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August 31, 1999

An updated version of the Custom Installation Wizard (Custwiz.exe version 1.00.00.3217) includes a number of enhancements. With the new version of the wizard, you can:

• Add applications to your Office installation by using relative paths, which now succeed for all installations.
• Take advantage of environment variables and predefined folders when you add applications.
• Eliminate a system dynamic link library (DLL) dependency.
• Use generic Office 2000 Disc 1 transforms for new service releases.

Toolbox    The Office Resource Kit (orktools.exe) includes the new Custom Installation Wizard (Custwiz.exe version 1.00.00.3217) and related files. You can find this downloadable file on the Office 2000 Resource Kit Downloads page.

Use relative paths to install additional applications

The Custom Installation Wizard has always allowed you to add installations to your Microsoft Office 2000 installation by using the Add Installations and Run Programs panel. Installations added in this way are run after the Office 2000 Setup is complete, and after the restart (which is required on all operating systems except Microsoft Windows® 2000).

Because these added installations were run after the restart, however, the location of the source for the original Office 2000 installation was not always resolved again. If you used a path for your added installation that was relative to the location of Office 2000 Setup.exe and the MSI file, the relative path to the added installation was rendered unusable.

The new version of the Custom Installation Wizard ensures that the source location is always correctly resolved before any added installations are called. So even though the added installations are run after the restart, they run correctly when you use a relative path.

Use environment variables and predefined folders

The updated Custom Installation Wizard adds more flexibility to the Add Installations and Run Programs panel. With the new version, you can:

• Use environment variables at the beginning of the path.

  Rather than typing the complete path to a particular folder, you can use an environment variable. For example, if you want to run a particular application from the Windows folder on each computer, you can use the %windir% environment variable, rather than typing C:\Windows or C:\Winnt.

• Use predefined folders at the beginning of the path.

  In the original Custom Installation Wizard, there were several predefined folders designated for use with the Add Files to the Installation panel and the Add, Modify, or Remove Shortcuts panel. You can now use these folders in the Add Installations and Run Programs panel as well, so you do not have to type the full path to any of these folders.

To use environment variables to add applications

1. Start the updated Custom Installation Wizard (version 1.00.00.3217).
2. On the Add Installations and Run Programs panel, click Add.
3. In the Command line box, type the environment variable to use; use standard MS-DOS syntax at the beginning of the path. For example:

   %windir%\regedit.exe /s q:\Off2000\special.reg

You can look up the predefined folders available for use with the Add Installations and Run Programs panel in the Help topics for the Add Files to the Installation panel and the Add, Modify, or Remove Shortcuts panel.

To view the list of available predefined folder names and syntax

1. Open the Help file for the Custom Installation Wizard (Custwiz.hlp).

   Custwiz.hlp is stored in the same folder as Custwiz.exe.

2. Under Special Help Topics, click Keywords for specifying a pre-defined path.

   You can select and copy any predefined folder references from this Help topic and paste them into the Command line box to ensure correct syntax. The syntax must be exactly as it is shown in the Help file, including capitalization. For example:

   <Windows>\regedit.exe /s q:\Off2000\special.reg

Note   The Add Installations and Run Programs section of the Help file has not been updated in this release to provide context-sensitive Help for the predefined folders. Use the Help topics for the Add Files to the Installation panel and the Add, Modify, or Remove Shortcuts panel to look up these predefined folders.

Eliminate a system DLL dependency

The updated Custom Installation Wizard includes a new version of Admparse.dll. The new Admparse.dll removes a dependency on the system file Shlwapi.dll.

Because Shlwapi.dll is used by many other functions, relying on it can cause DLL conflicts. If the updated Custom Installation Wizard detects the copy of Shlwapi.dll that was installed with the original Custom Installation Wizard in the same folder as Custwiz.exe, that copy of Shlwapi.dll is silently removed.

Use generic Office 2000 Disc 1 transforms

The updated Custom Installation Wizard allows the distribution of generic transforms (for example, through hot fixes or services releases) that work with any edition of Office 2000.

For example, you can use the updated wizard to open a generic transform based on the Office 2000 Premium Disc 1 MSI file, Data1.msi, and use this transform with the MSI file for Office 2000 Professional Disc 1, Office 2000 Standard, or the standalone version of Microsoft Word 2000.

Tip   If you want to use the generic transform more than once, make a copy of the transform and then open the copy for modification in the Custom Installation Wizard.

When you save your changes to the generic MST file, it becomes specific to the MSI file that you used in that session of the Custom Installation Wizard. From then on, the transform behaves the same as any other MST file that you create with the wizard - it can only be opened or used during Setup with the single product for which it was created.

Related links

For information about using the updated Custom Installation Wizard with the recently released transforms (MST files) for Windows Installer shortcuts, see Using Windows Installer Shortcuts with Office 2000 in the Office Resource Kit Journal.