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Use Group Policy to install Microsoft 365 Insider on Windows devices

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If you’re using Group Policy to manage Microsoft 365 Apps in your organization, you can use it to configure Windows devices to get Microsoft 365 Insider.

Tip

Change an existing Microsoft 365 Apps installation to Microsoft 365 Insider by enabling the Update Channel policy

For existing Microsoft 365 Apps installations on Windows devices, you can change to Microsoft 365 Insider by setting the Update Channel policy to Enabled. In the Group Policy Management Console, you can find the Update Channel policy in the following location:

    Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Office 2016 (Machine)\Updates

When you set the policy to Enabled, select either Current Channel (Preview) or Beta Channel from the Options drop-down list. The policy applies to devices, not to users. So if multiple users are using Microsoft 365 Apps on that device, each user gets that Microsoft 365 Insider channel.

Note

Frequently asked questions

The Microsoft 365 Insider channel that was chosen hasn't installed yet. What do I do?

After you configure the policy, it might take at least 90 minutes before the policy is applied to the device. Then, the Microsoft 365 Insider channel should be installed the next time Microsoft 365 Apps checks for updates. You can force Microsoft 365 Apps to check for updates by going to File > Account > Update Options > Update Now in an app, such as Word.

How do I change to a different channel at a later time?

To change to a different channel, you can go back to the Group Policy Management Console and select a different channel. Remember, changing this setting updates the channel for every device affected by the policy.