Office 2007 SP1 Download not recognised by Windows Update

[Derek G]

I have downloaded office2007sp1-kb936982-fullfile-en-us.exe (228,852,088
bytes) from the official Microsoft site and also the alternative version
MAINWWsp1.msp (229,852,160 bytes) that was recommended by the Microsoft
Baseline Security Analyzer 2.1.

Both of these downloads install perfectly, but even following a reboot, my
Vista x32 Windows Update insists I do not have the Office 2007 Service Pack
1. I ran the installs again and they quickly declined to let me continue
because I had already applied the update - which oif course I had. The only
way to get Windows Update to accept I had the Office Service Pack was to
re-download the version it was recommending itself.

To be precise, MBSA did not recognise the official 228MB download which I
installed first and WU did not recognise the 229MB download recommended by
MBSA. Waste of time doing downloads then, so any folks relying on friends to
download the Office 2007 SP1 for them might just find WU does not accept it's
presence.

 

[Adam Kelly [MSFT]]

Hi Derek,

When you scanned your computer using MBSA, MBSA decided that "2007 Microsoft
Office Suite Service Pack 1 (SP1)" was still applicable to you, so you
followed the link to download it. At this point, you were actually pointed to
the same Download Details (DDL) page as before, and so you downloaded and
installed the same .exe package as before.

When you then ran a scan with WU, you were reoffered the same update: "2007
Microsoft Office Suite Service Pack 1 (SP1)". The reason for the update being
reoffered here is because the .exe package from the DDL page does not contain
all the patches that are offered in the WU update bundle. Since MBSA also
uses WU's scanning engine, the update was also marked as required there.

The packages are structured in this way so that the most common .exes, like
office2007sp1-kb936982-fullfile-en-us.exe, are not inflated with patches to
less common products, like PowerPoint Viewer. However when you do scan your
computer with WU, you will download and install any and all patches that
apply specifically to you. In your case, when you finally went to WU, it
appeared that you were re-downloading and re-installing the entire SP1, but
in reality you were getting smaller patches for a Viewer product, Visio,
Project, or some other product not covered in
office2007sp1-kb936982-fullfile-en-us.exe.


-Adam Kelly [MSFT]

 

[Derek G]

Adam, thanks for the detailed explanation. I've never realised before that
there would be a disparity - however minor - between the Download Center and
WU/MBSA. I can't be alone is believing that Service Packs were a complete
upgrade, so I hope other readers get some value from your contribution to my
question. Well done.

 

[Bryan Aldrich]

While this explains why it is being re-offered, it does not fully explain why
I am also seeing it.

In my WSUS console, I see 10 total updates for Office 2007 that were
released on 12/11. I have approved all 10 for install on all pcs in my
environment.

My main pc has installed the patches via WSUS, however, MU re-offers them.
From the explaination given above, it also appears that the "small updates"
are listed in WSUS as seperate installs. All 10 patches register as being
installed on this computer (and at least 2 others w/ 2007 on it).

Is there a way to tell what MU actually wants to install?

Bryan