Microsoft Internet Communications – Office Communicator/Call Button Integration Support Kit

Background

Microsoft headsets and webcams are optimized for Windows Live Messenger through the Call Button. Until now, there has not been a simple means to configure the Call Button to start Office Communicator. The goal of the Call Button Integration Support kit (the kit) is to change that.

By setting a Group Policy and installing the kit, Microsoft headsets and webcams can be set up to start Office Communicator instead of Windows Live Messenger.

Target Audience

The kit is intended for use by workgroup or enterprise administrators in organizations that are using Office Communications Server 2007 and Office Communicator 2007.

The kit enables an organization-wide change in the configuration of Microsoft LifeChat (headset) and LifeCam (webcam) software so that the Call Buttons on the headsets and webcams start Office Communicator instead of Windows Live Messenger.

System Requirements

This kit requires the following Microsoft Hardware Product versions:

LifeChat v1.2 (headsets)
LifeCam v1.4 (webcams)

This kit requires Office Communicator 2007. Earlier versions of Office Communicator are not supported.

Installation Instructions

Ensure that all target user machines have LifeChat version 1.2 and/or LifeCam version 1.4 software installed before attempting to install the kit. See the System Requirements section for supported versions.

Note: When downloading and installing LifeChat or installing from CD-ROM you will first install version 1.0. During the installation of LifeChat 1.0 setup will auto-update and install version 1.2.
Download the kit from here

Use the following .ADM file snippet to set the Group Policy:

    CLASS MACHINE

    CATEGORY !!MSHW

      POLICY !!EnableMOCIntegration
      KEYNAME "Software\Policies\Microsoft\Hardware"
      EXPLAIN !!EnableMOCIntegrationExplain
      VALUENAME "EnableMOCIntegration"
        VALUEON  NUMERIC 1
        VALUEOFF NUMERIC 0
      END POLICY

    END CATEGORY

    [strings]
    MSHW="Microsoft Hardware"
    EnableMOCIntegration="EnableMOCIntegration"
    EnableMOCIntegrationExplain="Enables MOC Integration"

    ; Online Help Strings
    ADM_TITLE="Group Policy settings for Microsoft Hardware"
    COMPUTER="Computer Configuration"
    cOMPUTER_EXPLAIN="Contains settings that may only be used to configure Computers."
    SUPPORTEDON="Requirements:"

Instructions for setting Group Policies can be found here

Make sure that you have set the Group Policy in step 3 and given it an appropriate time to propagate to all the computers in your organization (the time required depends on your Group Policy settings).
Install the updates to LifeChat and/or LifeCam on the computers in your organization by using the appropriate .EXE files contained in the kit.

Notes on Working with the Kit

Because certain services need to be stopped and re-started in order to properly read the Group Policy setting, whenever the policy is changed, users will need to re-start their machines (or it can forced by the system administrator).

During installation of the kit, the installers handle stopping and re-starting the services. So, as long as the installation steps above are followed in order, the Group Policy will be read correctly and no re-start of the machine is required.

However, changing the Group Policy after installing the kit will require users to re-start their machines. If they do not, the typical issue that will be encountered is that pressing the Call Button will either launch both Windows Life Messenger and Office Communicator or neither program, depending on whether the policy has been changed to on or off.