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Microsoft Intune / AutoPilot installs old version Microsoft Office on pc's that previously had older version

Caspar - ABO 201 Reputation points
2023-10-06T16:50:30.87+00:00

So I've tested this 4 times now. Time to post it here, maybe someone knows.

If I want to enroll an existing pc into our M365 Intune setup we create a CSV with the device hash and import it into Intune. We then reset Windows, I select delete all files and apps. The pc then reboots, reinstalls itself completely and wipes all apps, users and settings. After that I can use AutoPilot to load all our apps including Microsoft 365-apps. It is setup to install the latest version available.

The existing computers all run Windows 10 or 11 with Office 2019 Professional Plus installed on it.

After the pc comes back ready for use, all our company settings, apps and Office M365 are installed. No issues, everything works. No errors.

But when starting Word for example, the version of Word is "Microsoft Word 2019 MSO"

User's image

If a pc previously had Office 2016, the new version pushed out by Intune when fully reset is "Microsoft Word 2016 MSO". None of these pc's have the latest Office 2021 version so everyone is missing all sorts of buttons and functions.

Even if I use the "Fresh start" option in Intune, the device resets/wipes itself like it should and yet again pushed out the old version of Office.

When looking at the Office version installed checking out Control Panel/Programs and features in Windows, you can see that the version/build number shows the same build number as a pc that does have the correct 2021 latest Office.

The only way I am able to get these pc's to the correct latest Office version is first use a Windows 11 bootable flashdrive, completely wipe the device, do a clean install that has no Office installed... And then rollout the device again using AutoPilot, after that everything works, including the correct Office version this time.

So it seems that even though you chose to wipe the pc completely, it still somehow records what Office version the pc used to have and installs the old version anyway.

If I pull out a completely new laptop from the shelf that is still sealed and deploy it, it installs the correct Office the first time, no issues because that laptop never had Office installed before. Only pc's with pre-existing Office installed have this issue, every single one of them.

Is there a way to prevent me from reinstalling 250 existing pc's before importing them into Intune?

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A collection of Microsoft technologies used to set up and pre-configure new devices and to reset, repurpose, and recover devices.
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Accepted answer
  1. Pavel yannara Mirochnitchenko 12,221 Reputation points MVP
    2023-10-10T11:02:28.6133333+00:00

    Looks like old OEM installations contains old Office versions, so it is kind a factory image injected in restore drive. I think your options is to re-install those computers with Clean Windows install media or use MSI uninstall string / script to get rid of unwanted office. Make sure 2016/2019 uses different product codes than M365 App.

    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/msi/standard-installer-command-line-options#examples

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  1. Pavel yannara Mirochnitchenko 12,221 Reputation points MVP
    2023-10-09T07:24:56.5266667+00:00

    Make sure you have M365 app created in Intune Apps. It is 2 minute thing to do. There you can also select update channels. I am not sure, will M365 app replace Office 2019, but if now you could figure out Uninstallation script to do that. But officially, when computers are purchased and the content agreed, you need to make sure with your dealer that you get the right shipment (without any office in your case).