Remove "Check for Updates" From Microsoft Office 2010 - GPO

[TobyFruthParson]

I'm working on packaging various Microsoft Office 2010 components, like the shared components, the Office Software Protection Platform Service, Visio (all flavors), and Project (Standard and Pro.)  I wanted to remove "Check for Updates" from the Help menu.  I installed the Office administrative templates on my capture machine, added the templates to gpedit.msc, and opened up Administrative Templates -> Microsoft Office 2010 -> Disable Items in User Interface -> "Disable Commands Under File Tab | Help".  I ran a prescan, I then enabled the policy, checked box to remove "Check for Updates," and clicked Okay.

I opened Visio and verified that the button "Check for Updates" was greyed out.  I closed Visio and ran a post scan and saved the project.  I looked in all of the registry text files.  I pulled the text below from the HKEY_CURRENT_USER.txt file, added it to the bottom of the same file in my exisitng Visio project, ran build.bat, cleared out the old sandbox, launched Visio, and the button was greyed out.

My question:  Will this application encounter any issues with group policy objects, or will the full isolation mode settings on these entries be sufficient to keep the setting?

Here's the registry text I captured and added (also included in attached text file):

isolation_writecopy HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Common\Toolbars\Settings
  Value=Microsoft Visio
  REG_BINARY=#01#01#00#00#00#00#00#00#02#00#01#00#00#00#02#01#ff#ff#8f#05#00#00#01#00#18#00#00#00#10#00#00#02#02#02#fe#00#00#00#00#c8#00#00#00#23#01#da#00#eb#01#ce#02#02#01#ff#ff#f1#05#00#00#41#01#18#00#00#00#12#00#00#02#00#02#00#00#00#00#00#09#01#00#00#46#01#ea#00#4f#02#de#02

isolation_writecopy HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Visio
  Value=MTTF
  REG_DWORD=#7a#02#00#00
  Value=MTTA
  REG_DWORD=#7a#02#00#00

isolation_full HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy\History\{35378EAC-683F-11D2-A89A-00C04FBBCFA2}

isolation_full HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy\History\{35378EAC-683F-11D2-A89A-00C04FBBCFA2}\0
  Value=Options
  REG_DWORD=#00#00#00#00
  Value=Version
  REG_DWORD=#03#00#03#00
  Value=DSPath
  REG_SZ~LocalGPO#2300
  Value=FileSysPath
  REG_SZ~%SystemSystem%\GroupPolicy\User#2300
  Value=DisplayName
  REG_SZ~Local Group Policy#2300
  Value=Extensions
  REG_SZ~[{35378EAC-683F-11D2-A89A-00C04FBBCFA2}{0F6B957E-509E-11D1-A7CC-0000F87571E3}]#2300
  Value=Link
  REG_SZ~Local#2300
  Value=GPOName
  REG_SZ~Local Group Policy#2300
  Value=GPOLink
  REG_DWORD=#01#00#00#00
  Value=lParam
  REG_DWORD=#00#00#00#00

isolation_full HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects\{FEBDB3C4-00BF-4F35-A94C-DAB9D5C471EB}User\software

isolation_full HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects\{FEBDB3C4-00BF-4F35-A94C-DAB9D5C471EB}User\software\policies

isolation_full HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects\{FEBDB3C4-00BF-4F35-A94C-DAB9D5C471EB}User\software\policies\microsoft

isolation_full HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects\{FEBDB3C4-00BF-4F35-A94C-DAB9D5C471EB}User\software\policies\microsoft\office

isolation_full HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects\{FEBDB3C4-00BF-4F35-A94C-DAB9D5C471EB}User\software\policies\microsoft\office\14.0

isolation_full HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects\{FEBDB3C4-00BF-4F35-A94C-DAB9D5C471EB}User\software\policies\microsoft\office\14.0\visio

isolation_full HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects\{FEBDB3C4-00BF-4F35-A94C-DAB9D5C471EB}User\software\policies\microsoft\office\14.0\visio\disabledcmdbaritemscheckboxes
  Value=OfficeAssistant
  REG_SZ~0#2300
  Value=GetStartedOfficeOnline
  REG_SZ~0#2300
  Value=ContactMicrosoft
  REG_SZ~0#2300
  Value=OfficeCenter
  REG_SZ~0#2300
  Value=ButtonTaskClickToRunStatusUpdates
  REG_SZ~0#2300
  Value=ProductUpdates
  REG_SZ~18220#2300

isolation_writecopy HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\GPExtensions\{35378EAC-683F-11D2-A89A-00C04FBBCFA2}
  Value=LastPolicyTime
  REG_DWORD=#8c#50#ff#00

isolation_full HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\office

isolation_full HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\office\14.0

isolation_full HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\office\14.0\visio

isolation_full HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\office\14.0\visio\disabledcmdbaritemscheckboxes
  Value=OfficeAssistant
  REG_SZ~0#2300
  Value=GetStartedOfficeOnline
  REG_SZ~0#2300
  Value=ContactMicrosoft
  REG_SZ~0#2300
  Value=OfficeCenter
  REG_SZ~0#2300
  Value=ButtonTaskClickToRunStatusUpdates
  REG_SZ~0#2300
  Value=ProductUpdates
  REG_SZ~18220#2300

[Lakshman]

Toby,

As you know, Office 2010 license activation is pretty different from its previous version (2007, 2003). When you launch Office 2010 products during setup capture to disable updates, it will try activating the license automatically. I have personally tried this before and ended up with license activation issues when deploying the ThinApp.

[TobyFruthParson]

Lakshman,

Thanks for the quick reply.  My question is not about activation but GPO's.  I obtained the Office 2010 GPO administrative templates from the Microsoft web site.  I captured the application of the policy to grey out the "Check for Updates" button in Office 2010 products.  I then extracted those entries and placed them in to my Visio 2010 build and it worked to grey out the button.  What I'm wondering is if these entries will stick, or if some corporate GPO will interfere.  

Here are VMware articles/threads regarding ThinApp and GPO's:

http://blogs.vmware.com/thinapp/2010/10/thinapp-and-group-policy.html

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/225925

As for Office 2010 activation, I may have a working solution.  More testing remains to be done, but the early results are promising.

[pbjork · Accepted solution]

If specified within your package (in the virtual environment) will it be used. Anything virtual will win any conflicts with local (in this case GPO deployed registry keys) elements. If you specify a setting normally applied via GPO in your package is there no way to override this using GPOs..