Microsoft Auto Update gives "One or more updates package could not be downloaded" message

Hi Michael,

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, I could understand your feeling.

However, as the error message has disappeared, we couldn't narrow down the reason of issue for further.

If the error occurs when you update Office to newest version next time, please post back, I will keep working on this question.

I will try my best to help you.

Regards,

Qing

I don't use any anti-virus software. I prefer a clean Mac and I have not had any issues with virus' down through the years.

I do have an application - CleanMyMac - and it checks for Malware when I run it but it has no background tasks when it is not running. This application allows me to run through inactive applications (ones I haven't used for some time) and delete them.

I agree. I will simply have to post this again next time an update comes so I can test further.

Thanks.

PS

Looking at the reporting on this issue down through the years, this issue is very common.

Everyone goes through the same procedures - replace MAU manually - SAFE BOOT the Mac - remove Office completely, check for firewall and virus checker issues, etc.

Eventually everyone asks the user to replace Office manually and the problem is fixed - until next time.

Replacing MAU or Office on this problem doesn't fix it but just delays the problem - pushing it "down the road."

None of the other "fixes" seem to be fixing this problem.

The update process for MS Office seems to be broken. Many more users have it but don't know that because they're not monitoring their updates. It doesn't issue a message unless you have MAU set to "automatically download and install" and most users just delete the message because they're working.

As I have other Macs at home that autoupdate fine and are configured the same as mine, I know that whatever is causing this is local to my Mac but very common among Macs based on the magnitude of posts on this issue. Something is happening on these other Macs that is fairly common for Macs. Most of the users sound unsophisticated and they don't realize that my manually installing Office they are not fixing the problem. Most of the people helping them seem to think that was fixing the problem.

This problem needs a different approach.

Hi Michael,

Thanks of your reply.

Yes, I am agreed with your analysis.

However, the issue didn’t occur as there is not a new version to update, we couldn’t confirm the reason of the issue.

About the reason, I also want to confirm is there any policy preventing Office updating, such as anti-virus software, maybe updating is prevented by it.

If the issue occurs again when you updating Office next time, you are welcome to post back, I will keep working on this.

Thanks for your understanding.

Qing

Qing

Thanks. 

I've looked through all those folders and of course because there is no update in progress, I don't see anything. Mainly I wanted to see if I could spot a potential permissions problem that might prevent the update download (just a theory I'm pursuing because of the way it acts - the download progress bar displays and the bars move across the screen but don't complete so it appears that it's trying to download but then gives the message - "one or more update packages could not be downloaded" - so what could prevent them from downloading? It's not obvious what that is but a theory is a good start.

As I have completely removed and replaced the entire MS OFFICE installation and run every utility I have including Disk Utility and Cocktail, and run SAFE MODE which remove unneeded caches, I'm pretty much down to the one I really hate thinking about - replacing OSX.

I hate that because it always comes with unexpected issues - it is definitely not benign - I get lost settings that aren't immediately apparent and I don't remember what they are, etc. But I guess that's the next place I need to go.

Qing

I'm not seeing exactly the path you're describing. Here is what I see.

I couldn't find the 5v folder so I picked the one with the most current date - none of the others are current.

And now I start seeing folder that I do not have access to... note the read tags? The "O" folder has a bunch of Apple files but nothing MS.

And permission on these files says 'Fetching...' and doesn't really come up with a "system" tag so I cannot get beyond these folders.

Any of your files have these red tags? Perhaps the reason I cannot download files into this area is this? I don't know much about permissions at this level and in these folders so I'll have to do some research to see if I can find out more about what I'm looking at.