These instructions are for Microsoft Lync 2013 Basic which has fewer features than Lync 2013 Full. However the basic concept will work for both versions.

Step 1 – Extract files from the Lync Basic installer: %sourcelocation%\lyncentry.exe /extract:%extractionlocation%

Step 2 – From the extracted files run the OCT tool: %extractionlocation%\setup.exe /admin

Step 3 – Use OCT to configure a msp file to your desired customization choices.

Step 4 – To avoid the “First things first” window when user start Lync for the first time add the following reg entries under Additional Content | Add Registry Entries in the OCT tool

Step 5 – Save your settings to your MSP file.

Step 6 – Deploy your MSP. How you deploy is up to you:

• You can add the MSP file you create to the Updates folder of the extracted files from the source installer and run the install with the command %extractionlocation%\setup.exe. This will install all the msp in the Updates folder including your custom MSP. You will see a Microsoft setup window for a second as it reads the MSP file before installing.

• You can save the MSP to whatever place you like and use a command that will point to that place; %extractionlocation%\setup.exe /adminfile %yourcustomMSPlocation%

Recently I had to package several versions of Visual C++ for a client including the 2012 version. Previous versions of Visual C++ have proven to be pretty straight forward, but 2012 is a little different:

1. Download the installer from Microsoft here.

2. Install the executable on a PC/VM.

3. Navigate to C:\Program Data\Package Cache\.

– There might be several sub folders in this location. Go through them until you find one that has a vcRuntimeMinimum_x86 folder, there will be a separate one with a vcRuntimeAdditional_x86.

– Obviously if you are installing the 64-bit version the folder names with say x64 instead of x86

4. Copy the MSI’s and CAB files in each folder and move them to a folder to stage your package.

5. Create an MST with whatever standards you want and add the public property of ADDEPLOY=1 so that you don’t get this message:

– “To install this product, please run Setup.exe. For other installation options, see the Installation section of ReadMe.htm”

6. Install vc_runtimeMinimum_x86.msi first, then install vcRuntimeAdditional_x86.msi second. Include your transforms :

– Example  – “msiexec.exe /i vc_runtimeMinimum.msi TRANSFORMS=MST.mst /qn”

*alternative* – You could also create a chained MSI package for the two so that you don’t have to run two separate installs. Please read here on how to created a non-streamed chained MSI package.