ApexSupportBulletin:
What’sNewinMicrosoftAutoUpdate3.8
Revision1.0[October11,2016]
[email protected]
Summary
MicrosoftAutoUpdate(MAU)isautilitythatdetects,downloadsandappliesupdatestoMicrosoftapplicationsinstalledonmacOS.Specifically,
MAUsupportsOffice2016,Office2011,SkypeforBusiness,andLyncapps.MAUisnotusedforMicrosoftappsthataredownloadedfromtheMac
AppStore.
Eachmonth,wemakefeatureinvestmentsinboththefunctionalityofOffice2016forMacapps,plusenhancetheunderlyingfoundationsofhow
theproductcanbedeployedandmanaged.MAU3.6,deliveredinAugust2016introducedtheabilityforuserstoupdateappswithoutneedingto
enterthelocaladminpassword.MAU3.8goesonestepfurtherbyprovidinguserswithanoptiontoautomaticallykeepappsup-to-datethrough
silentdetection,downloadandinstallationofupdates.
EnhancementsinMAU3.8
ThefollowingimprovementsweremadeinMAU3.8(October2016release):
1. Anewoptiontoautomaticallyandsilentlydetect,download,andapplyupdates.
2. Alogfiletoaidtroubleshooting.
3. TheabilitytousealocalMAUCacheServer.
HowSilentDetectionWorks
WhenoneoftheOffice2016forMacappsisstarted,abackgroundprocesscalled‘MicrosoftAUDaemon’islaunched.Bydefault,thedaemon
checksforupdatesevery12hours.ItdoesthisbycheckingaversionnumberembeddedinanXMLfile(knownasa‘manifest’)ontheInternetand
comparesthatagainsttheversionofthelocallyinstalledapp.IfthebackgrounddaemonnoticesthattheXMLfilereferencesanewerversionthan
whatisinstalled,MAUconsidersthatanupdateisavailable.
Thedaemonislaunchedandrunsinthesecuritycontextofthelogged-inuser.Onlyoneinstanceofthedaemonrunsatanyonetime,soifmultiple
Officeappsarelaunched,stillonlyonedaemonexists.Conversely,whenallOfficeappsareclosed,thedaemonwillstoprunning.Therefore,
updateswillonlybedetectedwhenatleastoneOfficeapplicationisrunning.
HowSilentDownloadWorks
Ifthedaemonhasdetectedoneormoreupdates,andtheuserhassettheirpreferencesto‘AutomaticallyDownloadandInstall’updates,the
daemonwillstartdownloadingtheupdatepackagefromMicrosoft’sCDN,orlocalMAUCacheServer(ifset).Theupdatewillbedownloadedand
storedinatemporaryfolder($TMPDIR/MSau_<pid>).Thedaemonhaslogictopauseandresumedownloadsduringnetworkconnectivityoutages.
NOTE:IfyouregularlyuseameteredInternetconnection,suchasacellularhotspot,youmaywishtoavoidchoosing‘AutomaticallyDownloadand
Install’updates.
HowSilentInstallWorks
Oncetheupdatepackageisdownloaded,thedaemonwillevaluatewhethertheappisreadytobeupdated.Iftheapplicationtobeupdatedisnot
currentlyrunning,thedaemonimmediatelyappliestheupdate,sothatthenexttimetheuserlaunchestheapplication,itwillbeuptodate.Ifthe
applicationtobeupdatedisrunning,asystemnotificationisgeneratedandtheuserisgiventheoptiontoeither‘UpdateLater’whichdefersthe
updatefor12hours,or‘RestartApp’whichgracefullyclosestheapp(providestheuserwithanoptiontosaveanyoutstandingdocuments),applies
theupdate,andrelaunchesit.
Thespeedofapplyingupdatesisgenerallybetween1and3minutes,dependingonhowoldtheexistingapplicationis.Forexample,ifthelocal
applicationwasupdatedinthepreviousmonth,thedeltaupdatepackagewillbelessthan100MB,andhencetheupdateprocesswillbefast.On
theotherhand,ifthelocalapplicationismorethan3monthsoutofdate,afullupdatewillbeapplied,whichwillbeontheorderof900MB.
Thedaemonisabletomonitortheapplicationlifecycle,soifauserchose‘UpdateLater’thensubsequentlyexitedtheapp,thedaemonwill
attempttoperformanimmediateupdate.Ifauserattemptstoopenanapplicationwhileit’sbeingupdated,theywillreceiveadialogbox
informingthemthattheapplicationiscurrentlyupdatingandwillauto-launchoncethecycleiscomplete.
Iftheuserchose‘UpdateLater’andtheapphasbeenrunningconstantlyforthelast12hours,anothernotificationmessagewillappear.Eachtime
theuserclicks‘UpdateLater’another12hourswillpassbeforeanewnotificationappears.
SecurityandtheAutoUpdateHelperTool
TheprimaryroleofthehelpertoolistoprovideanelevatedpermissionsspacetoapplyOfficeupdateswithoutrequiringtheusertoenteran
adminpassword.WhenMAU3.8isinstalledonacomputer,theinstallerrequestslocaladminpermissions.Aspartoftheinstallationprocess,the
followingfilesareplacedondisk:
• /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.microsoft.autoupdate.helpertool.plist
• /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.microsoft.autoupdate.helpertool
TheplistfileregisterstheHelperToolwiththeoperatingsystemandspecifiesthatprogramscaninvokethehelperthroughamachport,whichis
registeredasanXPCservice.Asthehelperrunsinthesecuritycontextoftherootuser,additionalsafeguardshavebeenputinplacetoensurethat
thehelpercannotbemisusedbyotherprograms.Thehelperwillonlyacceptconnectionsfromthecallingprogramifallofthefollowingistrue:
• Theinitiatingprogramhasabundleidentifierpertainingtocom.microsoft.autoupdate2orcom.microsoft.autoupdate.fba
• Theinitiatingprogramhasavalidcodesignature
• TheinitiatingprogramissignedbyMicrosoft’sdistributioncertificate
Thehelperwillterminatetheconnectionimmediatelyifanyoftheaboverequirementsarenotmet.
Asecondaryroleofthehelperistologupdatemessagestoasystem-widelocation(/Library/Logs/Microsoft/autoupdate.log).Thehelperselfterminatesonceithasperformeditstaskofeitherupdatinganapplicationorloggingamessage.
LoggingandTroubleshooting
MAU3.8comeswithanewabilitytologupdateeventstoasystem-widelocation-/Library/Logs/Microsoft/autoupdate.log
Bydefault,onlyinformationalmessagesarelogged.Asanexample,hereiswhatyoumayseeinthelogwhenanupdateisdetected,downloaded
andapplied:
Oct1115:42:47MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Info>:Checkingforupdates.
Oct1115:42:47MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Info>:Found5updates.
Oct1115:43:07MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Info>:Installingupdate:"MicrosoftExcelUpdate15.27.0".
Oct1115:43:14MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Info>:Successfullyinstalledupdate:"MicrosoftExcelUpdate15.27.0".
Oct1115:43:14MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Info>:Runningcodesignverificationforapplicationatpath"/Applications/MicrosoftExcel.app".
Oct1115:43:25MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Info>:Codesignwassuccessfullyverifiedforapplicationatpath:"/Applications/MicrosoftExcel.app"
Fortroubleshootingpurposes,extendedloggingcanbeenabledtoprovidemoreverbosity.ThisisaccomplishedthroughthefollowingTerminal
command:
defaults write com.microsoft.autoupdate2 ExtendedLogging -bool TRUE
AppendixBshowsanexampleofalogfilewhereextendedlogginghasbeenenabled.
MAUCacheServer
Bydefault,MAUwillobtainupdatepackagesfromMicrosoft’sContentDeliveryNetwork(CDN)ontheInternet.Thesizeoftheupdatepackagewill
varydependinguponwhenthelocalapplicationwaslastupdated.Inthebestcasescenario,ifanapplicationwasupdatedinthepreviousmonth,
thesizeoftheupdatewillbe~75MB.Intheworstcasescenario,whereanapplicationismorethanthreemonthsoutofdate,thepackagemaybe
1GBinsize.
TohelpreducethedemandsonasharedInternetconnectionformultipleusers,aMAUCacheServercanbeconfigured.Inthiscase,theMAU
clientrunningonausersmachinewillfirstattempttoretrieveanupdatepackagefromthelocalcachingserver.Forafullexplanationofhowto
configurethisserviceseehttp://macadmins.software/docs/MAU_CachingServer.pdfformoreinformation.
AppendixA:ListofMAUpreferences
Preference
ChannelName
DefaultValue
<notset>
Inferred:Production
PossibleValues
Production
External
InsiderFast
Custom
DisableInsiderCheckbox
<notset>
Inferred:FALSE
FALSE
TRUE
ExtendedLogging
<notset>
Inferred:FALSE
AutomaticCheck
FALSE
TRUE
Manual
AutomaticDownload
<date/time>
Time/datestring
<notset>
URLstring
SendAllTelemetryEnabled
TRUE
StartDaemonOnAppLaunch
TRUE
FALSE
TRUE
FALSE
TRUE
HowToCheck
LastUpdate
ManifestServer
UpdateCache
<notset>
URLstring
**Seehttp://macadmins.software/docs/MAU_CachingServer.pdfformoreinformation.
Description
Controlswhichaudienceandupdatechanneltousefor
retrievingproductupdates.Bydefault,usersareplaced
inthe‘production’channelwhichreceivesthehighestqualityupdatesaroundthemiddleofeachmonth.
ThroughtheUI,userscanjointheInsiderSlow
(Exeternal)andInsiderFast(InsiderFast)programto
receivemorefrequentupdatesatslightlylowerquality.
ITadministratorscanalsosetaCustomchannelwhen
deployinganinternalMAUserver.
ControlswhethertheusercanchangetheInsideroptin.IfthevalueissettoTRUE,theuserinterfaceis
disabledfortheuser.
Controlstheverbosityofloggingmessagesto
/Library/Logs/Microsoft/autoupdate.log
Controlswhetherupdatesaredetectedautomatically
(default)ormanually,andifupdatepackagesshouldbe
downloadedandinstalledautomatically.
Recordsthelastdateandtimethedaemoncheckedfor
productupdates.
Ifthe‘ChannelName’hasbeensetto‘Custom’,MAU
willusethevalueofthispreferencetolocatean
HTTP/Sservertoretrievecollateral.**
ControlswhethertheMAUapplicationsendserror
telemetrybacktoMicrosoft.
Controlswhetherthe‘MicrosoftAUDaemon’should
belaunchedwhenanOfficeapplicationislaunched.If
thisvalueissetto0,updateswillnotbedetected,
regardlessofthe‘HowToCheck’preference,andusers
willneedtousetheHelp->CheckforUpdatesmenu
optiontoseeifupdatesareavailable.
ControlswhetherMAUshoulduseMicrosoft’sCDNon
theInternetfordownloadingupdatepackages
(default),orifaninternalservershouldbepreferred.
TheITadministratorcansetthisvaluetoanHTTP/S
serverthatcontainsacacheofupdatepackages.**
AppendixB:ExtendedLoggingExample
Oct1115:46:00MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Info>:Checkingforupdates.
Oct1115:46:00MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:DownloadURL:https://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA950631F94777/OfficeMac/
Oct1115:46:00MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Downloadinghttps://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA950631F94777/OfficeMac/0409ONMC15.cat
Oct1115:46:00MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Downloadedhttps://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA950631F94777/OfficeMac/0409ONMC15.cat
Oct1115:46:00MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Downloadinghttps://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA950631F94777/OfficeMac/0409ONMC15.xml
Oct1115:46:00MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Downloadedhttps://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA950631F94777/OfficeMac/0409ONMC15.xml
Oct1115:46:00MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Downloadinghttps://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA950631F94777/OfficeMac/0409MSWD15.cat
Oct1115:46:00MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Downloadedhttps://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA950631F94777/OfficeMac/0409MSWD15.cat
Oct1115:46:00MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Downloadinghttps://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA950631F94777/OfficeMac/0409MSWD15.xml
Oct1115:46:00MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Downloadedhttps://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA950631F94777/OfficeMac/0409MSWD15.xml
Oct1115:46:00MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Downloadinghttps://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA950631F94777/OfficeMac/0409PPT315.cat
Oct1115:46:00MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Downloadedhttps://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA950631F94777/OfficeMac/0409PPT315.cat
Oct1115:46:00MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Downloadinghttps://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA950631F94777/OfficeMac/0409PPT315.xml
Oct1115:46:00MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Downloadedhttps://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA950631F94777/OfficeMac/0409PPT315.xml
Oct1115:46:00MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Downloadinghttps://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA950631F94777/OfficeMac/0409OPIM15.cat
Oct1115:46:00MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Downloadedhttps://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA950631F94777/OfficeMac/0409OPIM15.cat
Oct1115:46:00MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Downloadinghttps://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA950631F94777/OfficeMac/0409OPIM15.xml
Oct1115:46:00MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Downloadedhttps://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA950631F94777/OfficeMac/0409OPIM15.xml
Oct1115:46:00MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Info>:Found4updates.
Oct1115:46:08MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:serverisreachable.
Oct1115:46:08MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Downloadinghttps://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA950631F94777/OfficeMac/PowerPoint_15.26.0_160910_to_15.27.0_161010_Delta.pkg
Oct1115:46:13MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Downloadedhttps://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA950631F94777/OfficeMac/PowerPoint_15.26.0_160910_to_15.27.0_161010_Delta.pkg
Oct1115:46:14MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Info>:Installingupdate:"MicrosoftPowerPointUpdate15.27.0".
Oct1115:46:15MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Progress:installer:PackagenameisMicrosoftPowerPointforMac
installer:choiceschangesfile'/var/folders/sc/38xgssjd3j3gpcnm33r3hgtc0000gn/T/MSau_4456/customChoice.xml'applied
installer:Installingatbasepath/
installer:PHASE:Preparingforinstallation…
Oct1115:46:15MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Progress:installer:PHASE:Preparingthedisk…
Oct1115:46:15MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Progress:installer:PHASE:PreparingMicrosoftPowerPointforMac…
Oct1115:46:15MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Progress:installer:PHASE:Waitingforotherinstallationstocomplete…
Oct1115:46:15MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Progress:installer:PHASE:Configuringtheinstallation…
installer:STATUS:
Oct1115:46:15MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Progress:installer:%4.177322
installer:PHASE:Writingfiles…
Oct1115:46:16MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Progress:installer:%12.456662
installer:PHASE:Writingfiles…
Oct1115:46:16MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Progress:installer:%18.470593
installer:PHASE:Writingfiles…
Oct1115:46:17MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Progress:installer:%26.489169
installer:PHASE:Writingfiles…
Oct1115:46:17MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Progress:installer:%34.507745
installer:PHASE:Writingfiles…
Oct1115:46:18MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Progress:installer:%42.526320
installer:PHASE:Writingfiles…
Oct1115:46:18MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Progress:installer:%49.542574
installer:PHASE:Writingfiles…
Oct1115:46:19MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Progress:installer:%59.374096
installer:PHASE:Movingitemsintoplace…
Oct1115:46:19MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Progress:installer:%96.794903
installer:PHASE:Cleaningup…
Oct1115:46:20MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Progress:installer:PHASE:Validatingpackages…
Oct1115:46:21MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Progress:installer:%97.750000
Oct1115:46:21MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Progress:installer:STATUS:Runninginstalleractions…
Oct1115:46:21MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Progress:installer:STATUS:
installer:PHASE:FinishingtheInstallation…
Oct1115:46:21MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Progress:installer:STATUS:
installer:%100.000000
Oct1115:46:21MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Progress:installer:PHASE:Thesoftwarewassuccessfullyinstalled.
Oct1115:46:21MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Progress:installer:Theinstallwassuccessful.
Oct1115:46:21MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Debug>:Replyfromhelpertool:(null)
Oct1115:46:21MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Info>:Successfullyinstalledupdate:"MicrosoftPowerPointUpdate15.27.0".
Oct1115:46:21MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Info>:Runningcodesignverificationforapplicationatpath"/Applications/MicrosoftPowerPoint.app".
Oct1115:46:28MicrosoftAutoUpdate<Info>:Codesignwassuccessfullyverifiedforapplicationatpath:"/Applications/MicrosoftPowerPoint.app"
DocumentHistory
Date/Version
October11,2016–1.0
Changes
Initialversion