Problems with recent updates (MSO 2008)

[juergen Fenn]

Hello,

I would be quite grateful if you please could help me because I am stuck
in upgrading MS Office 2008 on an Intel MacBook (10.5.8).

The updating wizard downloaded the upgrade to v12.2.0, but did not
install the service pack. Instead, it immediately searched again for
more updates, found again 12.2.0, downloaded it again, and so on.

So I retrieved 12.2.0 as a dmg manually from the German Mactopia
website. I installed it. This worked fine.

Then, I downloaded the upgrade to 12.2.1. It failed to install because
there was "something missing on the volume" which kept it from
installing. The volume was displayed by the installer with an
exclamation mark in a red circle.

Using the upgrade wizard to get to 12.2.1 also failed (as above).

Is there something else I can try for upgrading office?

Many thanks in advance.

Regards,
Jürgen.

 

[Diane Ross]

The updating wizard downloaded the upgrade to v12.2.0, but did not
install the service pack. Instead, it immediately searched again for
more updates, found again 12.2.0, downloaded it again, and so on.

The AutoUpdater NEVER installs for you. It will mount the installer but you
have to install.

I'm not sure why it downloaded again other than you didn't actually install.
The updater goes to a temp folder and will delete itself which could result
in the AutoUpdater downloading it again. I do know after you successfully
update and the AutoUpdater pops up telling you to update, it's finding
another version of Office on another drive that hasn't been updated yet.

So I retrieved 12.2.0 as a dmg manually from the German Mactopia
website. I installed it. This worked fine.

Then, I downloaded the upgrade to 12.2.1. It failed to install because
there was "something missing on the volume" which kept it from
installing. The volume was displayed by the installer with an
exclamation mark in a red circle.

This could be the locked temp folder. Restarting your computer a couple of
times might fix that.

Restarting your computer after an update is important!

<http://tinyurl.com/rchpyh>

When you ran the updater if any applications were open especially all
Microsoft applications including the hidden ones, your install could be
missing some components.

There are lots of fixes, but I find that it takes less time for a user to do
a re-install than try and find which of the dozen fixes will work on their
system.

Steps to re-install Office

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/install/reinstall_steps.html>

Let me know if you continue to have problems.

 

[tim.lewallen]

I have run into a similar issue today on two different Macs running 10.5 on one and 10.4 on the other. Both are new OS installs.
OS updates installed and then MS Office 2008 installed.
At this point I attempt to download and install the available updates but the software indicates that there are no updates available.

I manually installed the 12.1.0 update on one and then re-attempted to download available updates and the update software told me that no updates are available.

Is something going on with the update servers?

Thanks for your assistance.

Tim Lewallen
Mac Tech II
Stephen F. Austin State University
Nacogdoches, Texas

 

[Diane Ross]

Is something going on with the update servers?

Restarting between updates is important. Often a temp folder gets locked and
no further updates can take place.

It's also very important that you quit all Microsoft applications including
the hidden ones when updating. I recommend quitting all applications by
logging out/in holding down Shift key to disable all login items.

Do a couple of restarts then try. Let me know if this helps.

 

[juergen Fenn]

Restarting your computer after an update is important!

<http://tinyurl.com/rchpyh>

Thanks a lot, Diane. Indeed this did the trick. After rebooting, I could
install the next upgrade. The Auto-Updater now says that my MS Office
2008 has all patches installed.

Would you please allow for a few thoughts about this behaviour of MS
Office? I think Microsoft please should better adapt its installation
scripts to what you would expect on a Mac. It is quite unusual when
installing or updating an app that you have to restart your whole
system. This also holds true for any other unixish system. So, perhaps
this could be changed in future. If not, offering a complete download
with all patches applied would be another option.

Regards,
Jürgen.

 

[Diane Ross]

Thanks a lot, Diane. Indeed this did the trick. After rebooting, I could
install the next upgrade. The Auto-Updater now says that my MS Office
2008 has all patches installed.

Just to be sure....

Verify 12.2.1 update

Would you please allow for a few thoughts about this behaviour of MS
Office? I think Microsoft please should better adapt its installation
scripts to what you would expect on a Mac. It is quite unusual when
installing or updating an app that you have to restart your whole
system. This also holds true for any other unixish system. So, perhaps
this could be changed in future. If not, offering a complete download
with all patches applied would be another option.

Restarting seems to be necessary for the more complex applications like
Microsoft and Adobe. I doubt this will ever change.

Download a complete installer would be wide open to piracy and that will
never happen.

Really how bad was it to restart? Restarting is often a good thing to clear
out caches and scratch files.

 

[juergen Fenn]

Just to be sure....

Verify 12.2.1 update

<http://tinyurl.com/mm5u77>

Microsoft Excel 2008 for Mac
Version: 12.2.0
Last installed update: 12.2.1

The same for Word.

Regards,
Jürgen.

 

[tim.lewallen]

The server I mentioned is the Microsoft owned and operated server that they
use to send out the update. Any time you check for an update it is that server
that you are checking for available updates.

You can download directly from Mactopia downloads.

I have all the links posted here:



Or you can go directly to Mactopia and do a search. (frankly I think the
Mactopia interface is not user friendly)



If you are having problems with downloading using your browser, then try
these fixes. Open DNS works for most users.

Unable to download updates
[/QUOTE]

Without making any changes on our end the updater is now working on all machines. So either MS fixed there issue or the internet glitch between us has been fixed.
Thanks.