Thursday, December 17, 2009

Slipstream Office 2007 service packs into install package

You can integrate updates into your Microsoft Office 2007 installation the same way you can slipstream updates into your XP install disk. This is very helpful if you manage an environment of computers that would otherwise need to individually download and install the update files. It's also really easy to do. For this example, I'll use Office 2007 service pack 2, which is the most recent available right now. 

1. First, download and save Office 2007 SP2 from Microsoft.com. You will need this file in order to get the updates it contains. For example's sake, let's say you named the saved file Office2007Updates.exe and saved it to the root of your C drive.
2. Create a folder on your C drive named Extract, and another named Updates. This is where you will put the updates from the SP file. Also, move the Office2007Updates.exe file into the newly created Extract folder.
3. Open a command prompt (Start->Run->cmd) and enter the following commands, each followed by pressing Enter:

cd C:\Extract
Office2007Updates.exe /extract:C:\Updates

This will extract the updates from the service pack file into the C:\Updates folder. You can now delete the Extract folder
4. Now you need to move the contents of your Updates folder into the Updates folder found in your Office 2007 installation media. This is easy if you're using a network location for pushing out the software. However, if you are only using the CD you will have to download the files from it to your computer to complete this step.
5. Once you have the Office installation files saved in a location, move the contents from the C:\Updates folder to the Updates folder within the Office install files.
6. You can now use the install files as they are, or you can burn the newly created install to a CD so you have a portable copy. During the install it will automatically check the Updates folder and apply any updates it finds within.

The original post that I found detailing this process can be found at winsupersite.com

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