We have been controlling updates for Office Professional Plus 2013 through local Windows Server Update Services.  Yesterday I installed Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2016 (the edition departments get for $0) for the first time with the latest volume license to verify that it retrieves Office 2016 updates from our server, and it does.

With Windows XP we had bad experiences with computers restarting when they shouldn't, so we dug into the Windows Update options and found some registry settings that allow the user to postpone the restart-due-to-updates as much as they want (while they are logged in).

The critical registry settings that we use to install updates for users but allow them to control when the restart is done are the following:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU]

"AUOptions"=dword:00000004

"NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers"=dword:00000001

We load those registry settings along with the registry settings to define the address of the local Windows Update Server.

I believe the Group Policy settings for these two options are:

Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update:

                Configure automatic updates: 4 – Auto download and schedule the install

                No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates installations: Enabled

One of the reasons we started using a Windows Update Server was to prevent Service Packs from being rolled out automatically.  There were too many machines that needed hands on attention before a service pack was installed to allow the service pack rollout to be automatic.

-Stefan

Stefan Ozminski
Computer Services Manager
W.K. Kellogg Biological Station
Michigan State University
3700 E. Gull Lake Dr.
Hickory Corners, MI  49060
Phone: 269-671-4427
mailto:[log in to unmask]

From: Valenti, John [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, April 21, 2017 12:13 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MSUNAG] Office 2016 binary that updates?

I'm using the MSU Office 2016 volume license, received media from OnTheHub last September. I've been expecting it to update (thru Windows Update, as previous versions for the last several years). Now I find out that I have the volume license version, which doesn't offer an end user an easy way to update. I think they expect me to use Group Policy, not too likely.

Any idea on how to move over to a version that has the Update Options button? (on about 20 computers...)

thanks

-John

Buried in the Office 2016 Help files:

"Important: If Update Options is missing under Product Information, and the About button is the only option available, you either have a volume license install of Office 2016, or your company is using Group Policy to manage Office updates. Try Microsoft Update to get the latest Office 2016 updates or contact your company help desk."