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Question
Monday, May 6, 2019 5:41 PM
We're in the middle of slowly moving all of our users from 2016 to Office 365 PP, and as part of our configuration, we've decided to go with the Monthly update channel for all users. I've created a GPO from the latest template, and under Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Office 2016 (Machine)\Updates\Update Channel I've set it to Monthly Channel from the pull-down list. I've applied this GPO to the appropriate OU and filtered it against a security group containing just the computers we're testing with. A GPResult /R shows the policy is applying, however, none of the machines in that group have changed channels to Monthly, they are all still showing as Semi-Annual channel (confirmed by the value of CDNBaseUrl = http://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/7ffbc6bf-bc32-4f92-8982-f9dd17fd3114 in the registry). Any ideas as to what I'm missing? Is the GPO not going to force these computers to change channels?
Thanks!
All replies (6)
Friday, May 10, 2019 10:12 AM ✅Answered
Hi,
If you configure Office Pro Plus to receive updates via SCCM/WSUS then a different update mechanism applies and your group policy is ignored. If you use SCCM to manage the updates configuration, the key value you need to set is:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration\CDNBaseUrl
For more details, review https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sccm/sum/deploy-use/manage-office-365-proplus-updates#change-the-update-channel-after-you-enable-office-365-clients-to-receive-updates-from-configuration-manager
And you also can review https://tomtalks.blog/2016/01/choose-office-2016-branch-local-group-policy/ to learn the reason why the GPO isn't working.
Please Note: Since the web site is not hosted by Microsoft, the link may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information.
If you still have problems, feel free to post back.
Regards,
Bella Wu
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Click here to learn more. Visit the dedicated forum to share, explore and talk to experts about Microsoft Office 2019.
Tuesday, May 7, 2019 10:28 AM
Hi,
<< …We're in the middle of slowly moving all of our users from 2016 to Office 365 PP, and as part of our configuration…
How did you switch from Office 2016 to Office 365? Are you configuring the configure.xml file with the ODT tool? What is the default channel for Office 365? Has Office 365 been successfully installed?
Are you created a GPO from the server side and then sent to the client? Did other GPOs you created work?
You could go to the client side and try to convert the Office 365 channel to monthly. Refer to the method in the following articles:
If you still have problems, please feel free to post back.
Regards,
Bella Wu
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they helped. If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact [email protected].
Click here to learn more. Visit the dedicated forum to share, explore and talk to experts about Microsoft Office 2019.
Tuesday, May 7, 2019 11:48 AM
Hi,
To upgrade we completely uninstall all Office components, then install Office 365 which was created using the configuration tool. The default channel at configuration was semi-annual. We have since decided to go with Monthly, but we have a few dozen clients already installed using the semi-annual channel, and that's what the GPO is for (along with setting them to receive updates from SCCM). I'm not sure what you mean by server side and client side, I created the GPO, linked it to an OU and filtered it to a security group, of which all of our machines are members. We can manually change channels on these machines, but I thought the whole point of having that setting in the GPO was to enforce that channel on all managed machines. According to the links you posted, the GPO should be able to do this: "To switch update channels, you can use the Office Deployment Tool or Group Policy."
Wednesday, May 8, 2019 7:02 AM
Hi,
The server side means the machine which you create the GPO, and the clients side is the machines of user.
You can switch channels for Office 365 ProPlus using GPO. Ensure that the group policy is updated on the client machine, you can run gpupdate /force or gpupdate /sync command
After enabling the above policy when the scheduled task (Office Automatic Updates) gets triggered, the update process will start and updates will get downloaded & applied.
If this doesn't work, please feel free to post back.
Regards,
Bella Wu
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they helped. If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact [email protected].
Click here to learn more. Visit the dedicated forum to share, explore and talk to experts about Microsoft Office 2019.
Wednesday, May 8, 2019 7:51 PM
Hi Bella,
I can confirm via GPResult /R that the GPO is being applied to these machines. There are no errors in the event log pertaining to the GPO so everything seems to indicate it should work. The only settings I have set are:
Policy definitions (ADMX files) retrieved from the central store.
Microsoft Office 2016 (Machine)/Updates
Policy Setting
Enable Automatic Updates **Enabled **
Hide option to enable or disable updates **Enabled **
Office 365 Client Management **Enabled **
Update Channel Enabled
Channel Name: **Monthly Channel **
But Outlook still reports Version 1808 Semi-Annual channel.
I've tried rebooting and an Online repair, and nothing changes. We use SCCM to manage updates, so I've deployed the April Monthly update to the test machines, but it shows as not applicable. I'm not sure where to go from here short of an uninstall\reinstall or using Compliance settings in SCCM to change the channel. I don't want to go that route as I need to know why the GPO isn't working.
Friday, May 10, 2019 12:46 PM
"and your group policy is ignored"
Thank you very much for clarifying. I have used a script to change the channel and all seems to be working well now.
I have to admit though, I'm baffled as to why this little nugget of information isn't in the GPO setting explanation or anywhere in the official documents and a little irate as to the amount of time I've invested in this because of it. I've read them all and I knew of the link you sent, but that one little addition about the GPO being ignored makes the difference between this should ALSO work and this wont work BECAUSE.
Thanks again.