Access 365 run time deployment best practices

[SuperShin]

Long time access developer started out with 2000.

Over the years I've deployed my app with the runtime via the product actual installer to copy the front end backend and assets.

I've steadily updated the version over the years, and fought with bitness, I cannot upgrade to 64 bit due to legacy com add ins. I am trying to deploy the access runtime 365. How can I do this without being connected to the internet?

It seems like the only file is like a 6mb file that you run and it automatically installs the runtime after it downloads it in the background.

It doesn't seem to work the way 2016 does obviously there is no msi. Is the only way to install 2019 RTE aka 365 while connected to the internet? If so should I just continue packaging 2016 access runtime library or should i revert to 2013, I keep seeing many people who use that.

The biggest obstacle I see is office 365 is click to run and the vast majority of people are installing that and the 64 bit version, so I'm trying to deploy a 32 bit version and get grief.

How can I avoid the grief? The user voice talks about a 2019 runtime library via the office deployment tools but I see no docs on it....should i just continue to use the 2016 runtime library with a 2019 accde? I realize 2019 retrains the 2016 path, reg keys etc. and when i install my package on a 365 user it generally runs fine just skipping the 2016 installer for the runtime.

PS Reading this is depressing, does Microsoft even care about the offline runtime anymore?

access.uservoice.com/forums/319956-access-desktop-application/suggestions/36055381-release-an-office-2019-access-runtime?page=2&per_page=20

Thanks so much!

David

 

[gemma-the-husky]

I don't know about depressing. For MS to make a (sort of) fully featured version of the product at no cost is a pretty good deal.
Maybe users could just be encouraged to install the app themselves with instructions.

 

[SuperShin]

"its not so bad" is not the answer I'm looking for

 

[Pat Hartman]

The real problem is bitness. You can't install the 32 bit runtime when 64 bit office is installed. If you are willing to distribute as an .accdb (or possibly .accdr), the user can be instructed to download the bitness that matches his office installation but you'll need to get rid of your addins.

 

[SuperShin]

No bitness is always the problem I get that, really just looking for if 2019 has some way to do an offline installer

 

[Pat Hartman]

I haven't installed it anywhere. Can you not just download the file without installing it?

 

[Jbooker]

Havn't bothered with the runtime for a while but believe your only option is indeed to use the OfficeCustomizationTool and OfficeDeploymentTool with AccessRuntimeRetail Product ID specified in the config file similar to this:

<Configuration ID="b6696c97-fb24-42a8-bb1a-d253ae3092ad">
  <Add OfficeClientEdition="32" Channel="Current">
    <Product ID="AccessRuntimeRetail">
      <Language ID="en-us" />
    </Product>
  </Add>
  <Property Name="SharedComputerLicensing" Value="0" />
  <Property Name="SCLCacheOverride" Value="0" />
  <Property Name="AUTOACTIVATE" Value="0" />
  <Property Name="FORCEAPPSHUTDOWN" Value="FALSE" />
  <Property Name="DeviceBasedLicensing" Value="0" />
  <Updates Enabled="TRUE" />
  <RemoveMSI />
</Configuration>

The ODT allow you to download the setup and then deploy from the downloaded source.

docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployoffice/overview-of-the-office-customization-tool-for-click-to-run

I've not done this for Access Runtime but it's fairly commonly done for installing Office365 in SharedComputerActivation mode on a RDP server for example.

support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/deploy-an-access-application-7bb4f2ba-30ee-458c-a673-102dc34bf14f#bm1
www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49117
docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/troubleshoot/installation/product-ids-supported-office-deployment-click-to-run

If it were me, I'd keep packaging 2016 runtime setup until I had a compelling reason to advance.