Microsoft has been hard at work to optimize content delivery since the release of Windows 10 and Office 365. While not perfect at the beginning, the offer is now really great and offer many supported methods to ease the huge content that needs to be distributed month after month. Delivery Optimization is a key component included in Windows 10 since the beginning and recently added to Office 365. Combining Delivery Optimization Intune with Windows update for business will greatly help content download from the Internet. In this post, we will provide details to configure Delivery Optimization for Windows 10 and Office 365, by using Microsoft Intune. This post is part of a series on Windows Autopilot that will be published in the following weeks. In the next posts, we will cover the following subjects : Getting started with Windows Autopilot | Step-by-step guide How to deploy Win32 Applications in Microsoft … Read More
How to deploy Office 365 with Intune
As part of a move away from standard OS deployment with SCCM toward Windows Autopilot with Intune, one of the usual key component is managing the installation of Office 365. Intune provides a built-in way of creating the application. While the end result will remain the same as other methods of installing Office 365, one of the great benefits of using this method is that it can automatically install the latest build available for the chosen channel, without a need for administrative modifications. In this post, we will detail how to prepare Office 365 application with Intune. This post is part of a series on Windows Autopilot that will be published in the following weeks. In the next posts, we will cover the following subjects : Getting started with Windows Autopilot | Step-by-step guide How to deploy Win32 Applications in Microsoft Intune How to customize Windows 10 with Microsoft Intune … Read More
Install Specific Office 365 Version using SCCM
Managing Office 365 with SCCM is becoming a popular task among SCCM administrators. Depending of your company policy and Office 365 Channel, you may have to manage/install/uninstall specific version on client computers no matter the available version in your assigned channel. For example, you may want to downgrade an up-to-date Monthly version (v1711) to a Deferred version(v1705). This procedure also works to upgrade a Deferred version to an up-to-date version. Please note that this procedure is not meant to change Office Channel on a client, use this to install a specific version no matter the Channel. Package Creation The first thing to understand is that to update an Office installation, you need to use the OfficeC2RClient.exe program that resides on the client. This command support various command line and switches. In our example, we will use Updatetoversion to specify the version 7766.2119 (1701) and forceappshutdown to force Office applications to close. The tricky … Read More
How to setup Telemetry Dashboard for Office 2016
An area that is hard for IT admins to get feedback is how Office is doing in their environment. Unless users call in for support, there is not much more information easily available. A less known Office feature is available for free as part of the Office suite. The Office Telemetry Dashboard can help assess all kind of compatibility issues that could happen as part of a major upgrade and help to identify the potential risk ahead of an upgrade. The Office Telemetry dashboard was first introduced with Office 2013. It was released to replace the previous solution Office Migration Planning Manager (OMPM). The Office telemetry could be used in the following scenarios : Planning a major upgrade to Office 2016 from older versions Monitor your Semi-Annual Channel (Targeted) installations as they received newer major build ahead of the Semi-annual Channel In this post, we will describe how to plan, install … Read More
Manage Office 365 Update using SCCM 1706
Today, we are continuing our posts about SCCM 1706 improvements. One area that has been updated is how to manage Office 365 updates. In this post, we will detail the improvements on Office 365 updates with SCCM 1706 on the server side and client side. If you are looking for how to update Office 365 with SCCM prior to Current Branch 1706, please see our post here, which is still relevant to date. Prerequisites SCCM Current branch v1706 Our upgrade guide here Office client version Same prerequisites as the previous version of SCCM Current Branch as stated in our previous post here Manage Office 365 update SCCM 1706 On the server side, the biggest difference is that Office 365 client updates, no longer shows up under Software Library / Software Updates / All Software Updates To see Office 365 clients updates, go to Software Library / Office 365 Client Management / … Read More
Office 365 2016 Activation Problem after Upgrade from Office 365 2013
In a previous post, we covered how to upgrade Office 365 2013 to Office 365 2016. We came across an issue after the upgrade is completed. Once you start any Office application, Office 365 2016 ask for activation, which will fail if attempted and then ask for repair. This can be quite confusing for user. [su_box title=”Error message” style=”glass” title_color=”#F0F0F0″] We’re sorry, but Excel has run into an error that is preventing it from working correctly. Excel will need to be closed as a result. Would you like us to repair now? [/su_box] Following the activation try, an error prompts : In this post, we will detail how to fix this activation issue as part of the upgrade process. Problem While the Office 365 upgrade is running, the UserOperations registry key is removed. Solution Re-create the registry key after the upgrade of Office 365 is completed. We will use … Read More
How to upgrade Office 365 2013 to Office 365 2016 Click-to-run
With the end of support for Office 365 2013 on Febuary 28 2017, administrators must take action to upgrade Office 365 2013 to Office 365 2016. In previous posts, we covered how to manage updates for Office 365 2016 with SCCM and describe the Office 365 dashboard. Those posts applies to the 2016 version of Office 365. This post will cover everything you need to know to upgrade Office 365 2013 to Office 365 2016 with SCCM. Upgrade Office 365 2013 Prerequisites Latest Office 365 2016 version : Version 16.0.6965.2117 from January 2017 was used for this post We selected the Deferred Channel Latest Office deployment tool SCCM 2012 and later Create Download.xml and Configuration.xml File Office 365 Click-to-run installations, are controlled by XML files. We will create and use one XML file to download the Office 365 bits for an offline installation/upgrade and another XML for the configuration. The download.xml specify the Channel to be used, the product and language : … Read More
SCCM Office 365 Client Management Dashboard Overview
Starting in SCCM 1610, you can use the new Office 365 Client Management dashboard from the Configuration Manager console. This is the fourth dashboard since the Current Branch release which is a great effort from the product group to give better visibility on the data gathered by your Configuration Manager clients. We already made an overview of the Windows 10 Servicing dashboard and the Software Update dashboard if you’re interested to read that out. You can also refer to our post about managing Office 365 Updates with SCCM and our free Office 365 report if want complete information about how to deploy and inventory Office 365 in your environment. SCCM Office 365 Client Management Dashboard Overview To open the dashboard : Open the SCCM console Go to Software Library / Office 365 Client Management The dashboard displays charts for the following: Number of Office 365 clients Office 365 client versions Office 365 client languages Office 365 client channels You … Read More
Managing Office 365 Updates with SCCM
SCCM Office 365 updates management is finally integrated to the standard software update process (since the release of SCCM 1602). Prior to this release it was announced as a new features, but it was not completely managed. It was necessary to add Office 365 updates to WSUS manually in order to manage them trough SCCM software update afterward. It’s now manageable natively with the release of SCCM 1602. The integration of Office 365 Updates to SCCM will ease overall management of updates with these key features : Centralized management Standard Software Update Ability to use Automatic Deployment Rules Easier distribution to branch offices with Software Update packages Applications can run while updating Before this integration, Office 365 Updates needed to : Manually downloaded Manually distributed or to create a package than distribution on Distribution Point Application need to be shut down before the update This post will explain how to natively manage Office 365 desktop client … Read More
Deploy Office 2016 using SCCM 2012 – Click-to-Run Version
This blog post will describe how to Deploy Office 2016 using SCCM 2012. This procedure is for the Office 2016 Click-to-Run version (Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus) not for the complete Office 2016 Professional Plus version. It will guide you in every steps required to deploy Office 2016 to your users. The mains steps are : Preparing the installation Create the SCCM application Create the deployment type Deploy the application Step 1 | Preparing Office 2016 installation The first step is to create a Download.xml file that we’ll use to download the latest version of Office 365 Pro Plus (2016). Read the Reference for Click-to-Run xml file to know more about the available options. Download the Office Deployment Tools After downloading the tool, run OfficeDeploymentTool.exe Extract the files to a drive on your computer You’ll end up with 2 files (Setup.exe and Configuration.xml) Create a Download.xml file and copy this content : <Configuration> <Add SourcePath=”C:\Office 2016″ … Read More