Microsoft released Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.2 Update August 12th and we are still seeing reports of trouble updating similar to previous update woes. There are no new issues, just the same troubles showing up again.
The majority of problems seem to be from users that have modified their system or Office in some way. Some users had not updated to 12.1.1 and have been hit by the Apple Security update discussed in a previous post, Apple Security Update blocks Microsoft's update process. Continue reading to see solutions for updating Office 2008 to 12.1.2.
- You MUST have installed 12.1.1 prior to installing 12.1.2. This is important to note, as some updates build upon each other for added functionality, and need a file included only in a prior update to install correctly.
- 12.1.0 (SP1) is installed on CD version 12.0.0
- 12.1.1 requires 12.1.0 be installed
- 12.1.2 requires 12.1.1 be installed
- Make sure you have downloaded the correct updater for your version and language. It's one of those duh! mistakes but it's easy to do. If you go to Mactopia to download, it's easy to select the wrong updater. Microsoft AutoUpdate (MAU) will get the correct version.
- If you have modified your system or moved Office this can cause the installer to fail.
- Read Dos and Don'ts for a good install
- The correct solution is to follow these steps to reinstall Office.
- There are modifications to the installer posted here that will modify the install. I strongly caution you not to do this.
- David Pelton, one of the MacBU developers suggested on the microsoft.public.mac.office newsgroup that users check the Microsoft Office Setup Assistant file to see how Office is modified when something like Monolingual is run. How to check
- Look at your base files and permissions.
- Some users have had to run the latest Apple combo first to repair base system files. See Pre-Installation Tips
- Some users are reporting permissions problems prevent install. See below.
- Some users are still Unable to download updates
- Some users update successfully but still get notice to upgrade from the AutoUpdater.
Update successfully but still get notice to upgrade
Some users, including myself, updated successfully, but when you launch Entourage, AutoUpdate pops up saying you need to upgrade. For me this was a result of having installed Office in two locations. I'm receiving the error because I had not updated the other copy.
Microsoft AutoUpdate (MAU) looked at my first location, and said no update needed here. Then it looked at my second location and saw that it needed an update. Thus the cause for the update to be listed.
Here is how MAU works...
- MAU is activated (manually or when the timer goes off if you have it set for automatically)
- MAU looks in the com.microsoft.autoupdate2.plist file to see what you have installed (you can open it up and see what you have listed installed - each app that registers with MAU puts its location, version, and language in the file)
- Then MAU checks up at the server (off microsoft.com) to see if there are any updates for the applications you have. When it finds that there is a match (an app you have and an app that needs an update), then it asks the server what is the trigger mechanism for the update.
- With the trigger mechanism (the installer uses the version of Microsoft Component Plugin), it checks the location the app said it was installed and sees if the trigger matches the requirements. If so, then it pulls down the update.
Path to Microsoft Component Plugin in Office 2008:
"/Applications/Microsoft Office 2008/Office/MicrosoftComponentPlugin.framework"
User Reports
Permissions Prevented Install:
1) Like others, I could not get the 12.1.1 or .2 updates to install. Unlike others having problems here, the problems I had were all related to permissions. I could not install the 12.1.1 or 12.1.2 updates until I
- repaired permissions
- rebooted
- ran the 12.1.1 update
- repaired permissions
- rebooted
- ran the 12.1.2 update
- to be safe I repaired permissions and rebooted again
2) User reports: Another member of the Mac user group I am with has provided me with the answer to my problems regarding the "You cannot install Office 2008 12.1.1 Update on this volume. A version of the software required to install this update was not found on this volume." .You need to repair permissions with Disk Utility, then make sure that the MS Office folder's permissions are set as follows: User: Read & Write; admin: Read & Write and Everyone: Read Only. Permissions should be the same for all contents of that folder.
Another option is to move all MS preference files to the desktop temporarily, then run the installer. Restore the preferences to their original location after installation.
I added one more step to the process: I ran DiskWarrior after repairing permissions with Disk Utility.
I had been encountering the error message when trying the 12.1.0 SP1 Update, the 12.1.1 & the 12.1.2 Updaters.
Trojan Horse prevents download
3) User reports: There seems to be a issue with a virus or Malware on the Operating System. I scanned my computer with an anti virus software and found a DNS charger Trojan virus. Go to this site for more info. We reported on this problem back on July 22. Read Unable to download updates for even more help.
Rumor: Messenger not being updated causes the updater to fail.
There is no check in the Installer for Messenger. No updates for Messenger go through the Office updater.
Helpful Links:
Comments (2)
I just did my first official upgrades from Office 2004 to 2008 yesterday and on one Mac after installing all of the updates I realized I accidentally forgot to install Entourage (I unchecked Entourage when I meant to uncheck Messenger right below it). This caused me a lot of grief.
I thought maybe I could just install Entourage from the original 12.0.0 CD on top of fully patched install and rerun the updates. Definitely not the way to go. Updates (via manual download/install and AutoUpdate) refused to install complaining that I don't have the necessary version of Office (probably since most components were already newer than the update I was running).
So I then reinstalled 12.0.0 in its entirety and was able to successfully run the 12.1.0 (SP1) update but the 12.1.1 and 12.1.2 updates wouldn't work (via manual download/install or AutoUpdate). It would refuse to allow me to get past the volume selection screen telling me the volume I selected did not have the necessary version of Office.
After much frustration I used the Remove Office utility and started reinstalling again. I was able to successfully install 12.0.0 and the 12.1.0 update but had troubles with 12.1.1. Again after much frustration I decided to see if a reboot would help. Surprisingly it did. Then the same thing happened with the 12.1.2 update. Rebooted again and it worked fine.
The pattern finally started to emerge for my case. I noticed that when the installer works correctly it will first spend a few minutes scanning any volumes on that Mac (presumably to locate all copies of Office that can possibly be patched), and then proceed to the volume selection screen. However, when it failed it would always go instantly to the volume selection screen. I am wondering if the installers are caching some information about found office versions somewhere and not properly clearing it until reboot. For example, the 12.1.1 updater was reading what the 12.1.0 update found (which found 12.0.0 versions of everything) and thinking they were still 12.0.0 versions even though they weren't (since the 12.1.0 update successfully installed) and refused to run.
The only thing that messes with this theory is the very first time around I had no troubles with any of the updates.
Sometimes the temp folder where the update wants to write to is locked, restarting your machine clears the temp folder and rectifies this problem.
If you go back over all of the posts about installing, you'll see restart mentioned every time.
BTW, your story really illustrates why we tell users to install all Office applications. Messenger is not an Office application so you can easily add/delete it at any time and it will not mess with the updaters.