What desktop updates do I need for Office 365 for Education?
This was a question from a university in northern California deploying Office 365 for Education for faculty, staff and students.
Step 1 – Ensure your workstations meet the minimum Office 365 requirements
The first thing you need to do is assess what current state your workstations are in relative to the minimum requirements for Office 365. The minimum client requirements are listed here. You can leverage System Center Configuration Manager to scan your workstations for gaps or you can use the MAP tool.
As of June 2012, here are the current minimum requirements for Office 365:
Operating systems
Windows 7
Windows Vista with Service Pack 2
Windows XP with Service Pack 3
Windows XP Home Edition is supported, but it will not support federated identity
Windows XP Media Center Edition is supported, but it will not support federated identity
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, 10.6 Snow Leopard
System software
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 (for Windows XP)
Java client 1.4.2 (for Macintosh OS X)
Office clients
Microsoft Office 2010 or Office 2007 Service Pack 2
Office 2008 for Mac 12.2.9 update or later and Microsoft Entourage 2008 Web Services Edition
Office 2011 for Mac and Outlook 2011 for Mac Sp1
.NET Framework 2.0 or later
Microsoft Lync 2010
Client applications
Services Connector
Browser software—Microsoft Online Portal
Internet Explorer 7 or later
Mozilla Firefox 3.x
Apple Safari 3.x
Browser requirements—Microsoft Outlook Web App
Internet Explorer 7 or later
Firefox 3 or later
Safari 4 or later on Macintosh OS X 10.5
Chrome 3 and later versions
Outlook Web App also has a light version that supports a reduced set of features on almost any browser
For additional Mac browser specific requirements visit here.
You need to remediate any workstations that do not meet the minimum requirements of browser, Office, or Operating System using SCCM, group policy, or other client push mechanism.
Step 2 – Add Office 365 updates and Sign In Assistant to workstations
After you have remediated any workstations not meeting the minimum requirements, we provide a list of required updates on the desktop specifically for Office 365 which should be in this order:
1) If using Lync Online, deploy Lync 2010 client or Lync 2011 for Mac client
2) Deploy Office 365 Sign In Assistant (IDCRL7):
Microsoft Online Services Sign-In Assistant (IDCRL7)
Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista SP2, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2.
User credentials are managed by Microsoft Online Services ID. To sign in to the services, users must install the Microsoft Online Services Sign-In Assistant.
3) Deploy Office updates for Office 365 listed below:
Microsoft Office 2007 Security Update
(KB2289158)
Microsoft Office 2007 on all versions of Windows
Microsoft Office 2010 Update
(KB2435954)
Microsoft Office 2010 on Windows XP with Internet Explorer 7
Allows users to access Microsoft SharePoint Online from Microsoft Word 2010, Microsoft Excel 2010, Microsoft PowerPoint 2010, and Microsoft OneNote 2010.
Important In addition to applying this update, you must add the following registry key for each user: [HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftOffice14.0CommonInternetFormsBasedAuthSettingsAllowFBANoPatches – DWORD: 1]
Also, If you have Office 2010 SP1 Beta installed, you will first need to uninstall the SP1 Beta before installing this update.
Microsoft Outlook 2007 Update
(KB2596993)
Office Outlook 2007 on all versions of Windows
Configures Outlook to connect with Microsoft Exchange Online.
Microsoft Outlook 2010 Update
(KB2597011)
Microsoft Office 2010 on all versions of Windows
Configures Outlook to connect with Microsoft Exchange Online.
Important If you have Office 2010 SP1 Beta installed, you will first need to uninstall the SP1 Beta before installing this update
Microsoft OneNote 2010 Update
(KB2523130)
Microsoft OneNote 2010 on all versions of Windows
Allows OneNote 2010 to sync with shared notebooks on Microsoft SharePoint Online.
Microsoft Outlook Social Connector 2010 Update
(KB2583935)
Microsoft Outlook Social Connector 2010 on all versions of Windows
See KB2583935 for more details.
Microsoft Outlook Social Connector 2010 Update
(KB2597051)
Microsoft Outlook Social Connector 2010 on all versions of Windows
See KB2597051 for more details.
Microsoft Office 2010 Update
(KB2566458)
Microsoft Office 2010 on all versions of Windows
See KB2566458 for more details.
Office 2011 for Mac
Install all the latest Office 2011 updates
Office 2008 for Mac
Install 12.2.9 update or later
There is also a free Office 365 client updater tool from MessageOps that can be used to ensure workstations are up to date here if SCCM or other means are not available.