When you want to use Office 365 it is easy all in the cloud easy to manage , one click setup yes it is easy or not ?
suppose you have 25 users and all need to setup O365 and you have several windows servers 2012R2 but no real deployment tools like #SCCM
Well deploy the Office 365 with a Group policy easy to setup and quick response.
First we need to login to office 365 https://login.microsoftonline.com/
Office 365 login Login to your Office 365 portal or webmail with a simple click. www.office365login.com/
This is how it works the user logs in and do the thing. but for 25 users.. this will take some time. So my Sample user has Plan E3
The installation can be done by a user simple give the user the login password and select software and go. But I want control..
Easy there is a tool called Office Deployment Tool for Click-to-Run. You can download the Office Deployment Tool from the Microsoft Download Center site. Administrators download and run the self-extracting executable file, which contains the Office Deployment Tool .exe file, dynamic link library resources (dlls), and a sample configuration file, configuration.xml.
I downloaded the tool did an extract and there was a setup.exe and the Config file.
Create a Shared folder that can be accessed but the computers in your domain. In my case I have only a Windows Server 2012R2 this is all I need.
First we are changing the default configuration.xml. and there are a lot of options
But in this case I want Office NL and the EN version and it should be activated and I want a log file just in case and If you want more languages just add them this is for download only.
<Configuration>
<Add SourcePath="\mvpdc01office365" OfficeClientEdition="32">
<Product ID="O365ProPlusRetail" >
<Language ID="nl-nl" />
<Language ID="en-en" />
</Product>
</Add>
<Display Level="None" AcceptEULA="TRUE" />
<Logging Name="OfficeSetup.txt" Path="%temp%" />
<Property Name="AUTOACTIVATE" Value="1" />
</Configuration>
Now that the config file is ready we can start the download.
setup.exe /download configuration.xml
I did run this from my share so I do not need the move my files.
and now all we have to do is start an batch or CMD with one line
\mvpdc01Office365Setup.exe /configure \mvpdc01Office365configuration.xml
where is the setup file and the config that I should use. that is it. I use only the NL version for install.
And yes the batch can be with checking etc but for now I only want to deploy
@echo off
\mvpdc01Office365Setup.exe /configure \mvpdc01Office365configuration.xml
echo Office 365 Install Complete > %SystemDrive%usersComplete_o365.txt
Nice but I have still to click the back file. I can place this in the login from the user easy. yes you can but nay this user install software ?
I create a office OU and placed the users in this OU.
I create a GPO that is going to install Office 365 and so that I can change things
I created the Batch that I used earlier and copied this file to a new folder in the windows directory and if this folder is not there create it.
Now we create a task that is doing the job on the Windows 7 machine.
Fill in the Name and configure it for windows 7
Next create a new Trigger that is on the Logon and make sure it is enabled !
For starting a program this is the batch file located on the local machine copied by the GPO.
As an admin I want to have control and maybe I want to start the task by myself sometime.
So select on demand also.
After this apply the GPO and start your Windows 7 machines. I logon with my dummy account and there is the Install account.
And the user is ready to use Office 365 , remember the user must logon to the office 365 during the wizard so make sure he/she has the email and password.