Update error code 30088-27 Office 2021 what to do to get corrected????

As I mentioned somewhere, we have been "working" with a M365 support agent for a while. I just replied to his latest non-sense, ridiculous e-mail ......

Subject: RE: [EXTERNAL] RE: Office update error - TrackingID#2406290040000190

Hello Pedro,

Thank you for your patience as we work to resolve the issue you are experiencing with Microsoft Office. I understand how frustrating it is to encounter error code 30088-27 during updates, especially after trying several troubleshooting steps without success.

Based on a reference you provided, I have reviewed a related thread which suggests the following:

1. Download the Previous Office Version:
   • Follow the instructions provided in this support article to download and install the previous version of Office.
2. Disable Automatic Updates:
   • Once you have installed the previous version, disable automatic updates to prevent Office from updating to the latest version that is causing the issue. Instructions to disable automatic updates can be found here.
3. Monitor for Stability:
   • Use the previous Office version for a period to ensure stability and to confirm that the error does not recur. ---> How do you think we got here in the 1st^t^ place? You want us to spend time our customers DO NOT PAY US for to remove the present version, install a previous, AVOID FOR IT TO BE UPDATED and monitor if the UPDATE error does not re-occur? What am I missing? So, we AVOID UPDATES, but we check if the update error is gone? Are you kidding, right?

Thank you for providing the reference to the support thread.

Just received a message in the other thread I created before joining this one. It offers hope, if not a solution:

Maxine.C - MSFT has replied to your question Office Home and Business 2019 Retail will not update in Microsoft Support Community.

Dear mschmieg   

Thank you very much for sharing your feedback! As this issue was caused by an update, we are already actively working on it. Please be patient and wait for the next update when we will try our best to resolve this issue. Thank you again for your understanding and support! 

Best Regards,    

Maxine | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Had/have the same problem for my Office 2021 installation, but managed to manually update to latest version by setting Target Version in Group Policy. Another solution is to update from PowerShell:

& "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun\OfficeC2RClient.exe" /update user updatetoversion=16.0.17726.20160

But as other as pointed out the problem is still there in latest version when clicking "Update Now".

One thing to note is that in "About Excel/Word" the correct version is listed (16.0.17726.20160), BUT when clicking "About Excel/Word" the popup window shows an older version (16.0.17726.20078). Perhaps this is the culprit of the problem.

Glad to hear Microsoft wake up and non-sense was removed from the troubleshooting steps.

This is one of our cases:

• Version giving the trouble: Version 2406 (Build 17726.20126)
• Using Linn's command, downgraded to Version 2405 (Build 17628.20164)

Command executed correctly, update was downloaded and applied, and Excel reports the correct version.

Guess what: THE ERROR STILL THERE

So, reverted back to the original version using the same command and of course, the issue still there.

What now, Linn? Any sense of urgency?

Rolling back the version does not solve the problem. The problem only arises when you tell Office to Update Now. There have been no updates since it appeared so it is impossible to determine if it will cause problems if Office attempts an automatic update. After reverting to the previous version, which Maxine recommended to me yesterday, I again attempted to Update Now and received the same error, so the problem persists despite the rollback. Disabling updates does not solve any problems existing as of now regardless of which version is installed. That can be done with either version.

I have been reviewing the Office registry entries, comparing the ones on my systems that work and the one that has the problem, but I haven't found any glaring differences that might cause this, but I am not a registry guru. It just seems strange that only one computer out of three on the network, all running the same version, manifests this behavior.