How to Sequence Office 2003 with App-V
Rob Waggoner
I’ve talked about virtualization for a long time and while most people think of server virtualization, there are other forms of virtualization that can make a big impact on our customers. Application Virtualization is another form of virtualization that allows us to virtualize individual applications on a desktop machine. Whenever I talk about App-V, one of the first questions that come up is, what’s the difference between App-V and Med-V. I answered that question here, and provided a detailed explanation of each solution and where it fits on the desktop. It you don’t want to read the whole article, I’ve included a few excerpts that clarify the benefit of App-V.
App-V virtualizes the application. Use App-V when the application you want to use runs on your host OS, but doesn’t interact well with other applications on your host OS. Consider Office. Office 2010, 2007, 2003 and Office XP all run great on Windows 7, but you can’t install all four versions of Office on the same OS at the same time. This is where App-V can really help. With App-V, I can use Office 2010, 2007, 2003 and Office XP on the same installation of Windows 7 at the same time!
I said use App-V when your application does not interact well with other applications on your host OS. That’s one reason to use it, another reason is if you want to be able to quickly deploy your applications. App-V allows you to deploy your application to your desktops quickly since you do not have to spend as much time with integration testing. App-V makes it easy to deploy and remove applications from desktops.
I’ve created a short video that walks through the process of setting up an App-V sequencing computer and sequencing Office 2003 on it. If you didn’t know, App-V packages can be saved to a .msi file and can then be installed directly on your destination machine. While App-V also supports an App-V server infrastructure for package deployment, the server infrastructure is not necessary. I do not use a server infrastructure for my video, I just sequence Office 2003 to a .msi. Check it out and let me know what you think.
We have some pretty good guidance on sequencing Office 2003, check out:
Here is the location of the App-V site on Microsoft.com
https://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/appv/default.mspx
Here is the App-V TechCenter:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/appvirtualization/default.aspx
Until next time,
Rob
del.icio.us Tags: Microsoft App-V,Application Virtualization,MDOP,Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack,Virtualize Office 2003
Technorati Tags: Microsoft App-V,Application Virtualization,MDOP,Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack,Virtualize Office 2003