OFF2000: Description of the Enhanced Copy of Setup.exe Available in the Office Resource Kit

ID: Q232501

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Office 2000

SUMMARY

The Microsoft Office 2000 Resource Kit (ORK) contains an enhanced version of Setup.exe that includes several fixes for issues dealing with Office deployment. This version is located in the \Pfiles\Orktools\Toolbox\Tools\Setup folder of the ORK and should not be confused with the version of Setup.exe in the root of the ORK compact disc.

MORE INFORMATION

The enhanced version of Setup.exe fixes the following issues:

Larger string variable handling for the Options section of Setup.ini. The enhanced Setup.exe supports very long command lines, up to 32 KB characters. The standard Setup.exe will not support command-lines longer than 1 KB characters.

A Microsoft System Management Server (SMS) correction for Rollback failures. In some situations, Office setup may fail and SMS may not detect the failure. The enhanced Setup.exe assures the failure is written to the log file so SMS can detect the failure.

An increased security buffer for very long security group strings. If an administrator is a member of a large number of global groups, the standard Setup.exe may not recognize the user as an administrator, thus preventing setup from starting on Microsoft Windows NT.

An increased stack area to reduce possible corruption of variable space. The enhanced Setup.exe increases the maximum stack space to the Windows default. This avoids crashing behavior with certain very long command-lines or .ini file parameters.

A new command-line switch /chained, that allows for chaining several installations together into one process. The Custom Installation Wizard (CIW) provides the ability to start a separate executable at the conclusion of setup. Due to Windows Installer restrictions regarding simultaneous setups, you cannot use this method to start the installation of a second Windows Installer package. The /chained switch to the enhanced Setup.exe provides a way around this restriction by causing the first product installation to complete before actually starting the second product installation.

Adds explanation of /m <mif name> argument. The enhanced Setup.exe includes in the Help screen the command-line switch /m , to generate an SMS .mif file. To access Help, type Setup.exe /?.

Makes Setup.exe more tolerant of network failures. The enhanced Setup.exe will not crash if it is being run from a network server and the network connection is lost during setup. The standard version may crash in this situation, since it tries to read a page from the image on the network share and fails. The result is usually a truncated log file.

With the enhanced version of Setup.exe, you also get the following when you type Setup /?:

Chained install /chained

To Install the Enhanced Copy of Setup.exe

To install the enhanced copy of Setup.exe, follow these steps:

Create an administrative installation of Office on a network server.

Rename Setup.exe in the root of your administrative installation. Do not delete the original copy of Setup.exe in this location. You may want to use it in the future.

Copy Setup.exe from the \Pfiles\Orktools\Toolbox\Tools\Setup folder on the ORK compact disc, to the root of your administrative installation. You can also download this enhanced copy of Setup.exe from the ORK Toolbox on:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/2000/appndx/toolbox.htm

NOTE: If you are using the enhanced version of Setup.exe to chain Office installations, you only need to replace the copies of Setup.exe that are in your administrative installations for the second and subsequent installations. For example, if you are chaining the installation of CD2 onto the installation of CD1, then you only need to replace Setup.exe in your CD2 administrative installation.

To Distinguish Between Versions of Setup.exe

The following table outlines the differences between the Setup.exe that ships with Office and the enhanced Setup.exe that is available from the ORK.

To view these properties, right-click either copy of Setup.exe and click Properties on the shortcut menu.


File                 Version        Size
----------------------------------------
Standard Setup.exe   9.0.2611       262,415 bytes
Enhanced Setup.exe   9.0.2720       262,927 bytes

The description of the two versions of Setup.exe also varies slightly. The description for the standard version is "Microsoft Office 2000 Setup Bootstrapper", and the description for the enhanced version is "Microsoft Office 2000 Setup Bootstrapper (ORK)."

REFERENCES

For more information about the enhanced copy of Setup.exe, see the Readme.doc file for the Microsoft Office 2000 Resource Kit, located on the root of the ORK compact disc. The Readme can also be downloaded from the ORK Toolbox at:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/2000/appndx/toolbox.htm

Additional query words: OFF2000


Keywords          : 
Version           : WINDOWS:2000
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        :

Last Reviewed: June 21, 1999