Description of the supported installation methods for deploying Office

The following is a list of the supported methods for installing Microsoft Office XP on a workstation:

• Run Setup from a Microsoft Office XP CD-ROM.
• Run Setup from a server on which an administrative installation of Microsoft Office was performed.
  
  This includes tools that large organizations may use to run the Microsoft Office Setup program--for example, Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS).
• Use Group Policy to assign or publish Office XP with Microsoft Windows 2000.

NOTE: Microsoft Office XP can be installed on a dual-boot computer. For more information about installing Office XP on a dual-boot computer, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Two additional methods for installing Office XP include:

• Create and distribute a custom CD-ROM that is based on the Office XP CD-ROM.
• Create a hard-disk image and replicate it on users' computers.

NOTE: If you using Microsoft's Professional Support offering, and you are using either of these two additional installation methods, you can only receive support if the deployment is part of an Office Deployment Advisory Service (ODAS) case. For more information about services available through an ODAS case, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: An image installation involves installing Office on a workstation and making an image (a copy) of the workstation, after which you can install Office on other workstations. Microsoft is unable to fully support image installations that are created by using a third-party utility for the following reason: For more self-help information about creating custom CD-ROMs or hard-disk images, please browse to the following location on the Office XP Resource Kit Web site:

General Guidelines for Troubleshooting Installation of Office

If you have problems running the Microsoft Office Setup program, contact Microsoft Technical Support. If you have problems installing Microsoft Office by using a Microsoft utility other than the Setup program, call the correct Microsoft product support group. If you are using a third-party utility, call the manufacturer of that product.

Use the following methods to troubleshoot problems that you are having when you install Office:

• Determine whether the problem occurs only on one computer.
  
  To do this, reinstall Microsoft Office on the problem computer by using the method used to install the current installation of Microsoft Office. If the problem is not corrected, run Setup.
• Determine whether the problem occurs on multiple computers or for multiple users.
  
  To do this, run Setup on another computer, or log on to the computer as a user and run Setup. If the problem is corrected, the previous method of installing Microsoft Office is not successful. If you used a third-party utility, contact the manufacturer of that utility. If running Setup does not correct the problem, contact Microsoft Technical Support.

For more information about supported methods of installing Office, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For information about deploying Office XP with Systems Management Server, browse to the following Microsoft Web site: