Teams client is not updating and nothing happens if staff try and manually update

[cheaptonersucks]

Hi,

 

The Teams desktop client is not updating for staff and we are generally running Teams Version 1.3.00.34662 (64-bit). When any member of staff attempts to manually update the Teams client via the profile dropdown menu, nothing happens! When a member of staff attempts to check which version of the Teams client that they have installed, inside or outside of school, nothing happens! Can't be filtering, as this is the case outside of school on a personal laptop. It must be a policy or permissions setting somewhere? But where?

 

Interestingly, when I asked my son to login to Teams (from home) with his school account (different school), he could update the client and check the version with his student account...

 

Just wondered if anyone has seen this before please?

Edited February 9, 2021 by cheaptonersucks

[TechMonkey]

Is the shortcut you are using direct to Teams.exe or go via a different exe?

Is the updater allowed? Are you running SRP or AppLocker?

[cheaptonersucks]

Thanks for replying. The Network manager uses PDQ to download and deploy software such as the Teams client. Sorry to ask as I am not that familiar with Teams, but what do you mean by allowed? Is there a permission setting in Teams where you can allow or disallow updating and viewing which version is installed? It’s not filtering as staff cannot view the version or update at home either. Sorry, not sure what SRP is but we are not running AppLocker in school.

[TechMonkey]

Sorry, SRP is software Restriction Policy, it was the precursor to Applocker. The updater is a separate program to Teams so it may have been overlooked and not been allowed. By allowed I mean flagged as OK to use.

 

The standard shortcut references the updater first and then calls the Teams exe. We ran afoul of this as we create our own shortcuts and deploy them and only created a shortcut to the Teams exe, so the updater was never called.

[cheaptonersucks]

Thanks for explaining that, as I have only heard of Applocker. Sorry to sound like a newb, but this separate program to Teams that you refer to as the updater, is that part of O365? Can we access it?

 

That makes sense regarding the standard shortcut referencing the updater first. As far as I am aware PDQ that we use to deploy software installs software as if it had been installed on the local machine. But I stand corrected if that’s not the case. As staff cannot update Teams inside or outside of school, I assumed that it’s a permissions or policy of some sort that’s causing these issues.

 

Where is this updater located please?

Edited February 9, 2021 by cheaptonersucks

[3s-gtech]

C:\users\username\appdata\local\microsoft\teams\update.exe

 

The standard shortcut calls this before invoking Teams.exe from the \current folder.

[cheaptonersucks]

Thanks, could that be what is causing the problem then?

[cheaptonersucks]

What can I do to the updater resolve the issue?

[3s-gtech]

Check to see that the shortcuts run that update executable. Your users' AppData\Local\Microsoft\Teams folders need to be writable by the users and not restricted by Applocker or SRP.

[dsmith8]

We've created a shortcut in start menu's to %localappdata%\Microsoft\Teams\Update.exe --processStart "Teams.exe" and that seems to work fine for us.

 

We found we were installing initially with the master packager mst which installs with the alluser = 1 switch. This then apparently disables auto updates. Blog (masterpackager.com) we stopped this and did the above.

[cheaptonersucks]

Thanks 3s-gtech. We don’t use AppLocker or SRP, but I will check the path you mentioned is writable. We do still use roaming profiles, so I did wonder if that is what is causing this issue!

[cheaptonersucks]

Thanks dsmith8, I will try creating a shortcut like you mentioned. I was starting to wonder that it might be due to the fact that we are still using roaming profiles.

[smarties11]

Another thing to bear in mind is that Teams downloads the update package automatically to the downloads folder (I think as a .pkg file if I remember correctly) so if you have any restrictions on your download folder you'll need to factor those in too.

[dsmith8]

Thanks dsmith8, I will try creating a shortcut like you mentioned. I was starting to wonder that it might be due to the fact that we are still using roaming profiles.

 

I don't think roaming profiles should change anything. You may notice that log files fill up your app data folders a bit so make sure you got storage sense enabled too.

[cheaptonersucks]

Thanks smarties11, I just checked my download folder and there are no update packages in there for Teams? I don’t think that Teams is getting the update packages, as I checked the ‘squirrel’ log for Teams on my machine and it’s ‘reading the releases file’ but then reporting that ‘No delta packages found’??

[cheaptonersucks]

Thanks dsmith8 that’s a relief as I normally get so much negativity if I mention the school still use roaming profiles.

[free780]

Be aware that Teams is a cloud service and the updates released are up to Microsoft. The releases may be gradual across your tenant. This has been highlighted with the introduction of break out rooms requiring the client to be up to date.

 

One day it may be a a per machine install and update via a service/scheduled task.

[cheaptonersucks]

Thanks dsmith8, I created a shortcut like you mentioned, but it didn’t update Teams? Is there a way of restricting users from updating Teams in the Tenant somewhere, as this is what it seems like??

[cheaptonersucks]

I created the shortcut that you mentioned dsmith8, but it didn’t update Teams when I ran it?? It’s almost like there is a policy or some permission preventing users from updating Teams in the tenant somewhere?

 

Is there a policy setting that can prevent users from updating Teams in the tenant?

[Boredguy]

There is not a Teams policy that can prevent it from updating, if anything it's just PC policy

 

Are you sure your client actually needs updating, as it might be that your tenant is on the correct version.

If you are logged in to the Teams application, and click on your profile picture at the top right, there is an option to Check for Updates, just to make sure.

That should then run in the background and update if there is one available for that user. A notice will appear if the download has completed for you to click to restart Teams.

[dsmith8]

Thanks dsmith8, I created a shortcut like you mentioned, but it didn’t update Teams? Is there a way of restricting users from updating Teams in the Tenant somewhere, as this is what it seems like??

 

How are you deploying it? Are you deploying the msi with PDQDeploy if so make sure you haven't got any additional switches in the command line area ours looks like this