Terminal Services - Office 03/07 coexistance

NiCkNaMe

NiCkNaMe

NiCkNaMe

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Joined
17 Jul 2005
Posts
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Hi Guys,

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas with the above?

We want to have Office 2003 and 07 coexist on the same TS, albeit seperated by AD Groups; e.g. - if a user exists in the 2003 group they get 2003 and likewise with 07.

I can hide the programs no problem using the above method but have the issue of when users open files as to what version it will choose. I'm guessing if a user on a TS opens Excel 2003, then another user who is supposed to be on 2007 double clicks an excel file they will also get the 2003 as that was the last version opened?

Has any experienced or attempted this before?

Thanks,
 
You're going to struggle in a straight TS environment - Citrix wouild be no problem due to application isolation enviroments etc but it's going to be a bit of a pig.

Consider virtualising it and running 2 terminal servers - one with 2003 one with 2007?
 
iaind said:
You're going to struggle in a straight TS environment - Citrix wouild be no problem due to application isolation enviroments etc but it's going to be a bit of a pig.

Consider virtualising it and running 2 terminal servers - one with 2003 one with 2007?
Click to expand...

I suspected as much :(

We do currently have an element of virtualised TS however we have configured all of the terminals (lots, spread out geographically) to connect to a standard IP which uses a combination of round robin and NLB to choose the (like it ever works as it should) least populated server.

Ah well. I guess I will have to create a couple of servers that soley use 2007 and give users a RDP link to access a server that has the facility... - unless of course someone has a brainwave ;-)

Thanks for the reply mate. Application isolation isn't a feature of 2008 server by any chance is it? *goes to look around.
 
Application isolation isnt, but application publishing is - you could publish the apps from a dedicated Office TS onto your main desktop

Even with AIE you still have the issue of shortcuts and file associations - not insurmountable but a bit of a pain
 
Hi,

I've tried a similar thing myself, not on a TS, but it should in theory work the same...

You could write a small script that basically checks your AD groups using IFMEMBER, and launch the required version of office app depending on the outcome... then set all the file associations for that application to the script instead of directly to the app.

So user opens a Word document... the script checks which group he/she is a member of, then passes that to the correct version.

Pretty simple using a batch file.

Code: 
IFMEMBER "2007"
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 (
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\Winword.exe" %1
)

IFMEMBER "2003"
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 (
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11\Winword.exe" %1
)

something like that?
 
Last edited:
Thanks ^.

I started going in that direction however hit the file association issue again which led me to another solution.

I've started creating an ADM which will deploy the registry settings for the file extensions for doc, docx, xls, xlsx to those that are a member of the group. Think i've figured out which need to be changed and have tested an element of it and it works well.

I'll then hide the 2003 or 2007 shortcuts depending on what group the user is in, and the above changes will decide which version to attempt to load when a file is opened.

I'll post the ADM and change's i've made once complete.
 
My code is below if anyone is interested... it changes the required GPO options fine and works to an extent.

Now have an issue whereby if a user with administrative rights opens 2003 closes it and then opens 2007 it apparently 're-configures' (little setup bar runs saying Office is configuring your settings...) - likewise if the admin goes from 2007 > 2003.

A none admin user gets a 'this program is not functioning correctly.. blah' message on the opposite program to that that was last run.

Ahhhh!

Code: 
#if version <= 2
#endif

CLASS USER
CATEGORY "System"
    CATEGORY !!OfficeExtensions
	
	;Configure Word File Extensions...
	POLICY !!WordExt2003
		KEYNAME "Software\Classes\.doc"
		PART !!FileExtensions DROPDOWNLIST REQUIRED
		    VALUENAME ""
		    ITEMLIST
			NAME !!Office2003	    VALUE "Word.Document.8" DEFAULT
			NAME !!Office2007	    VALUE "Word.Document.12" 
		    END ITEMLIST
		END PART
	END POLICY
	
	;Configure Word File Extensions...
	POLICY !!WordExt2007
		KEYNAME "Software\Classes\.docx"
		PART !!FileExtensions DROPDOWNLIST REQUIRED
		    VALUENAME ""
		    ITEMLIST
			NAME !!Office2003	    VALUE "Word.Document.8" DEFAULT
			NAME !!Office2007	    VALUE "Word.Document.12" 
		    END ITEMLIST
		END PART
	END POLICY
	
	;Configure Excel File Extensions...
	POLICY !!ExExt2003
		KEYNAME "Software\Classes\.xls"
		PART !!FileExtensions DROPDOWNLIST REQUIRED
		    VALUENAME ""
		    ITEMLIST
			NAME !!Office2003	    VALUE "Excel.Sheet.8" DEFAULT
			NAME !!Office2007	    VALUE "Excel.Sheet.12" 
		    END ITEMLIST
		END PART
	END POLICY
	
	POLICY !!ExExt2007
		KEYNAME "Software\Classes\.xlsx"
		PART !!FileExtensions DROPDOWNLIST REQUIRED
		    VALUENAME ""
		    ITEMLIST
			NAME !!Office2003	    VALUE "Excel.Sheet.8" DEFAULT
			NAME !!Office2007	    VALUE "Excel.Sheet.12" 
		    END ITEMLIST
		END PART
	END POLICY
	
	;Configure Powerpoint File Extensions...
	POLICY !!PptExt2003
		KEYNAME "Software\Classes\.ppt"
		PART !!FileExtensions DROPDOWNLIST REQUIRED
		    VALUENAME ""
		    ITEMLIST
			NAME !!Office2003	    VALUE "Word.Document.8" DEFAULT
			NAME !!Office2007	    VALUE "Word.Document.12" 
		    END ITEMLIST
		END PART
	END POLICY
	
	;Configure Powerpoint File Extensions...
	POLICY !!PptExt2007
		KEYNAME "Software\Classes\.pptx"
		PART !!FileExtensions DROPDOWNLIST REQUIRED
		    VALUENAME ""
		    ITEMLIST
			NAME !!Office2003	    VALUE "Powerpoint.Show.8" DEFAULT
			NAME !!Office2007	    VALUE "Powerpoint.Show.12" 
		    END ITEMLIST
		END PART
	END POLICY
	
    END CATEGORY
END CATEGORY

[strings]
FileExtensions="Select the required version:"
WordExt2003="Open Microsoft Word .DOC document with:"
WordExt2007="Open Microsoft Word .DOCX document with:
ExExt2003="Open Microsoft Excel .XLS document with:"
ExExt2007="Open Microsoft Excel .XLSX document with:"
PptExt2003="Open Microsoft Powerpoint .PPT document with:"
PptExt2007="Open Microsoft Powerpoint .PPTX document with:"
Office2003="Microsoft 2003 Version"
Office2007="Microsoft 2007 Version"
FileExt="Configure Word Extensions"
OfficeExtensions="Office File Associations"
 
Last edited:
try this...

http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-62...=235848&messageID=2673191&tag=content;leftCol

It says theres a reg key that stops it from realising its got broken associations.

This is the reg file it says to use..

Code: 
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\Options]
"PROGRAMDIR"="C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Office\\OFFICE11\\"
"FirstRun"=dword:00000000
"NoReReg"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\Options\OutlookEditor]
@=""

Not sure if theres a similar key for 2007... after scouring the registry i found

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common and theres a key for AddRegistry. not sure if this is a similar key? Untested!

Jon
 
Jon, thanks for your help mate - I have got this working now I believe (live testing now will let me know otherwise ;)!)

I'll post what I did on Monday - combination of completly destroying the registry and a bit of luck solved it! :p
 
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