Microsoft Autoupdate Buggy

[cwaldrip]

Anyone else having issues with the Microsoft Autoupdate not working correctly.

Currently the app says I have five apps that need updating to 16.17.18090901.
The command line tool (which uses the app) says I only have four apps that need updating.
I run the MSUpdateHelper4JamfPro script provided by macadmins.software site and nothing gets updated.

I've seen similar things, like the command line tool not picking up the last Excel hotfixa.

Facepalm.

[cwaldrip]

And I run the command line install, a few minutes later it says its done and no new updates are available. Okay. None of the app's have changed their version number and the app says no new updates are available. Did they pull the update while or just before I was updating?

Time to go home and start drinking I think.

[mschroder]

There is indeed some weirdness around the updates. I run MAU, it told me it updated the apps, the Finder shows them as modified at the time I ran MAU, but they are not version 16.17, but rather 16.16.2 :(

No idea what's going on there.

[peternbevan]

I think I know what they've done - they've branched the Volume License Office 2016 and Subscription activated O365 versions. On my Office 2016 installation I see the 16.16.2 release and on my activated O365 I see 16.17. If you install the 16.17 updates on your Volume Licensed installation it removes the volume serialisation and requires an online subscription activation.

[m_donovan]

After testing the script via Self Service this morning for the first attempt the only app that updated was Word. I tested on both a staff and a student machine. Our staff machines are O365 activated and the students are Volume licensed. Both kept their respective license but both only updated Word to 16.16.2. I ran it a second time and the student machine updated all the remaining apps to 16.16.2. The staff machine still only has Word at 16.16.2 even after a third attempt.

[sdagley]

@cwaldrip Did you deploy a configuration profile for the App IDs for Office 2016? The 16.17.x app versions are for Office 2019, and have new app signatures for MAU: https://github.com/pbowden-msft/Payloads/blob/master/MAU_AppArray2019.plist

You should take a look at the recent traffic in the microsoft-office channel on the MacAdmins Slack for a details on the new versions and figuring out what updates are applicable/usable.

[talkingmoose · Accepted solution]

Microsoft AutoUpdate will apply 16.16.2 if any of the following is true:

• The macOS is less than 10.12
• It detects a volume license or single license such as a scratch-off activation card from a big box store
• You have applied a configuration profile that registers the apps with MAU and have not updated it as @sdagley mentioned.
• You're using the MSUpdateHelper4JamfPro.sh script and haven't yet updated lines 223-283 with the new apps IDs
• Your current user's ~/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.autoupdate2.plist hasn't automatically updated its Application IDs (e.g. still using MSWD15 instead of MSWD2019)
• Your Office for Mac installation isn't yet activated

Microsoft AutoUpdate will apply 16.17 when all of the following are true:

• The macOS is 10.12 or later
• The software is activated using an Office 365 sign-in
• All the apps have been launched at least once and registered with MAU or you have applied the updated configuration profile with the new app array list.

If using the configuration profile, be sure to include the following key/value toward the end of the plist between lines 70-71.

<key>StartDaemonOnAppLaunch</key>
<true/>

Then create a new configuration profile or edit your existing profile. In the Custom Settings payload, upload this new plist to replace the old information and deploy to your machines.

[mcfarlandp]

Is anyone running the script for updating when a user is not logged in? I manage computer labs and are wanting to update when no one is logged in when the lab is closed.

[carlo_anselmi]

@talkingmoose first of all many thanks for your help and great work with Office for Mac!
Despite I have a test client with all 16.17 requirements true, once I run MSUpdateHelper4JamfPro script it dowloaded the 16.16.2 update instead. I have modified the configuration profile with the updated array
Is there anything I am missing?
Many thanks again!
Carlo

[ImAMacGuy]

@carlo.anselmi I have the same problem.

[sdagley]

@carlo.anselmi and @jwojda The MSUpdateHelper4JamfPro script has the app signatures hardcoded for Office 2016 verisons (16.16.x being the end of that line). If you want the 16.17 updates edit the script to change the app signatures to end in 2019 rather than 15 (e.g.: MSWD15 -> MSWD2019)

[ImAMacGuy]

never mind, I think I see my issue :)

Edit 2: yep, there's two spots per application that need to change to from 15 to 2019. I was only changing one.
Thank you for your help!

[talkingmoose]

@carlo.anselmi, I'm hoping your issue is the same as @jwojda. Toward the end of the script where you need to update each application's information, be sure to modify both lines for each application. This caught me by surprise the first time.

[carlo_anselmi]

@talkingmoose and @sdagley thank you both, that was indeed the reason. Once changed the application's information everything started working as expected!
Many thanks again!

[cwaldrip]

I figured this probably had something to do with with the O365 vs. VL forking. But i've seen similar issues before The Great Forking (lulz). Users would have to run our self service police that runs the msupdatehelper4jamf script sometimes a second or third time for everything to actually get updated. Even with that, it's a better deal than them downloading the full Office installer for each update.

For now I've disabled our self service policies for Office while I deal with some other things (A girl named Flo trying to wreck my work week and weekend as well as just being a wet blanket all around). We already have the configuration profile pushed out to prevent MAU from checking on its own for updates.

I started working out updates to our smart groups to identify any machines that have any older version of Office before 16.17 (I swear I'm going to hunt down the 2.5% of users still running 2011...) so I can properly upgrade them with a full O365 installer (and leave our pre-10.12 machines on fire since their users ignore our demands to run their updates... a pox on their houses!).

I'll be re-reading @talkingmoose's reply here (points for @sdagley too) a few time to make sure I've got it all right (obvious the updated profile is better than waiting for someone to launch PowerPoint for the first time in a decade). So, I've got a lot of work over the next few days working on this and taking phone calls from users enjoying working in the middle of a hurricane (breaking news makes people forget simple stuff, but at least it's overtime).

I'd love to spend more time in the MacAdmins slack group, but good lord it's chatty. It'd take me most of a day to just scan all the posts in just the channels relevant to me. So I usually only pop in for quick answer to something.

And I'm still so very happy that at least MAU is now scriptable (as much as it is with some understandable limitations like logged in user)!