Customizing How Setup Runs

Storing Values in a Windows Installer Transform

You can make extensive modifications to the installation process by using a Windows installer transform (MST file), including many modifications that you cannot make in the Setup command line or settings file. These modifications include specifying the following:

• Where Microsoft Office is installed
• Which Office features are installed
• Where Office shortcuts are installed
• What previous versions of Office are removed
• How Setup property values are set

In the MST file, you can also add custom files and registry entries to the installation to distribute company templates or custom applications.

You create a Windows installer transform by using the Office Custom Installation Wizard. The Windows installer transform contains the changes that you want to make to the installation process. The Windows installer applies your changes to the Windows installer package (MSI file) before installing Office.

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How to distribute a transform

For users to install Office with your customizations, you must specify the name and path to the transform by using the Setup TRANSFORMS= command-line option or by using an entry in the MST section of the Setup settings file.

For example, to direct Setup to use the transform Custom.mst (in the same folder as Setup.exe), you use the following Setup command line:

setup.exe transforms=custom.mst

You can also use the following entry in the settings file:

[MST]
MST1=Custom.mst

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When to use a transform

The Windows installer transform is most useful when you want to make extensive customizations, especially customizations that you cannot make by using the Setup command line or settings file.

For example, in the MST file you can set the installation state of Office features. For each Office feature, the Office Custom Installation Wizard allows you to specify whether you want to copy the feature to the user’s computer, run the feature from the network, install the feature on first use, or not install the feature at all. You can even hide features that you do not want users to modify during Setup.

You can create more than one transform for different groups of users, and then specify — on the command line or in the settings file — which transform to use. For example, to have your Engineering and Accounting departments use two different transforms, you can create two shortcuts in the administrative installation point by using the following command lines:

• setup.exe transforms=off9engr.mst
• setup.exe transforms=off9acct.mst

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See also

The Office Custom Installation Wizard allows you to fully customize the installation process, from modifying Setup properties to adding custom files and registry entries to the installation. For more information about the Office Custom Installation Wizard, see Office Custom Installation Wizard.