How to customize Office for Terminal Services

In the versions of Microsoft Office that are listed in the "Applies to" section, you no longer need a special transform to install Office on a Microsoft Windows 2000 server or a Microsoft Windows 2003 server or Microsoft Windows Server 2008 with Terminal Services enabled, or on a Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server computer. Office Setup recognizes that it is running under Terminal Services, and therefore Setup pre-configures all the correct options.

Note You cannot install a Microsoft Office 2010 or 2007 Microsoft Office suite or Microsoft Office 2003 on computers that are running Windows NT 4.0. Microsoft Office 2007 and Office 2010 suites will also not install on computers that are running Windows 2000.

All references to Windows NT 4.0 in this article are specific to Microsoft Office XP. All references to Windows 2000 in this article are specific to Microsoft Office XP and Microsoft Office 2003.

Note In addition to the requirements that are listed in the Summary section, Office 2010 and 2007 Office suites also require an Enterprise Product Key to be used when you install the product.

Terminal Services installation states

Because of the multi-user nature of the Terminal Services computer and of users' restricted access to the server, Office Setup installs all features to one of the following installation states by default:

• Run from My Computer: Most features are set to this state because they work well in the Terminal Services environment. Features that typically default to Installed on First Use are set to Run from My Computer.
• Not Available: A few features are set to this state. These are features that do not perform well in the Terminal Services environment, typically because they use additional animation that generates too much data traffic between the Terminal Services computer and the Terminal Services client computer. Leave these features set to Not Available so that they are not installed.

If you want to accept the default Office configuration, you do not have to modify the Setup feature tree. However, if there are Office features that your users do not need, you can improve overall performance and conserve disk space by customizing the installation so that Office Setup does not install these features on the Terminal Services computer.

If you do not want an Office XP or Office 2003 feature installed on the Terminal Services computer, use the Custom Installation Wizard to configure the feature state as Not Available or Not Available, Hidden, Locked. Also click to select the Do Not Migrate Previous Installation State check box. Microsoft recommends that you set the feature in question to Hidden when it is not installed (especially on Windows NT).

Customizing an Office XP or Office 2003 installation

To customize an Office XP or Office 2003 installation, use the Custom Installation Wizard in the Microsoft Office Resource Kit to create a custom transform (.mst file). When you install Office with this transform, the Office features set to Not Available are not installed.

1. Start the Custom Installation Wizard.
2. On the Set Feature Installation States page, select the feature that you do not want to install.
3. Set the installation state of the selected feature to Not Available, Hidden, Locked.
4. Click to select the Do Not Migrate Previous Installation State check box.Note The Do Not Migrate Previous Installation States check box must be selected for each feature that is set to Not Available, Hidden, Locked.
   
   
5. Repeat steps 2 through 4 for each feature that you do not want to install.
6. Click Next, and then set the options that you want in the remaining pages of the wizard.
7. Click Finish. Note the sample command line that is provided, and then click Exit.
8. Install Office XP with the transform.

Customizing a 2007 Office installation or Office 2010 installation

To customize an Office installation, use the Office Customization Tool to create a customization patch (.MSP). When you install Office with this customization file, the Office features that are set to Not Available are not installed.

1. Start the Office Customization Tool (OCT). To do this, click Start, click Run, type Office installation CD \setup /admin, and then click OK.
2. Select Set Feature Installation States in the navigation bar on the left side of the screen, and then select the feature that you do not want to install in the tree on the right.
3. Set the installation state of the selected feature to Not Available, Hidden, or Locked. If more than one of these settings is needed, the menu must be accessed again to select the additional setting.
4. Repeat steps 2 through 3 for each feature that you do not want to install.
5. Set any additional options that you want in the OCT.
6. Select Save As on the File menu to create the MSP file. It should be saved in the \Updates folder unless another location is specified in the Config.xml file.
7. Install the 2007 Office suite with the .MSP file.
   
   Note The Office Customization Tool requires that Windows Installer 3.1 be installed.

For more information about how to use the Office Customization Tool to create an MSP for 2007 Office products, visit the following Microsoft Web site: For more information about how to use the Custom Installation Wizard to create a transform for Office XP, visit the following Microsoft Web site: For more information about how to use the Custom Installation Wizard to create a transform for Office 2003, visit the following Microsoft Web site: For more information about how to deploy Office XP on Terminal Services, visit the following Microsoft Web site: For more information about how to deploy Office 2003 on Terminal Services, visit the following Microsoft Web site: For more information about how to use the Office Customization Tool to create an MSP for Office 2010 products, visit the following Microsoft Web site: