Supported installation methods for Office 2010

To install an Office 2010 product on a workstation, use one of the following supported methods:

• Run Setup from an Office 2010 CD.
• Run Setup from a downloaded installation source provided by a Microsoft web site.
• Run Setup from a server where a network image or a compressed CD image of the Office 2010 programs is stored. This image includes tools that large organizations may use to run the Microsoft Office Setup program such as Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS).
• Use Group Policy to assign an Office 2010 product on computers that have Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Windows 7 or Windows 8 installed. 

Note You can install an Office 2010 product on a dual-boot computer.

The following installation methods are supported only if you are using the Microsoft Professional Support offering and if the deployment is part of an Office Deployment Advisory Service (ODAS) case.

• Create and distribute a custom CD that is based on the Office 2010 CD.
• Create a system image (copy), and then replicate the image on the users' computers.

For more information about services that are available through an ODAS case, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

297033 Description of the Office Deployment Advisory service

To create a system image that includes the Office 2010 programs, and to replicate that image on the target computers, follow these steps:

1. Perform a clean installation of the operating system. To install the Office 2010 product, the computer must be running one of the following operating systems:
   
   1. Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) or later versions of Windows XP (32-bit only) 
   2. Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) or later versions of Windows (32-bit or 64-bit)
   3. Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later versions of Windows Server 2003 (32-bit or 64-bit) with MSXML 6.0 installed 
   4. Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit availability only) 
   5. Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit)
   6. Windows Server 2012 (64-bit availability only)
   7. Windows 8 (32-bit or 64-bit)
   8. Terminal Server and Windows on Windows (WOW) (which allows installing 32-bit versions of Office 2010 on 64-bit operating systems)
      Additional details on the system requirements are provided in the Office 2010 Resource Kit at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee624351(office.14).aspx.
   
   
2. Perform a clean installation of the Office 2010 product with the features and preferences that you want.
3. Create a system image of the computer. This image can be a partition image or a full hard disk image.
4. Then, replicate the system image on the target computers.

Note You must create the image on a computer where the hardware resembles the target computers. Also, the computer must be running the same operating system that is running on the target computers.

Microsoft cannot fully support image installations that are created by using a third-party utility because Microsoft cannot guarantee that a third-party product will successfully install an Office 2010 product. We cannot guarantee that a third-party product will accurately install all the necessary files to the correct locations or that the third-party product will create all the required registry entries.

Customer Support Product Support Engineers can provide only commercially reasonable effort support on the actual image file that is used to install a 2007 Office suite. Customer Support Engineers will continue to support the Office 2010 applications, and the deployment of those applications that are listed under supported methods. However, support for the actual image will be limited to commercially reasonable effort only. Commercially reasonable effort support for the image file includes troubleshooting and reverse engineering troubleshooting. 

Note The method of reverse engineering troubleshoots installation by removing non-Microsoft components or by removing individual Microsoft components.

Troubleshooting an installation of Office

If you have problems running the Office 2010 program, contact Microsoft Customer Support Services. If you have problems installing Office 2010 by using a Microsoft utility other than the Setup program, contact the correct Microsoft product support group. If you are using a third-party utility, contact the manufacturer of that product. Use the following methods to troubleshoot problems that you have when you install an Office 2010 product:

• Determine whether thisproblem occurs only on one computer. 
  To do this, reinstall Office on the problem computer by using the method that you used to install the current installation of Office. If the problem is not corrected, run Setup.
• Determine whether this 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 then run Setup. If the problem is corrected, the previous method of installing Office was not successful. If you used a third-party utility, contact the manufacturer of that utility. If running Setup does not resolve the problem, contact Microsoft Customer Support Services. 
  
  http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support
  
  For information about how to deploy Office 2010 with System Center Configuration Manager 2007, visit the following Microsoft website: 
  
  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff404178(office.14).aspx