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Installing and Using Microsoft Excel on a Network
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Contents

  Introduction
    Designating Network Connections

  Setting Up Microsoft Excel on a Network File Server

    Installation Requirements
      >To install Microsoft Excel on a network file server or a shared directory

  Creating Custom Installations for Workstation Users

    Editing SETUP.STF to Create a Script
      >To edit the information in SETUP.STF
    Distributing and Using a Script
    Distributing a Script with Microsoft Mail

  Network Considerations for Workstation Users

    Installing Microsoft Excel on a Workstation
    Sharing and Protecting workbooks on Networks
    Things to Remember About Shared Files
    Other Tools for Workgroup Users

Note: To move directly to step-by-step instructions, search for the 
----  right-angle bracket character (>). This character marks the 
      beginning of each procedure.

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Introduction
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This document discusses how to install and use Microsoft Excel version 5.0 for Windows on a network.

The first section, "Setting Up Microsoft Excel on a Network File Server," is for network administrators who install Microsoft Excel from floppy disks to a network. Before installing Microsoft Excel on any network workstations, the network administrator must install Microsoft Excel on a network file server.

The second section, "Creating Custom Installations for Workstation Users," is for network administrators who want to create custom installation scripts that end users can run to install or upgrade Microsoft Excel from a network file server.

The final section, "Network Considerations for Workstation Users," is for Microsoft Excel users who run Microsoft Excel from a network file server. It also includes information for users in workgroups.

Designating Network Connections

In this document, network connections are specified with a logical drive letter, such as N. If your network supports the use of universal naming convention (UNC) paths of the form \\server\share, workstation setup users can use a path instead of a logical drive letter. For network server setup, however you must use a logical drive letter. Setup remembers the paths to the components you install, so if you use logical drive letters to specify network file servers during installation, you have to make those network connections manually and use the same drive letters before you run Setup again. If you use UNC paths, Setup will make the correct connections automatically.

Note Every Microsoft Excel user must have a Microsoft Excel license. 
----  A license is obtained by buying a retail package or a Microsoft 
      License Pak. For more information about network use restrictions, 
      see your Microsoft Excel license agreement.

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Setting Up Microsoft Excel on a Network File Server
---------------------------------------

This section is for network administrators who perform an administrator’s installation on a network file server or a shared directory.

Users on networks can share the Microsoft Excel program and files created in Microsoft Excel. Once you’ve installed Microsoft Excel on the network, a end user can either install the program and its components on the workstation’s hard disk or run Microsoft Excel from the network file server.

End users can install Microsoft Excel from the file server, instead of from floppy disks, by using the basic procedure discussed in Chapter 1, "Installing and Running Microsoft Excel," in the Microsoft Excel User’s Guide. Alternatively, you can create a script that end users can run to install Microsoft Excel. For more information about scripts, see "Creating Custom Installations for Workstation Users," later in this document.

This document assumes that you know how to use network software to connect to network drives and how to find files stored on network file servers.

Before you set up Microsoft Excel on a network file server, check the 
following:

*  The network must be operational, and you must have read, write, and 
    delete/erase privileges for the network directories in which you want 
    to install Microsoft Excel. For more information, see your network 
    software documentation.

*  You must install the Windows operating system, version 3.1 or later,
   on the workstation you use to install Microsoft Excel on the network 
   file server, and on any workstations that will run Microsoft Excel. 
   For information about installing Windows, see your Windows documentation.

*  If any network users share the Windows operating system or other 
   applications, they must be logged off from the network. The directories 
   that contain shared components on the file server or shared volume must 
   be locked from user access - for example, W:\WINDOWS and 
   W:\MSAPPS. You must have create, write, and delete privileges in 
   these directories.

*  You should determine in which network file server directories the 
   components of Microsoft Excel should be installed. Setup suggests 
   installing EXCEL.EXE in the EXCEL directory and installing shared 
   components in the MSAPPS directory of the network file server or 
   the shared volume. You can specify other paths if you want to.

Setting up Microsoft Excel on network workstations is a two-step process. First install Microsoft Excel on the network file server. Then set up the workstations, either by installing Microsoft Excel on each workstation’s hard disk or by setting up the workstations to run Microsoft Excel from the file server.

Installation Requirements

>To install Microsoft Excel on a network file server or a shared directory

  1.  Ask all users who are sharing Windows or Microsoft applications
      such as Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word (which share components) 
      to disconnect from the network file server or the shared directory.

  2.  Start Microsoft Windows, and quit any other applications.

  3.  Insert the disk labeled "Setup Disk 1" in drive A or drive B.

  4.  From the File menu in either Program Manager or File Manager, 
      choose Run.

  5.  Type <drive letter>:setup /a and then press Enter. (The /a switch 
      indicates an administrator’s installation.) For example, a:setup /a

  6.  Follow the instructions on the screens that Setup displays. 
      You need to supply your company name, which will be included 
      with workstation installations made from the file server. You 
      will have one opportunity to confirm the company name. Make 
      sure that the name is correct before you proceed; once you’ve 
      confirmed it, you cannot change it.

      You also need to supply the network directory in which you want 
      to install the main Microsoft Excel program (for example, N:\EXCEL), 
      and the directory for storing shared components, such as MSSPELL.DLL, 
      the spelling checker. Shared components are usually stored in the 
      MSAPPS directory at the same directory level as the directory that 
      contains EXCEL.EXE - for example, N:\MSAPPS.

     If you are running the Windows operating system from a shared 
     installation, the proposed location for the shared components is 
     at the same directory level as the shared Windows directory - for 
     example, N:\MSAPPS.

     When users install Microsoft Excel on their workstations by running 
     Setup from this administrator’s installation, the shared components 
     can be installed on the user’s workstation or run from the network. 
     Before you complete the administrator’s installation, decide if the 
     shared components will be automatically installed on individual 
     workstations, automatically shared from the network, or if the choice 
     will be left to the workstation user.

  7. Set the access privileges to read-only for the server 
     directories in which you installed Microsoft Excel components, 
     and ensure that all users who may need to install Microsoft Excel 
     on their workstations from the network have read privileges for 
     those directories.

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Creating Custom Installations for Workstation Users
--------------------------------------

Before you can create custom installations for end users, you must install Microsoft Excel on your network file server. See "To install Microsoft Excel on a network file server or a shared directory" above.

If the workstation can run Windows version 3.1, it can run Microsoft Excel, provided that it has sufficient RAM and disk space. Each workstation should have at least 4 MB of RAM and 2 MB of available disk space for the basic Microsoft Excel program.

Once you've installed Microsoft Excel on your network file server, you can create scripts to run Setup "silently" and control how Setup installs Microsoft Excel on workstations. With a script, you can do the following:

*  Perform a complete installation silently, without input from the user.

*  Control which type of installation - Typical, Complete/Custom, 
   Laptop (Minimum), or Workstation - you want Setup to perform.

*  Specify the directory in which to install Microsoft Excel.

*  Ensure that all installations in a workgroup are the same.

Setup uses information in the file SETUP.STF to determine which files to install and where they should be copied.

To perform a typical installation automatically, just add the /q switch when you run Setup. For example, at the command prompt, type the path to the server or directory where Setup is installed, and then type setup /q to start an automatic installation. When you use this switch, Setup reads information from SETUP.STF and installs Microsoft Excel in the program directory for the previous version of Microsoft Excel or in the default Microsoft Excel program directory, C:\EXCEL, without prompting the user for information.

To control which type of installation Setup performs and specify the directory where Microsoft Excel is installed, edit SETUP.STF to create a custom script that end users can run to install Microsoft Excel.

Note  A list of Microsoft Excel components, their recommended locations 
----  for network and workstation installations, and explanatory notes is 
      provided in the FILELIST.TXT file. This is a tab delimited text file, 
      so you can open it in Notepad or any other text editor, word processor 
      or spreadsheet. You can find FILELIST.TXT in two locations:

      *  On Setup disk 1. It is not compressed, so you can open it directly 
         from the floppy disk.
      *  If you've already installed Microsoft Excel version 5, FILELIST.TXT 
         is in the directory in which you installed Microsoft Excel, for 
         example the C:\EXCEL directory.

Editing SETUP.STF to Create a Script

This section describes how to create a script that automatically performs a Typical, Complete/Custom, Laptop (Minimum), or Workstation installation and how to specify a directory where Setup will install Microsoft Excel.

>To edit the information in SETUP.STF

  1.  Copy the file SETUP.STF from the network location in which you 
      installed the main Microsoft Excel program and give it a 
      new name. Open the copy of SETUP.STF (not the original) 
      with any spreadsheet application or word processor. It is easiest 
      to work with the table in Microsoft Excel.

  2.  To specify the type of installation you want the script to 
      perform, scroll through the table until you see the following 
      list of installation options in the third column:

        Typical
        Complete/Custom
        Laptop (Minimum)
        Workstation

      Type yes in the column labeled "Install During Batch Mode" 
      to the left of the type of installation you want the script 
      to perform. Type no next to the other options.

  3.  If you want the script to perform a Complete/Custom installation, 
      scroll down until you see the following list of components in 
      the third column:

       Microsoft Excel
       Online Help and Lessons
       Data Access
       Graphics Filters
       Addins
       Tools

      Type yes in the column to the left of each component you 
      want the script to install. Type no next to the other options.

  4.  To specify a directory where Setup will install Microsoft Excel, 
      scroll through the table until you see "c:\excel" in the column 
      labeled "DestDir." Replace the "c:\excel" with the name of the 
      directory where you want Setup to install Microsoft Excel.

      Important
      To ensure that Setup works properly, do not edit any other part 
      of the table file. If the initial value in a cell is empty, do 
      not edit the cell. If you are using a text editor, do not delete 
      tab characters that separate table columns.

  5.  Save the edited table in text-only format with the new name 
      you assigned in step 1.

Distributing and Using a Script

After you create a script, you can copy it to the file server or shared volume from which you want users to install Microsoft Excel, or you can distribute it with Microsoft Mail or another application that can send  items across a network.

Use one of the following methods to distribute a script:

*  To create one script for all users, rename the SETUP.STF file 
   that comes with Microsoft Excel to something else, such as 
   SETUP.OLD. Name the copy of the script that you edited SETUP.STF, 
   and save it in the same network directory as SETUP.EXE. Direct 
   your users to run SETUP.EXE from the file server or the shared 
   volume.

*  Copy SETUP.EXE and give the copy the same filename you gave 
   the script but use the .EXE filename extension. For example, 
   if you named the script NEWSETUP.STF, name the copy of Setup 
   NEWSETUP.EXE. Put the renamed setup file and the script in the 
   same directory as SETUP.EXE on the file server or the shared volume. 
   Direct your users to run the copy of Setup (for example, NEWSETUP.EXE, 
   not SETUP.EXE).

*  To create different installation scripts for different groups 
   of users, distribute the script with Microsoft Mail or another 
   application as a Program Manager icon. The command line specifies 
   the script and switches, as shown below.

/t tablename  Substitute the name of the new script for tablename. 

/n username  (Optional) Substitute a value for username to prevent Setup from prompting the user for a name. The name must be enclosed in quotation marks as shown in the example that follows. To automatically register the workstation copy of Microsoft Excel with the workstation’s existing user name, type the quotation marks with no name (""). Setup uses the name specified in the WIN.INI file on the workstation in the DefName line of the [MS User Info] section.

/q  Causes Setup to run without any user interaction. 

For example, suppose you installed Microsoft Excel in the EXCEL directory of a file server - where X designates the file server - and distribute a silent script that uses the MYSCRIPT.STF table file to a user named Paul Tanner. The command line to run the script would be:

	x:\excel\setup.exe /t myscript.stf /n "Paul Tanner" /q

Distributing a Script with Microsoft Mail

If you use Microsoft Mail to distribute a script, create a new message and then choose Insert Object from the Edit menu. In the Object Type box, select Package, and then choose the OK button. From the Edit menu in Object Packager, choose Command Line. Type the full path to SETUP.EXE in the EXCEL directory of the file server or the shared directory. (If your network supports UNC pathnames, use that syntax. If not, users will need to make the network connection themselves by using the same drive letter you specified before running Setup.) Type setup and the switches and arguments as needed, and then choose the OK button.

To attach the Microsoft Excel Setup icon to the command line, choose the Insert Icon button in Object Packager. Choose the Browse button to locate SETUP.EXE in the EXCEL directory of the network file server, and then choose the OK button. Choose Update from the File menu to add the icon to the Mail message, and then choose Exit from the File menu to close Object Packager. The icon is now ready to distribute. Anyone who receives the message can double-click the icon to run Setup from the network and install Microsoft Excel by using the script you specified with the /t switch.

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Network Considerations for Workstation Users
--------------------------------------

There are two ways to run Microsoft Excel in a network environment:

*  You can run Microsoft Excel entirely off the network, without 
   installing it on your own computer.

*  You can install Microsoft Excel on your own computer.

Installing Microsoft Excel on a Workstation

If your computer is connected to a network file server or a shared directory, your network administrator may have installed a copy of Microsoft Excel on the network that you can then install on your workstation. The administrator may also have created a process you can use to install Microsoft Excel automatically. Check with your administrator to determine the best way for you to install Microsoft Excel.

The procedure for installing Microsoft Excel on a workstation is discussed in Chapter 1, "Installing and Running Microsoft Excel," in the Microsoft Excel User’s Guide. Once you have installed Microsoft Excel, read the following section for important information about using Microsoft Excel in a network environment. You may also need special network software to manage and synchronize shared files on the file server. For more information, check with your network administrator.

Sharing and Protecting Files on Networks

Using Microsoft Excel on a network is essentially the same as using Microsoft Excel on a stand-alone computer. On a network, however, you can use the network file server to store files and exchange them with other users, so you may want to protect some files from unauthorized access.

Things to Remember About Shared Files

*  In order for everyone who works on a shared file to display and 
   print it the same way, the fonts used in the file must be 
   available on the other computers and printers in your workgroup. 

*  If you assign a file-protection password, you should write it 
   down. Without the password, no one can open the file. Also 
   bear in mind that some kinds of protection - such as protecting 
   an individual sheet or range of cells - do not prevent other users 
   from setting a file-protection password.

For more information about sharing and protecting files, see Chapter 39, "Protecting a Workbook" and Chapter 42, "Importing and Exporting Documents" in the Microsoft Excel User’s Guide.

Other Tools for Workgroup Users

Microsoft Excel provides features such as audit tools, workbook routing, and password protection that make sharing and editing workbooks in a workgroup setting easier. For more information about these features, see Part 8 in the Microsoft Excel User's Guide.
