Comments on OpenOffice.org Ninja: Secrets of alternative installation on Windows

OK folks, I got this procedure to work for a share...

2009-02-10T10:55:00.000-07:00

OK folks, I got this procedure to work for a shared network install.

First, run the "setup /a" and install to a network drive.

If attempting to run soffice.exe from a workstation produces the "This application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect" error it means you probably need to install the MS VC++ 2008 runtimes, get them from MS. Once you install them you should be able to start soffice.exe. Now its just a matter of applying a registry file to create whatever file associations you want. Once I recognized that "try reinstalling the software" message as typical MS BS it made sense. I think that explains why some have had success while others have not.

Another failure. This just forces you to run the ...

2009-02-09T10:58:00.000-07:00

Another failure. This just forces you to run the msi from each machine which then proceeds to do a 400M install to each workstation.

I want a single image on the server, as I had with 241, then all you needed was a registry file to create file associations.

This seems to be a fragile PoS created in the image of MS Office, refusing to run if a single registry entry is missing.

Thanks for the info. I tried it with OOo v3.0 and ...

2009-02-05T13:22:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the info. I tried it with OOo v3.0 and v3.0.1, both have the configuration error as other indicated. I then tried v2.4.2 and it works. I suspect v3 use new DLLs from MS and it is expecting the file at certain location and registered etc. Just a guess.... Portableapp.com version work also, but I prefer to have my own setup. For now, I will just use 2.4.2 on USB stick until there is a way to setup v3.0 later. I'm sure it is doable since portableapp done it. Just need to know what to do.

Thanks for the info, Andrew, but I'm getting an er...

2009-02-05T12:56:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the info, Andrew, but I'm getting an error when I try to deploy this across a network:

When I run the OO.org setup file from a client server and tell it to install to run over the network, it tells me that I haven't selected any files to be installed.

This is for OO3 installing to a Windows 2k machine.

Anonymous Win98 user: Try resetting the OpenOffice...

2009-02-01T12:24:00.000-07:00

Anonymous Win98 user: Try resetting the OpenOffice.org profile. If that doesn't help, search OOoForum.org: I believe the same question was asked there

I installed Open Office 2.0.0 on a computer runnin...

2009-01-31T13:33:00.000-07:00

I installed Open Office 2.0.0 on a computer running win98se. It works quite well but I get that obnoxious nag screen asking me to register every time I boot or open the program. I cannot register because the computer that I installed it in is not connected to the internet. Is there some way I can get rid of that annoying nag screen? I got no help from Sun.

Finally, I think I got this solved for OOO3... So,...

2009-01-09T15:45:00.000-07:00

Finally, I think I got this solved for OOO3... So, for a 'portable' - administrative - install of OpenOffice3, instead of doing 'msiexec /a ..', one should do 'setup /a', as per:
Step 2 – Create Network Installation Images | Open Office Technology
http://openofficetechnology.com/node/26
Sheesh - so thankful when an application offers this on its own, instead of having to resort to portable apps :)

I've just posted my problem with this method for O...

2008-11-24T04:44:00.000-07:00

I've just posted my problem with this method for OOO3 (on XP SP3) on OpenOffice Wiki:
Talk:Run OOo versions parallel - hopefully it may get some of the OOO developers attention :)

It does not work for 3.0... Waiting for portable a...

2008-11-11T14:21:00.000-07:00

It does not work for 3.0
... Waiting for portable app

Step 1 also works on XP for a OpenOffice3.0 instal...

2008-10-29T10:31:00.000-06:00

Step 1 also works on XP for a OpenOffice3.0 installation

Hi, tried both method 1 and method 2 for the new O...

2008-10-20T00:58:00.000-06:00

Hi, tried both method 1 and method 2 for the new OOO3, unfortunately neither of them works (tried them with OOO2, they did work then). In either case, if you doubleclick a say swriter.exe, you get "The application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect. Reinstalling the application may fix the problem." Running swriter.exe from command line says "The system cannot execute the specified program."

I tried both the 1) msiexec method; and 2) installing OOO3 (all works), copying the folder, uninstalling 0003 - then running from copied folder: again results with the same errors.

It seems OOO3 uses some "application configuration" - either environment variables, or some init file, or both - but I cannot tell what I should change to make it work portable.. Any ideas?

Hi,I've followed Method 1 to install on a file ser...

2008-08-27T04:15:00.000-06:00

Hi,
I've followed Method 1 to install on a file server for a per user base.

On the desktop machine I've simply double-clicked on openofficeorg23.msi but this results in a large amount( ~300MB ) of disk space usage, also selecting "network access" for all the features. So, I doubt that simply performs file associations and menu shortcuts creation.

Please, note that the Wizard do not show the INSTALLPATH if network access has been selected but use the default or the last applied by user.

However, after installation Windows ask the user for secure access to launch QuickStart Remotely.

Jack: I doubt you'd find OpenOffice.org preinstall...

2008-07-12T17:59:00.000-06:00

Jack: I doubt you'd find OpenOffice.org preinstalled. You'll have to do it yourself, so start with a web search for Windows VPS.

Andrew, I don't know how else to contact you to as...

2008-07-10T12:34:00.000-06:00

Andrew,
I don't know how else to contact you to ask this:

Any suggestions on a hosting company that provides:
1) Windows box running PHP5
2) OpenOffice installed so I can use PHP COM commands

Thank you.

Jack

do you think the network installation procedure is...

2008-07-03T16:01:00.000-06:00

do you think the network installation procedure is appropriate for a network of users with roaming profiles ?

system integration doesn't work on my network. i have to do file association for each user. may be i should use a network type installation ?

and how to do it in a silent way ?
step 1- network
msiexec.exe /qn /A openofficeorg23.msi ALLUSERS=""
but the path is lacking.
how do i specify it on the command line ? something like PATH="c:\ooo"

step 2 - desktop
msiexec.exe /qn /i /openofficeorg23.msi
seems sufficient but i'm wondering if windows policies tolerates that i start msiexec while being a user without privilege ... does it ? i'll have to check.

--- eric

PS
while writing down this i found answers here :
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/How_Tos/Automatic_Installation_on_Windows
step 1 : path is INSTALLLOCATION
But i still wonder if it's appropriate for roaming profiles and my problem with file associations.

Hi! I tried method 1, because the 2.3.1 installati...

2008-03-16T06:54:00.000-06:00

Hi! I tried method 1, because the 2.3.1 installation process was asking for openofficeorg23.msi. Went through the steps, created the file, but when I double-clicked on it, came back to where I was earlier - it looked for the same file. When I pointed to it in the installation folder, it said the file is "not a valid installation package for the product OpenOffice.org 2.3". Any ideas, anyone?

I think you are right about #4. In fact, the "Clic...

2008-01-31T03:04:00.000-07:00

I think you are right about #4. In fact, the "Click next to install" window doesn't appear in my version, the installer just starts without asking.

I tried with the Italian version, maybe Sun doesn't trust italians.. ;)

Federica.

Federica,Thank you: I incorporated #9. However, I...

2008-01-23T22:56:00.000-07:00

Federica,

Thank you: I incorporated #9. However, I understand #4. Because you may have a different version or there may be some other miscommunication, I added some screenshots.

Andrew

Hi, thank you very much for this tutorial, it's ve...

2008-01-23T03:31:00.000-07:00

Hi, thank you very much for this tutorial, it's very useful!

Anyway, I have found a couple of mistakes that lead to the error posted by Simon:

- Step 4 should be "Click OK, then Finish".
If you click "cancel" on the temporary window "preparing installation" something goes wrong later, and you get Simon's error.

- On Step 9, the command line option for msiexec.exe is ALLUSERS="" and not ALLUSER="".

I tried it thrice and it works.

Bye!
Federica.

Simon,Sorry. Try it again with the command line a...

2008-01-17T08:26:00.000-07:00

Simon,

Sorry. Try it again with the command line argument ALLUSER="". I just added that in and tested it. Otherwise, you could use Portable OpenOffice.org (as you said) or Method 2.

Andrew

No go sorry. Installing Openoffice.org 2.3.1 using...

2008-01-16T04:31:00.000-07:00

No go sorry. Installing Openoffice.org 2.3.1 using method 1 on XP, doesn't work here. Installation stops with an "Error 1925: You do not have sufficient privileges...."

There is a portable version of OO.org out there which I'll try next.

cheers,

--
Simon