[German]Since July 2024, users reported increasingly that the update function of Microsoft Office Click2Run installations is broken. Error code 30088-27 is reported when trying to update Office. A blog reader got in touch and gave some hints as to what the problem was for him and what was tried to fix it. According to his statement, Microsoft changed the communication method for Office updates with Click2Run in June 2024. I also got reports from German users, that MS Office Click2Run update "magically" startet today (August 17, 2024) to work again.
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Microsoft Office Click2Run update error code 30088-27
I had already addressed this issue in early July 2024 in the blog post Microsoft Office Click2Run update broken? Error code 30088-27. There are probably problems with one of the latest Office updates, which affects the Click2Run versions of Microsoft Office 2016, 2019, 2021 and Office 365 version 2406. The attempt to perform an update search and update to the next build then fails with error code 30088-27.
Office update error dialog, source: MS Answers forum
A reader who tried to update his Microsoft Office 2019 on 3 July 2024 received the above error dialog after selecting the Update button. I have included some of these reports in my blog post linked above. Some blog readers confirm the error, for other readers the Office updates work as usual. In the Microsoft Answers forum there is this extensive thread with numerous reports from those affected (including a link to my blog post on the subject).
Has Microsoft fixed the issue on August 17, 2024?
The problem has not been fixed for the August 2024 patch day either, as readers wrote. But in this German comment on the German blog post Microsoft Office Updates (13. August 2024), a blog reader reports that the update is suddenly working again on August 17, 2024. Stefan also got in touch here and wrote that the problem had been "magically" solved".
Also German blog reader Georg wrote here on August 15, 2024, that he was able to update again after an online repair. And this German user writes that a reinstallation of Office has fixed the problem for him. Microsoft seems to has fixed something in the background. It is possible that the old update mechanisms have been reactivated on the server side.
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A reader provides background information
In response to my blog post Microsoft Office Click2Run update broken? Error code 30088-27 , Maik Reyes has posted a comment and reports that he has found a solution to this particular problem. He has been experiencing the problem in his environment since the Office updates of June 2024.
This also matches quite well with the reports I have, which appear sometime in early July 2024. Maik writes that it looks like Microsoft has changed the communication method for Office Click-to-Run.
- Previously, OfficeC2Rclient.exe used the WinInet proxy settings to connect to Microsoft's cloud services. The WinInet proxy settings use the Windows Internet settings to handle the communication.
- However, after the June 2024 update, OfficeC2Rclient.exe now uses the WinHTTP proxy (configured via NetSH) for communication. In this article from June 18, 2024, Microsoft gives some hints on how Windows Update determines the proxy server – the explanations should also apply or be applicable to Office C2R updates.
Maik wrote to me: "Depending on the configuration of the environment, systems without a properly configured WinHTTP proxy use the default gateway by default to access the Internet. This can result in traffic being blocked by the default gateway firewall, as this traffic is normally routed through a proxy."
In environments where a WinHTTP proxy is configured to use an actual proxy server, authenticated proxy rules can cause traffic to fail with a 407 error because the Windows WinHTTP proxy does not handle authentication well.
In his environment, Maik and his fellow administrators have solved this problem by reconfiguring the firewalls and proxies to allow the necessary communication. Maik writes: "Given the risks associated with the recent CVEs that have affected Office products in recent months, I hope this information will help others who have not been able to update their Office installations and thereby reduce their exposure to potential security vulnerabilities."
At this point, my thanks to Maik for pointing this out. The interesting question for me now is whether Microsoft has tweaked the proxy construction outlined above and fixed something with the August 2024 updates or on the server side so that the update now works again?
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