Microsoft Excel 365 Silent Install (How-To Guide)

Microsoft Excel 365 is a spreadsheet application that features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications. This article will serve as an informative guide and give you a clear understanding of how to perform a silent installation of Microsoft Excel 365 from the command line using the EXE installer.

How to Install Microsoft Excel 365 Silently

Microsoft Excel 365 Silent Install (EXE)

Download the Office 365 Deployment Tool:
- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49117
Download the officedeploymenttool_x-y.exe to a folder created at (C:\Downloads)
Open an Elevated Command Prompt by Right-Clicking on Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator
Navigate to the C:\Downloads folder
Enter the following command to extract the ODT files:
- officedeploymenttool_x-y.exe /extract:C:\Downloads\Excel365
Press Enter
Select the checkbox to accept the Microsoft Software License Terms
Click Continue
Navigate to C:\Downloads\Excel365
Delete the 3 existing .xml files as we will be creating our own
- configuration-Office365-x64.xml
- configuration-Office365-x86.xml
- configuration-Office2019Enterprise.xml
Navigate to https://config.office.com/deploymentsettings to Configure XML File
Select the Architecture you want to deploy
- 32-bit or
- 64-bit
Select Products and Apps you want to deploy
- Office Suites
  - Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise or
  - Microsoft 365 App for Business
- Visio
  - None
- Project
  - None
- Additional Products
  - None
- Update Channel
  - Current Channel
  - Current Channel (Preview)
  - Monthly Enterprise Channel
  - Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel
  - Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel (Preview)
- Select Version
  - Latest
  - 20XX
  - 20XX
- Turn Apps On or Off to include or exclude them from being deployed
  - Access (Off)
  - Excel (On)
  - OneDrive (Groove) (Off)
  - Skype for Business (Off)
  - OneDrive Desktop (Off)
  - OneNote (Off)
  - Outlook (Off)
  - PowerPoint (Off)
  - Publisher (Off)
  - Teams (Off)
  - Word (Off)
- Features
  - Enable or Disable background service for Microsoft Search in Bing
Click Next
- Select Primary Language
  - Match Operating System
  - Arabic (Saudi Arabia)
  - Bulgarian (Bulgaria)
  - Chinese (Simplified, China)
  - Chinese (Traditional, Taiwan)
  - Croatian (Croatia)
  - Czech (Czech Republic)
  - Danish (Denmark)
  - Dutch (Netherlands)
  - English (United States)
  - Estonian (Estonia)
  - Finnish (Finland)
  - French (France)
  - German (Germany)
  - Greek (Greece)
  - Hebrew (Israel)
  - Hindi (India)
  - Hungarian (Hungary)
  - Indonesian (Indonesia)
  - Italian (Italy)
  - Japanese (Japan)
  - Kazakh (Kazakhstan)
  - Korean (Korea)
  - Latvian (Latvia)
  - Lithuanian (Lithuania)
  - Malay (Malaysia)
  - Norwegian Bokmal (Norway)
  - Polish (Poland)
  - Portuguese (Brazil)
  - Portuguese (Portugal)
  - Romanian (Romania)
  - Russian (Russia)
  - Serbian (Latin, Serbia)
  - Slovak (Slovakia)
  - Slovenian (Slovenia)
  - Spanish (Spain, International Sort)
  - Swedish (Sweden)
  - Thai (Thailand)
  - Turkish (Turkey)
  - Ukrainian (Ukraine)
  - Vietnamese (Vietnam)
- Select Additional Languages (If Any)
- Select Additional Proofing Tools (If Any)
Click Next
- Installation Options
  - Office Content Delivery Network (CDN)
  - Local Source
  - Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager
- Show Installation to User (Off)
- Shut down running applications (On)
Click Next
- Update and Upgrade Options
  - Automatically check for updates (On|Off)
  - Uninstall any MSI versions of Office, including Visio and Project (Off)
  - Uninstall Visio (Off)
  - Uninstall Project (Off)
  - Uninstall SharePoint Designer (Off)
  - Uninstall InfoPath (Off)
- For uninstalled MSI versions of Office, install the same languages (Off)
- Automatically upgrade to the selected architecture (On|Off)
Click Next
- Licensing and Activation
  - Automatically accept the EULA (On)
- Product Key
  - KMS Client Key
  - Multiple Activation Key (MAK)
- Product Activation
  - User Based
  - Shared Computer
  - Device Based
- General Info
  - Provide your organization name to set the Company property on Office documents
  - Provide a description for this configuration for documentation purposes
Click Next
- Application Preferences (Examples)
  - Disable First Run Movie (True)
  - Disable Office First Run on Application Boot (True)
  - Disable Opt-in Wizard on First Run (True)
  - Enable Customer Experience Improvement Program (False)
  - Automatically Receive Small Updates to Improve Reliability (False)
  - Send Office Feedback (False)
  - Turn on Telemetry Data Collection (False)
Click Finish
Click Export Button
- Select Default File Format Option
  - Keep Current Option
  - Office Open XML Formats
  - OpenDocument Formats
Click OK
Accept the terms in the license agreement on the Export Configuration to XML screen
Set the File Name to Excel365
Click Export
Copy the Excel365.xml file to C:\Downloads\Excel365
Open an Elevated Command Prompt by Right-Clicking on Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator
Navigate to the C:\Downloads\Excel365 folder
Run the following command to download the installation files:
- setup.exe /download Excel365.xml

Note: The download can take several minutes to complete so please be patient. You can monitor the download progress by checking out the log file in the %LocalAppData%\Temp directory.

Once the download has completed, you are finally ready to install Microsoft Excel 365.

Run the following command: setup.exe /configure Excel365.xml

After several minutes you will find Microsoft Excel 365 entries in the Start Menu, Installation Directory, and Programs and Features in the Control Panel.

Software Title:	Microsoft Excel 365
Vendor:	Microsoft Corporation
Architecture:	x86_x64
Installer Type:	EXE
Silent Install Switch:	`setup.exe /configure Excel365.xml`
Silent Uninstall Switch:	`setup.exe /configure Excel365_Uninstall.xml`
Download Link:	https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49117
PowerShell Script:	https://silentinstallhq.com/microsoft-excel-365-install-and-uninstall-powershell/

The information above provides a quick overview of the software title, vendor, silent install, and silent uninstall switches. The download links provided take you directly to the vendors website. Continue reading if you are interested in additional details and configurations.

How to Uninstall Microsoft Excel 365 Silently

Check out the Microsoft Excel 365 Install and Uninstall (PowerShell) post for a scripted solution.

Note: This uninstall will remove all standard Office 365 components since there is currently not a good way to selectively remove individual Office 365 components using the command line.

Open Notepad or your favorite text editor
Add the following lines:

<Configuration>
<Display Level="None" AcceptEULA="TRUE" />
<Property Name="FORCEAPPSHUTDOWN" Value="TRUE" />
<Remove>
<Product ID="O365ProPlusRetail">
</Product>
<Product ID="O365BusinessRetail">
</Product>
</Remove>
</Configuration>

Save the file to C:\Downloads\Excel365 and name it: Excel365_Uninstall.xml
Open an Elevated Command Prompt by Right-Clicking on Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator
Navigate to C:\Downloads\Excel365
Enter the following command:

Microsoft Excel 365 Silent Uninstall (EXE)

setup.exe /configure Excel365_Uninstall.xml

Always make sure to test everything in a development environment prior to implementing anything into production. The information in this article is provided “As Is” without warranty of any kind.