files for OpenOffice are available here. If you want to install OpenOffice with one or more transforms, download the transform (.mst) files and add them to the directory that contains the OpenOffice installation file openofficeorg31.msi. Then under the “Modifications” tab of the Properties dialog, add the transform file(s) you wish to apply, and click “OK”.
12. Click "OK" to close the Properties dialog for the OpenOffice installation. The OpenOffice installation package should appear in the view pane of the Group Policy Editor.
13. Right-click on “Software Installation” and select “New --> Package...” again.
14. Navigate to the network location containing your OpenOffice-Enterprise administrative install, and double-click on the .msi file “ooewin-624.msi”.
15. For "Deployment Method" select “Advanced” and click “OK”. After a short pause, the Properties dialog should appear.
16. Under the "Deployment" tab of the Properties dialog, select "Advanced...", check the box next to "Ignore language when deploying this package", then click "OK".
17. Click "OK" to close the Properties dialog for the OpenOffice-Enterprise installation. The OpenOffice-Enterprise installation package should appear in the view pane of the Group Policy Editor.

IMPORTANT: You must add the .msi files in the indicated order: Java JRE, then OpenOffice.org suite, then OpenOffice-Enterprise. The packages will appear in the view pane in alphabetical order, but they will be installed in the order they were selected. The indicated installation order is mandatory in order for all three packages to be installed successfully.

18. To set additional options, double-click on each package name in the view pane. For example, selecting “Uninstall this application when it falls out of the scope of management” will cause the applications to be automatically uninstalled if this group policy object is deleted or unlinked. (Alternately, the software can be uninstalled later by right-clicking on each package name and selecting “All Tasks” -> “Remove...”). Any options selected must be set for each package individually, so be certain to double-click on each package name in succession and set the desired options.
19. When done, double check your selections and close the Group Policy Object Editor.