Have you found yourself in a situation where you have deployed Office click to run but do not have any licences for Visio or Project, but do have to hand the Volume Licence versions? Because Windows does not like having both the click to run version of office and the volume licence version installed at the same time you can use App-V to deploy Visio and Project to client machines with click to run versions already installed.

Here is how I deployed a 32-bit version of Visio 2016 using App-V in SCCM:

The App-V Client

To allow you to run any packages using App-V you first need to download and package the App-V client using SCCM. To get Visio 2016 to run using App-V I used the App-V 5.1 client, Visio 2016 would not work when using the App-V 5.0 client.

To download the App-V 5.1 client you need the MDOP (Microsoft Desktop Optimisation Pack) ISO which is available on MSDN. Once mounted you will find this includes the App-V 5.1 client and all previous versions of App-V 5:

When you open the client folder you will find a “appv_client_setup.exe” executable, you need to extract the MSI installs from this executable using the following command:

appv_client_setup.exe /Layout /LayoutDir=”<path>”

e.g.

c:temp>appv_client_setup.exe /Layout /LayoutDir=”c:temp”

You will then find the x64 and x86 MSI files for the client in your specified folder:

Next you will need the download Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable (x86) Version 8.0.61001 or above. If you don’t do this, you will receive the below error on installation of the App-V client and the application deployment will fail:

Version 8.0.61001 of Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable (x86) can be downloaded here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26347

(Note the older version of C++ 2005 will not work with App-V 5.1)

You then need to create an SCCM application of C++ 2005 x86 which you will make a requirement of the App-V client later on:

If your reading this you are probably already aware of how to package and deploy applications so these are the important parts, a guide on how to deploy can be found here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/gg682082.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396

Deployment Type:

Detection Method:

The Product code for Version 8.0.61001 of Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable (x86) is:

{710f4c1c-cc18-4c49-8cbf-51240c89a1a2}

Remember to Distribute the Application to your Distribution Points!

Next you need to create an Application for App-V 5.1, this is easier as you already have the MSI provided, I used the x64 MSI since we use x64 bit version of windows and this works ok with x86 versions of office.

Once you have created the application open the deployment type and add the following into the installation command: AcceptEULA=1

Otherwise you will receive the below error on installation:

You then need to add the Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable (x86) application you created earlier as a dependency of App-V 5.1: (I also included C++ 2010 for good measure)

You now have your App-V client ready to be deployed to Machines.

Remember to Distribute the Application to your Distribution Points!

Visio Setup

You now have to download the setup files and create the Visio App-V Package, I used the following blog: http://msitproblog.com/2015/11/14/how-to-create-an-office-2016-appv-package/

Creating the Visio App-V Package

1. Create the following two Folders on your C: Drive, using PowerShell:

2. Download the Office 2016 Deployment Tool: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49117
3. Run the Setup and extract the Files to C:TempOffice 2016
4. Open the configuration.xml:

Here you can specify the components which will be included in our App-V Package. You can take my Configuration as Template and adjust it, that it fits your needs.

<Configuration>

<Add SourcePath=”C:TempOffice 2016″ OfficeClientEdition=”32″ Branch=”Current”>

<Product ID=”VisioProVolume”>

<Language ID=”en-us” />

</Product>

</Add>

</Configuration>

6. Execute the following command in an elevated command prompt, to create the App-V Package from the downloaded files:

Based on the performance of your Workstation, this step can take up to 10 Minutes. After a short time, you can see the Package getting created. So, sit back and enjoy the Show

7. Navigate to the folder “C:TempOffice 2016 AppVAppVPackages”, where you will find your App-V Package:

You can then copy the AppVPackages folder to your SCCM server ready to be packaged.

Create the App V package in SCCM

From the SCCM console select create application, change the Type to “Microsoft Application Virtualization 5” and the Location to the AppVPackages folder and select VisioProVolume_en-us_x86.appv

You can then keep selected next, filling in the details as required, you will notice the deployment type looks different any others and you can select the specific office application you want to publish by going to the Publishing tab, I selected Visio Only:

You then need to make the App-V 5.1 Client application you created earlier a dependency (Unless you have previously installed it on Client Machines):

Remember to Distribute the Application to your Distribution Points!

App-V Virtual Environment

The last phase of the install is to create an App-V Virtual environment, this is found under the Software Library section of SCCM:

You then need to Add your Visio App-V package you created earlier as an App-V Deployment Type:

Group Policy Settings

In order for the package to work with the App-V client there are 2 settings that need to be enabled which are disabled by default on the App-V client, the easiest method I have found for managing these settings is via the App-V administrative template in Group Policy. To set this up you need to do the following:

1. Download the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack Group Policy Administrative Templates https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=41183
2. Extract the Cab file by doing the following:launch a command prompt and run “expand <download_folder>MDOP_ADMX_Templates.cab -F:* <destination_folder>” command
3. On the computer where you manage group Policy, typically the domain controller, copy the template .admx file from the App-V 5.1 folder to the following directory: <Installation Drive> Windows PolicyDefinitions. Or the PolicyDefinitions folder within the SysVol
4. Next, on the same computer, copy the .adml file from the App-V 5.1 folder to the following directory: <InstallationDrive> Windows PolicyDefinitions en-US. Or the en-US folder within the SysVol
5. After you have copied the files open the Group Policy Management Console, to modify the policies associated with your App-V 5.0 clients browse to Computer Configuration / Policies / Administrative Templates / System / App-V.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj684299(v=vs.85).aspx

You need to specify the following settings:

Once you have done this deploy your GPO to the desired machines.

Deployment

You are now ready to deploy your App-V package to the desired computers, if you have a KMS licence key you can use that to activate Visio once it has been deployed. However, if you only have a normal product key, I would create a final application in SCCM to deploy the following script which will add a product key and activate office:

cscript “C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft OfficeOffice16OSPP.VBS” /inpkey:YOURKEYHERE

cscript “C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft OfficeOffice16OSPP.VBS” /ACT

Add this Script to SCCM then make the Visio App-V package a dependency of this script and deploy the script to your desired computers.

Hope this helps,

Daniel Cubley, Risual Infrastructure Engineer