Punkrulz

Hey guys,

I'm trying to get some information on administrative installation points. If you guys could answer a few questions possibly for me that'd be great!

1) How do you find out what patches are needed, and where can you get them? This is mainly focusing around the installation of Microsoft Office 2003. The only place I can find where it seems like I can get some patches are here:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/orkarchive/2k3updt.htm

I don't know if that is the best place to be able to get updates for MS Office 2003. According to the instructions I've followed, I need to find the update I want, extract the MSP file, and then combine it with the MSI file we have on our application server.

How are you suppose to know though when you should update the Microsoft Update products?

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madmatt

I use this link to keep track of updates for Office 2003.

http://www.microsoft.com/office/orkarchive/2k3updt.htm

All updates that come out for Office are needed. The only catch is which version of Office you have (i.e. if you don't have Visio you don't need to apply the updates to the install point).

I normally start from scratch when a new service pack is released (i.e. I extract the files from the CD and then apply SP2).

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Bootsy

I usually update with service packs only. I administer 275 PCs here and irt would be a pain to get them all updated with EVERY patch out there. Another idea you could use is set up a WSUS server to handle all windows/office updates for the clients.

madmatt

WSUS is an excellent way to keep your network up-to-date with the latest updates. As Bootsy say it is best to update your install points with service packs only and use WSUS to update the rest. On the flip side, I don't recommend using WSUS to deliver service packs.

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Electronic Punk

SP2 wouldn't merge with our VL copy of Office 2003, no idea why so I just tend to install it afterwards - pretty annoying!

May get around to looking at why this is the case.

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madmatt

I didn't have any issues applying SP2 to my install point. Then again I started from scratch (RTM version without SP1 applied).

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kcnychief

I have merged SP2 with VL Office 2003 several times, what particular problems did you run into?

EDIT: I am in the same boat as Madmatt. I keep a base level installation, and then SP level updates. By this I mean I have the RTM build, and then the administrative installation, and then with S1, SP2, etc.

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