For some reason I cant seem to get something to work correctly with regard to using AD to deploy some software.

Application x = Office 2003 pro edition,

Application y = office 2003 std edition

What I am trying to achieve is to have X uninstalled and replaced with application Y.

There is a reason why I need to change the office version but thats something else.

I have an admin install of each, an MSI file for each and a MST file for each as well. I have 2 GPO's in AD one that deals with X and the other for Y. I changed the rules for Y so it would in theory uninstall X and replace it with Y. Whats actually happening is that X is being left and Y is installing as well. Looking in add/remove programs both X and Y are shown.

I need to find a simple way, using AD if possible to uninstall X from about 1/2 the pc population and replace it with Y without visiting all the clients.

Any help appreciated (assuming that all makes sense).

do you not just remove the policy which installed the old app from the computers (or the computers from the policy) and then add the policy which installs the new app? or is that something you're trying to avoid? shouldn't the MST for the new app (be able to)uninstall the old one, or is that what's not working?

do you not just remove the policy which installed the old app from the computers (or the computers from the policy) and then add the policy which installs the new app? or is that something you're trying to avoid? shouldn't the MST for the new app (be able to)uninstall the old one, or is that what's not working?

No , that would end up with both installed.

What you need to do is upgrade the one application with the other as it mentions here....

Upgrade an application: Group Policy

Oh , and forgot to say - the old app needs to have been installed via the GPO and not put on there manually , even if it was from the same msi

I think you are right Alex, looks like a manual uninstall/reinstall is on the cards. The original install image seems to have been done manually rather than through a GPO.

We had the same issue with removal of apps that weren't originally installed via a GPO, and it caused huge problems. Faced with trying to manually uninstall a particular app from 1500 desktops one of our guys wrote another app to strip as much of it as possible and that seemed to work.. ish.

The problem cuts both ways too - if the app was a GPO install and is removed manually, there are a lot of keys left behind that wouldn't have otherwise been there. If you're using SMS (or rolling out SMS clients) then you'll find both these scenarios creatd a world of random and frustrating hurt..

logon script to do the uninstall?

I think you are right Alex, looks like a manual uninstall/reinstall is on the cards. The original install image seems to have been done manually rather than through a GPO.

One way that *may* get round this is to use a GPO to reinstall the old application over the top of the manually installed version , then upgrade it the different app afterwards.

Could be worth trying on a test machine...

MS office is a biyach to get rid of totally.

we are having a similar dilemma, trying to downgrade from office pro to std.. even after removing pro and re-installin std, it still says its pro (and this is without using AD)