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Instructions for Installing and Setting Up OpenOffice.org 1.1 (rc2 and later)

Last updated 2003-12-20

Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP Quick-Start Guide for OpenOffice.org 1.1

Welcome to OpenOffice.org's Quick-Start Guide for Windows environments. Below you will find step-by-step instructions to install OpenOffice.org version 1.1 on your system. Before beginning installation, you may want to print this instruction sheet for reference while the setup program is executing.

Note: If you will be installing OpenOffice.org on a Windows PC used by more than one user, and you want all users to be able to use OpenOffice.org (each user logs in separately), please see the Quick-Start Guide for Multiple Users. Java is optional. The JRE/JDK may be downloaded from http://java.com depending on your needs. Check System Requirements for additional information.

Getting Started

The first thing you'll want to do is read through these instructions completely, and use the OpenOffice.org site to answer any questions you might have. The site contains documentation for users of all levels, beginner to advanced; a good place to get started for all new users of OpenOffice.org would be browsing the FAQ. You will also want to review the System Requirements for OpenOffice.org use:

  • a Pentium-compatible PC
  • Microsoft Windows 98, NT, 2000 or XP (2000, ME or XP required for Asian/CJK versions)
  • 64 MB RAM minimum
  • 250 MB hard disk space

The file you'll be downloading is approximately over 60 MB in size – a 2.5 hour download with a 56kbps dial-up connection. This file is compressed using ZIP compression, and you'll need a utility like WinZip in order to unpack the files. Some versions of Windows support “compressed folders” which automatically packs/unpacks these kinds of files. In Windows Explorer, the icons have a “zipper” down the middle.

To download the most current version of OpenOffice.org, navigate to the Download Central page and click on the link to the latest build; then choose a mirror (download location) closest to you. You may also want to copy the downloaded file to a backup medium (CD-ROM, ZIP disk, et al.)

Note. Depending on your install set you may be asked if you want OpenOffice.org to be your default Office suite. If you answer "yes" and then change your mind, returning to the prior state is tedious. You need to reassociate all Office files.

Unzipping/Executing the Installation Program

Either using Windows Explorer or Mozilla/Netscape's Download Manager, navigate to the OpenOffice.org file you downloaded. Windows Explorer users will want to find the file and double-click to launch the Installation program. Alternately, Mozilla/Netscape users will want to open the Download Manager, highlight the file, and click “Launch File”. In either case, your unzip utility will start if one is successfully installed on your system.

Using the compression utility, extract all the files into a separate directory on your hard drive. Once the files are decompressed, navigate to the folder, find “SETUP.EXE”, and double-click to launch the OpenOffice.org installation program. Follow the prompts, and OpenOffice.org will be installed on your system, ready for use.

Further Reading

If you'd like a more detailed guide to installing OpenOffice.org, please visit the Setup Guide site where you can download documentation in many languages.

Thank you for using OpenOffice.org, and welcome!

Jack Cole
Volunteer, Documentation Project

Quick-Start Guide, Windows in a Multiple User Environment

If you have multiple users set up on your machine, then each user who wishes to use OpenOffice.org 1.0 will need to install separately. This uses up a lot of disk space. As an alternative, you can use the multi-user option instead, though installation is a little more complicated:

  1. Unzip the downloaded file into its own folder. If you have Compressed Folders installed, the easiest way to do this is to right click on the file and then choose Extract All...
  2. Open Command Prompt (if you have Windows NT, 2000 or XP) or MS-DOS prompt (for other versions of Windows). You should find this on the Start Menu somewhere under Programs (on some versions of Windows, it is in the Accessories folder).
  3. You should then type the location of the folder followed by "install\setup /net". For example, if you unzipped the files to "C:\OpenOffice Setup\" you would type C:\OpenOffice Setup\install\setup /net followed by Return.
  4. Then follow the on screen prompts ... make a note of the folder in which OpenOffice.org 1.0 is installed onto your computer.
  5. Note. Depending on your install set you may be asked if you want OpenOffice.org to be your default Office suite. If you answer "yes" and then change your mind, returning to the prior state is tedious. You need to reassociate all Office files.

This will install a shared version of OpenOffice.org on your computer. Now each user who wishes to use the program can double click on the program setup.exe that was created in the folder you have made a note of in step 4 above - this will install the files necessary for that user and use only a few additional megabytes of disk space.

Lee Corbin, Louis Suárez-Potts
Allround Superman,
OpenOffice.org Graphic Design Maverick
Volunteer, Marketing Project
Author of Dictinstall

Linux Set Up

Last updated 2003 October 22

Installing OpenOffice.org on Linux is very easy! To make sure you get the best possible setup, simply follow these steps.

Prerequisites

If you want Java integration, you want to make sure you have the latest JRE installed. It should be at least JRE 1.4. You can find the JRE for Linux at the Java JRE for Linux download site. Alternatively, it might be included on the installation media of your distro as part of a complete Java development environment.

Installation Steps

The following steps assume you want to install OpenOffice on a multi-user Linux setup in an area accessible to all users on your system. This is referred to as a "network" or "multi-user" setup. Additionally you may install OpenOffice in a "single-user" setup. Consult details in the User Setup Guide (a pdf file) included with the installation archive for further details. These instructions assume you are using some X11 window manager to perform the actual installation. The setup is an X application.

  1. Make sure you are root
  2. Download the tarball from OpenOffice.org (the download can be done from any user account and then moved), and extract the tarball (.tar.gz file) to a temporary directory.
    "/tmp" is a good place for example. For the purpose of this example, I will assume you have downloaded the tarball to your /tmp directory.
  3. Open a terminal, such as xterm or konsole.
    To extract the tarball, change to the /tmp directory: cd /tmp
    and extract the tarball: "tar -zxvf [tarball name]".
  4. This should create a directory "OOo_1.1x_LinuxIntel_install".
    ("x" in this sense is a suffix to version 1.1 that will depend on the version you downloaded.)
  5. Change into this directory: cd OOo_1.1x_LinuxIntel_install.
  6. Execute the setup script for a "network" installation.
    This is done with the following command: "./setup -net"
    This is a friendly installation process which will prompt you for a destination directory and other OpenOffice installation options. When the setup is finished, you should have a complete "network" installation installed in the destination directory you specified.

    Note:It is NOT advisable to install over an existing OpenOffice installation. If you want to use the same destination as an existing version of OpenOffice, delete the contents of the existing directory!

  7. Part of the installation process includes telling OpenOffice about your Java installation. Normally this can be automatically found or you may need to supply it, or install the JRE supplied with OpenOffice if you don't already have it installed. (But see Prerequisites for more control over this.)
  8. Each user on your system should then execute the user-setup for OpenOffice.org.
    To do so, login as a regular user, then change into the program directory where you installed OpenOffice.org:
    cd /opt/OpenOffice.org1.1.0, for example
    and execute the following command:
    "./setup"
    The user portion of setup will now execute. Tell setup to perform a Workstation installation (should copy about 1.4 MB of files to your home directory) and typically let it default to the directory it recommends for storage of the local files in your user directory.
    Example: "/home/billg/OpenOffice.org1.1.0"
    Follow the instructions and fill in your contact details.

    If your users have been previously running an older version of OpenOffice, they should delete the current version of .sversionrc before starting up the newly installed version. This will reinitialize the version information for the new setup.

  9. That's it! If you use GNOME or KDE (provided your distro keeps the KDE user files in ~/.kde2), you will find that OpenOffice.org is fully integrated in your environment. If you use a different Windowmanager, you can start OpenOffice.org by typing ~/OpenOffice.org1.1.0/soffice
  10. You may remove the install files in /tmp, if you are done installing. (thanks to Henrik Eismark for pointing this out)

Have Fun!

Kay Schenk,
Volunteer Co-Lead Website Project

Packages for Linux Distributions (Not compiled by OpenOffice.org Staff)

Last updated: 2003 December 29

Many Linux Distributions now include a version of OpenOffice.org in their own native package manager format (.rpm, .deb, etc.). These packages have been built and are supported by the distributions' own teams, not by OpenOffice.org. Some distributions have strict policies around licensing, which means they have chosen to disable parts of OpenOffice.org which rely on software which does not meet their criteria (e.g. the Fedora rpms have disabled the parts of OpenOffice.org which require Java).

Please check carefully before using a third-party build that it does actually include all the parts of OpenOffice.org that you will require. Replacing a 'native' distribution build with the full OpenOffice.org original build can be tricky, but can usually be successfully accomplished by completely removing the existing 'native' install.

A few distributions providing 'native' (possibly customized) OpenOffice.org:
$Revision: 1.51 $