SCCM Office 2021 Deployment guide (2024)

This blog post will describe how to Deploy Office 2021 using SCCM (using Click-to-run version). Beginning in Office 2019, Office client applications willno longer be available in MSI format. You can download an ISO on your volume licensing download center or use the Office Deployment Tool. We suggest using the Office deployment tool to have the latest available version.

If you’re still confused about the differences between Office 2021 vs Office 365:

Office 365is a subscription that comes with premium apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access (Publisher and Access available on PC only). The apps can be installed on multiple devices, including PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones, Android tablets, and Android phones. With a subscription, you get the latest versions of the apps and automatically receive updates when they happen.

Office 2021 is a one-time purchase that comes with classic apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for PC or Mac, and does not include any of the services that come with an Office 365 subscription. One-time purchases don’t have an upgrade option, which means if you plan to upgrade to the next major release, you’ll have to buy it at full price.

So if your organization has chosen to deploy Office 2021, you can deploy it using SCCM. The main steps are :

PREPARE SCCM OFFICE 2021 INSTALLATION

The first step is to download the Office Deployment Tool and create aDownload.xmlfile that we’ll useto download the latest version of Office 2021. Read theReference for Click-to-Runxml fileto know more about the available options.

Download theOffice 2016 Deployment Tools

This is not a mistake. The Office Deployment Tools is version 2016. If you read the fine print you’ll see that the ODT can download 2021 products:Updated to support the download and installation of Office 2021 products.

After downloading the tool, runOfficeDeploymentTool.exe

Extract the files to a drive on your computer

You’ll end up with 4 files that are needed to download and deploy Office 2021 (Setup.exeand 3 configuration files)
- Configuration-Office365-x64.xml
- Configuration-Office365-x86.xml
- Configuration-Office2019Enterprise.xml
- Configuration-Office2021Enteprise.xml

Instead of using the built-in xml file, we’ll create aDownload.xmlfile to first download Office 2021. Create the file and copy this content :

<Configuration><Add SourcePath="C:\Office 2021" OfficeClientEdition="64"><Product ID="ProPlus2021Volume"><Language ID="en-us" /><Language ID="fr-fr" /></Product></Add></Configuration>

In our example, we are downloading the 64-bit version in the C:\Office 2021 directory and adding the English and French language
Change theSourcePathandOfficeClientEditionif desired
TheProductIDis important and can be changed if you need adifferent product
You can also add anadditional languageif needed by modifying/adding more language in<Language ID=”xx-xx” />
Save theDownload.xmlfile in the same directory asSetup.exe

We will now modify theConfiguration-O365-x86.xmlfile that will be used when deploying Office 2021 with SCCM.

Open theConfiguration-O365-x64.xmlfile and modify it to reflect this :

<Configuration><Add OfficeClientEdition="64" ><Product ID="ProPlus2021Volume"><Language ID="en-us" /><Language ID="fr-fr" /></Product></Add><Display Level="None" AcceptEULA="TRUE" /></Configuration>

It’s important that you don’t include the SourcePath attribute in theAddsection of yourConfiguration.xmlfile. That’s becauseSCCMcopies the installation files for an application into a folder under the SCCMclient cache folder, and the name of that subfolder is different for each computer.
TheDisplayLevelandAcceptEULAparameters ensure that our installation is silent.
You can also use thePIDKEYsetting if you don’t have a KMS server for activation.

If you need to uninstall the previous installation of Office :

Download Office 2021 for SCCM

Once the2 files are created and modified, we can launch the download using ourDownload.xmlfile :

Open an administrator command prompt and navigate to your folder
Execute :Setup.exe /download Download.xml

The Office 2021 download starts silently, you’ll see an Office folder appear in your specifiedOffice 2021directory (in download.xml). The folder is around2GBso it will take some time to complete depending on your download speed. You won’t have a notification when it completes.

If the directory was created outside your SCCM source directory, move it to its definitive location before creating the application.

CREATE THE SCCM APPLICATION

Open the SCCMconsole
Go toSoftware Library / Application Management / Applications
Right-clickApplicationsandchooseCreate Application
On theGeneraltabof the Create Application Wizard, selectManually specify the application information, chooseNext
On theGeneral Informationtab, enter a name for the application, enter any optional information, chooseNext

On theApplication Catalogtab, provide the information that’s appropriate for your environment, chooseNext

On theDeployment Typestab, chooseNext.We’ll add a deployment type later
On theSummarytab, review the settings you’ve chosen, and chooseNext
Complete the wizard by selectingClose

CREATE OFFICE 2021 DEPLOYMENT TYPE

Open the SCCM console
Go toSoftware Library / Application Management / Applications
Right-click theOffice 2021applicationandchooseCreate Deployment Type
On theGeneraltabof the Create Deployment Type Wizard, in the Type list, selectScriptInstaller, chooseNext

On theGeneral Informationtab, enter a name for the deployment type, enter any optional information, and then chooseNext
On theContenttab, do the following :
- In theContent locationbox, enter the network share where you put the Office Deployment Tool, yourConfiguration.xmlfile, and the Office 365 ProPlus installation files that you downloaded from the Internet
- In theInstallation programbox, enter the following text:Setup.exe /configure Configuration-O365-x64.xml

After you enter this information, chooseNext
On theDetection Methodtab, chooseAdd Clause
- In theDetection Ruledialog box, do the following :
  - Setting Type– Registry
  - Hive– HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
    - Key– SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration
  - CheckUse (Default) registry key value for detection
  - CheckThis registry key is associated with a 32-bit application on 64-bit systems
  - Data Type– Version
  - SelectThis registry setting must satisfy the following rule to indicate the presence of this application
  - Operator: Greater than or equal to : 16.0

After you enter this information, chooseOK,and then chooseNext
On theUser Experiencepage, in the Installation behavior list, selectInstall for system,and then chooseNext

If you want to specify any requirements or dependencies for the deployment type, chooseNextto go through those pages in the wizard. Otherwise, chooseSummary
Complete the wizard by selectingClose

The only step left is to distribute the content to your distribution points and create an SCCM Office 2021 deployment.

Deploy Office 2021

On the target computer,launch the software center. Clickthe Applicationstab and select Office 2021 application and clickInstall.

As for any application deployment, the installation progress will be in theAppEnforce.logfile.

If the installation fails, the most probable reason is that you haven’t specified a valid detection rule. We’ve seen lots of deployment errors with the Remove attribute. Make sure you are not using the RemoveMSI attribute if you are uninstalling a version based on the click-to-run technology.

BONUS INFORMATION

There is a new set of Administrative Template files (ADMX/ADML) for Group Policy settings. You can download the Administrative Template files using thisMicrosoft Download Centerlink.