We are getting ready to move from Office 2010 MSI to Office 365 (2013) click to run ProPlus.  Everything is ready to uninstall and install the new product. 

My question is if the Updates Enabled="TRUE" is not in the configuration.xml file will machines with the click to run office 365 pull updates from the cloud?  I had been told that the Enabled=TRUE is not needed in the configuration file as it is a default setting.  We want our machines to pull down updates from the cloud in place of providing a manual update location on our network.

Our configuration.xml file looks like this:

<Configuration>

    <Add SourcePath="\\Server\Share" OfficeClientEdition="32" ForceDowngrade="TRUE" >
    <Product ID="O365ProPlusRetail">
      <Language ID="en-us" />
    </Product>
    </Add>
 
  <Display Level="NONE" AcceptEULA="TRUE" />

  <Logging Name="OfficeSetup.txt" Path="C:\temp" />

  <Property Name="AUTOACTIVATE" Value="0" FORCEAPPSHUTDOWN="TRUE" />

</Configuration>

Thanks,

Brit

hi, you can refer to this:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/office_resource_kit/archive/2014/01/21/managing-updates-for-office-365-proplus-part-1.aspx

Hope it helps.

Flynn

My question is if the Updates Enabled="TRUE" is not in the configuration.xml file will machines with the click to run office 365 pull updates from the cloud?  I had been told that the Enabled=TRUE is not needed in the configuration file as it is a default setting. 

Hi,

as per: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj219426(v=office.15).aspx#BKMK_UpdatesElement
this is an optional parameter (it does not have to be specified), and, the default behaviour is to autoupdate from the MS CDN (cloud).

Thanks for the reply.

Don,

If I do not specify update enabled = true then I assume it pulls from the cloud?  I am testing this now and looking to see if the lab machine updates after pulling the old source files for click to run from our deployment location.  Do you know how long it takes for a machine to look to the cloud and pull new updates?  Is this something that I can force for testing?

The updatepath statement is what is confusing.  It looks like if you do not specify a path the default location to pull updates is from the source path.  We are deploying click to run with Configuration manager and deploying to our client machines with this method pulling the click to run source files from our network.

The article says: Optional. If UpdatePath is not set, Click-to-Run installations obtain updates from the Microsoft Click-to-Run source (Content Delivery Network or CDN). This is by default.

If UpdatePath is set to empty (""), updates are obtained from the Microsoft Click-to-Run source, CDN.  (Our NETWORK source files for click to run)???

UpdatePath can specify a network, local, or HTTP path of a Click-to-Run source.

Environment variables can be used for network or local paths.

Thanks,

Brit

CDN = Content Delivery Network = the MS cloud on the internet

It's my understanding that the default is to use CDN, or if you don't specify the update source (UpdatePath=""), it's the CDN.

Only if you specify an alternative update source (e.g. on on-premises webserver or fileserver), and set updates=true, will it use your alternative source for updates (regardless of the installation source location).

You can force an update task, in the UI (I think it's in "File, Account"?), or, you could try triggering the scheduled task.

Hi Don,

I have tried triggering the scheduled task and it did not work.  Automatic updates under file account are enabled.  I tried disabling and enabling.  I want the machines to automatically pull updates without a manual file account update.

I am testing on a second machine with an internal update site.  Office 365 installs without issue, but stays at the original build of 15.0.4551.1011.  I have updates enabled on my xml and newer files for version 15.0.4569.1507.  My test xml file I used is:

<Configuration>

    <Add SourcePath=\\server\share OfficeClientEdition="32" >
    <Product ID="O365ProPlusRetail">
      <Language ID="en-us" />
    </Product>
    </Add>
  <Updates Enabled="TRUE" UpdatePath="\\server\officeupdatestest" />
 
  <Display Level="NONE" AcceptEULA="TRUE" />

  <Logging Name="OfficeSetup.txt" Path="C:\temp" />

  <Property Name="AUTOACTIVATE" Value="0" FORCEAPPSHUTDOWN="TRUE" />

</Configuration>

Updating from the cloud and also from the network does not seem to be working.

check the logs on the client machine to see if it's triggering, and if so, what the result was.

It might be trying and failing, or, not trying.

This article should help you find logs etc: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2745026

Also, good background here: http://blogs.technet.com/b/emeaoffice/archive/2013/11/22/installing-office-2013-o365-with-the-office-deployment-tool-odt-for-c2r.as

Thanks Don,

Activation is not the issue, only updating.  I am going through the articles now and have passed the information over to our network folks to make sure nothing is being blocked.

Thanks,

Brit

Hi Don,

We still have an issue where the installation of Office 365 will not update.  I have a case opened with Microsoft. 

We still have an issue where the installation of Office 365 will not update.  I have a case opened with Microsoft. 

Hi Cody,

Updates from the cloud or an internal update source on the network never worked properly for us.  I worked with Microsoft and we tried various configurations made sure our firewall had the correct locations and ports configured.  We installed in test Office 365 click to run with our configuration.xml file configured to look at the cloud and then another test to look at our internal network source.  I decided to give up on the automatic update method. 

What I am doing now is downloading updated source files each month a few days after patch Tuesday with a scheduled task to a folder on our network. I then move the source files over to a test folder and build a package and program.  I then deploy it out to a test group of Office 365 click to run installations to update.  If there are no issues I will do the same for production.  We have not moved to office 365 click to run yet in product and are in test.  I wanted to make sure we had a solid plan on how to update the product before we move ahead in a few months. 

Our xml file is configured for Updates Enabled="FALSE" as we will deploy new updates each month with the method above.  I find this process more time consuming than patching Office 2013 MSI version the old way with Configuration Manager, but the steps for 365 updating work. 

I was afraid you were going to say that.  We have our updates scheduled to come straight from Microsoft however they don't seem to be installing.  They download and I can see that they're ready to install when I go to File->Office Account in any O365 product.  However they never install.  On some people's machines they install but these are people who are away from their machines and don't have any Office products open at the time.  Just not very viable.

Question when you setup the update share, how do you tell the clients to go about updating?  Do you resend the setup package to each machine to tell it that there's an update?  If so, doesn't it give the user a chance to cancel the update?

That is the same thing we saw when trying to get the product to update cloud or internal network share. 

The way we will update Office 365 is a Software Distribution deployment each month with Configuration Manager.  Our Configuration.xml file has Updates Enabled=FALSE so we control what the Office 365 click to run product updates to.  So each month a Package/program is setup with the new source files with the cmd of setup.exe /configure configuration configuration.xml. 

I am deploying only when no user is logged on so office is not in use.  If this is deployed with a user logged on there are settings I believe that can be configured in the xml file to either force the products to close or update when the products close.  In our environment we have found that it is best for us to deploy to machines that are not logged on. 

Right now we are on Office 2010 MSI and deploy updates to machines logged on or off with Software Updates.  I am really going to miss being able to bundle all monthly patches and send out one deployment to test and then production. 

Yeah at the moment, I'm not having any luck with the FORCEAPPSHUTDOWN command in the configuration file.  It still prompts me to close out of Office Products prior to installing.  Sounds like regardless of which route we take, we're going to have issues with updating the clients.  Only updating the clients that aren't logged in isn't really a good option.  This creates so much more managing in the long run.  

We don't use Configuration Manager (although I do want to switch to it), but we use Landesk.  I do have the option to run an install at boot.  This might be the option we have to use.

I am trying more to control the process via GPO with a start-up script and have created a batch file which executes the below command. It works and installs which ever version you define in your .xml file, the only issue i am facing is that re-runs the setup at each reboot which isn't ideal. I am currently working on below script which could check the version of the office upon boot-up and only run if the specific version is not available. I have pasted the script right at the bottom of the page and if anyone could shed some light in making it to read the version value 

"\\server\c2r\Office365 update\setup.exe" /configure "\\server\c2r\Office365 update\Customconfign.xml" (this is the batch-file used as a startup script)

PLEASE NOTE: There are three <Add SourcePath in my Cutomconfig.xml and not all three are required I use the one i need by taking the <!-- and --> from the beginning and the end  of each line  

<Configuration>

<!-- <Add SourcePath="\\Server\Share\" OfficeClientEdition="32" > --> Can only be used to download latest version of ofice365 (specify sourcepath)

 <Add OfficeClientEdition="32" Version="15.0.4675.1002" > Use to download a office version direct from microsoft servers

<!-- <Add SourcePath="\\server\c2r\Office365update" OfficeClientEdition="32" > --> to deploy software from internal network resource

    <Product ID="O365ProPlusRetail">
      <Language ID="en-us" />
    </Product>
  </Add>

<Updates Enabled="TRUE" UpdatePath="\\server\c2r\Office365 update" />

  <Display Level="FALSE" AcceptEULA="TRUE" />

  <Logging Path="\\server\c2r\Office365 update\Install Logs" />

<Property Name="FORCEAPPSHUTDOWN" Value="TRUE"/>  force closes any running office application
  <!--  <Property Name="AUTOACTIVATE" Value="1" />  -->

</Configuration>

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

this is what i am working on and wondered if any one would be able to rectify an issue with it as it doesn't seems to work

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

setlocal

REM *********************************************************************
REM Environment customization begins here. Modify variables below.
REM *********************************************************************

REM Set DeployServer to a network-accessible location containing the Office source files.
set DeployServer=\\server\c2r\Office365 update\

REM Set ConfigFile to the configuration file to be used for deployment (required)
set ConfigFile=\\server\c2r\Office365 update\Customconfignonskype.xml

REM Set LogLocation to a central directory to collect script log files (install log files are set in XML file).
set LogLocation=%AppData%\Local\Temp

REM *********************************************************************
REM Deployment code begins here. Do not modify anything below this line (check quotes are quotes though).
REM *********************************************************************


REM Operating system is X64. Check for Office365 version in emulated propertyBag registry key
:ARP64

Reg query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\15.0\ClickToRun\propertyBag /v Version=%15.0.4711.1002%
if NOT %errorlevel%==1 (goto DeployOffice) (goto End)

REM If 1 returned, the product was not found. Run setup here.
:DeployOffice
echo %date% %time% Setup started. >> %LogLocation%\%computername%.txt
start /wait %DeployServer%\setup.exe /configure %ConfigFile%
echo %date% %time% Setup ended with error code %errorlevel%. >> %LogLocation%\%computername%.txt

REM If 0 or other was returned, the product was found or another error occurred. Do nothing.
:End

Endlocal

• Proposed as answer by fzameen 14 hours 55 minutes ago
• Unproposed as answer by fzameen 14 hours 55 minutes ago

Following the above post, with the help of an expert i managed to a script that would check for the version of office365 on users machine and will only deploy the version that is specified  in the batch script (this be your desired version\latest at the time of deployment\testing). Please refer to below link if you would like to deploy\test the same method in your environment 

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/scriptcenter/en-US/1e6678bd-624b-43db-8edb-4db171d24af1/need-a-script-to-check-the-version-of-office365-pro-plus-to-push-our-office-updates?forum=ITCG

• Proposed as answer by fzameen 14 hours 48 minutes ago

I am trying more to control the process via GPO with a start-up script and have created a batch file which executes the below command. It works and installs which ever version you define in your .xml file, the only issue i am facing is that re-runs the setup at each reboot which isn't ideal. I am currently working on below script which could check the version of the office upon boot-up and only run if the specific version is not available. I have pasted the script right at the bottom of the page and if anyone could shed some light in making it to read the version value 

"\\server\c2r\Office365 update\setup.exe" /configure "\\server\c2r\Office365 update\Customconfign.xml" (this is the batch-file used as a startup script)

PLEASE NOTE: There are three <Add SourcePath in my Cutomconfig.xml and not all three are required I use the one i need by taking the <!-- and --> from the beginning and the end  of each line  

<Configuration>

<!-- <Add SourcePath="\\Server\Share\" OfficeClientEdition="32" > --> Can only be used to download latest version of ofice365 (specify sourcepath)

 <Add OfficeClientEdition="32" Version="15.0.4675.1002" > Use to download a office version direct from microsoft servers

<!-- <Add SourcePath="\\server\c2r\Office365update" OfficeClientEdition="32" > --> to deploy software from internal network resource

    <Product ID="O365ProPlusRetail">
      <Language ID="en-us" />
    </Product>
  </Add>

<Updates Enabled="TRUE" UpdatePath="\\server\c2r\Office365 update" />

  <Display Level="FALSE" AcceptEULA="TRUE" />

  <Logging Path="\\server\c2r\Office365 update\Install Logs" />

<Property Name="FORCEAPPSHUTDOWN" Value="TRUE"/>  force closes any running office application
  <!--  <Property Name="AUTOACTIVATE" Value="1" />  -->

</Configuration>

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

this is what i am working on and wondered if any one would be able to rectify an issue with it as it doesn't seems to work

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

setlocal

REM *********************************************************************
REM Environment customization begins here. Modify variables below.
REM *********************************************************************

REM Set DeployServer to a network-accessible location containing the Office source files.
set DeployServer=\\server\c2r\Office365 update\

REM Set ConfigFile to the configuration file to be used for deployment (required)
set ConfigFile=\\server\c2r\Office365 update\Customconfignonskype.xml

REM Set LogLocation to a central directory to collect script log files (install log files are set in XML file).
set LogLocation=%AppData%\Local\Temp

REM *********************************************************************
REM Deployment code begins here. Do not modify anything below this line (check quotes are quotes though).
REM *********************************************************************


REM Operating system is X64. Check for Office365 version in emulated propertyBag registry key
:ARP64

Reg query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\15.0\ClickToRun\propertyBag /v Version=%15.0.4711.1002%
if NOT %errorlevel%==1 (goto DeployOffice) (goto End)

REM If 1 returned, the product was not found. Run setup here.
:DeployOffice
echo %date% %time% Setup started. >> %LogLocation%\%computername%.txt
start /wait %DeployServer%\setup.exe /configure %ConfigFile%
echo %date% %time% Setup ended with error code %errorlevel%. >> %LogLocation%\%computername%.txt

REM If 0 or other was returned, the product was found or another error occurred. Do nothing.
:End

Endlocal

• Proposed as answer by fzameen Friday, May 01, 2015 4:31 PM
• Unproposed as answer by fzameen Friday, May 01, 2015 4:32 PM

Following the above post, with the help of an expert i managed to a script that would check for the version of office365 on users machine and will only deploy the version that is specified  in the batch script (this be your desired version\latest at the time of deployment\testing). Please refer to below link if you would like to deploy\test the same method in your environment 

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/scriptcenter/en-US/1e6678bd-624b-43db-8edb-4db171d24af1/need-a-script-to-check-the-version-of-office365-pro-plus-to-push-our-office-updates?forum=ITCG

• Proposed as answer by fzameen Friday, May 01, 2015 4:39 PM