Update wants to update office10 which is not present

sabretel · 03 Apr 2020

Windows 2010 Build 18363.752

BACKGROUND:
Used to be a MS partner, Office 2010 was installed under that subscription program several years ago. Had been installed in a virtual PC environment (Parallels) on a Mac, but had expired. Used Laplink to transport entire Windows system to the new Lenovo PC with the its factory installed Windows 2010 OS. All Windows and other PC programs and apps worked well, except Office 2010 of course, which had expired. Uninstalled Office 2010 since I transitioned to Office 365 for all Office apps which work fine there.

ISSUE:
Update is still sensing the presence of Office 2010, downloading the updates, and trying to update it, but then when the update attempts to apply updates all of the Office 2010 updates err out since it is not present. All other updates seem to work fine. Would like to get Update to permanently stop repeatedly downloading and attempting to install Office 2010 updates. Need help understanding what is triggering update to think Office 2010 is still on the machine.

ACTIONS TO DATE:
1. Tried to uninstall Office 2010 but it does not appear in Programs and Features
2. Tried using Revo uninstaller to remove Office 2010 but since it is not present in the Control Panel it does not see it as installed in the first place
3. Located files referencing Office 2010 using Agent Ransack and deleted except for those in c:\Windows\WinSxS path, which seem to be .dll’s and a couple of .xml files that I believe are only there for backward Windows file compatibility
4. Ran a recovery of Windows system files which executed normally
5. Ran SFC /scannow and DISM to verify system integrity, both ran with no issues

- Any suggestions for next steps?
- Pretty sure the .dll files should not be removed from WinSxS, what about the XML files?
- Can anyone think of anywhere else I can look to find what is causing update to think it needs to update Office 2010?

dalchina · 03 Apr 2020

Hi, first, as you suggest, there may be some remnant left. If so: you could, of course

- attempt searching the registry (with due care to back up before making any changes).
- use a 3rd party find-as-you-type search tool such as
Locate32; Everything by voidtools; Ultrasearch...

to try to find any remnants. (You've already attempted something similar).

Notwithstanding all that, there are reports of updates to non-existent Office products being delivered.

In one such case I suggested disabling this:

Update wants to update office10 which is not present-1.png

However you have another Office product installed.

One way to handle that might be to use a tool such as
Option 7
Enable or Disable Windows Update Automatic Updates in Windows 10

WUMgr (Windows Update Manager)
etc

to scan for updates and then select which you want for office, avoiding the Office 10 ones.

Or, if you always get the SAME Office 2010 update offered, then you can hide (block) that update using one of the tools above, or the relevant tutorial.

Another approach, one way or another, would be to reinstall Office 2010, monitoring the installation if you have Revo Pro, or then uninstalling it using Revo Pro.

Berton · 03 Apr 2020

I also was a Microsoft Partner until they discontinued it but was still able to use the Win8/8.1 Pro keys to Upgrade Win10 Home to Win10 Pro about 2 months ago. I did hit an issue with the Win8.1 Ultimate key wanting to activate the Win10 Enterprise edition but couldn't find a Server to do it.

sabretel · 06 Apr 2020

Disabling Windows Updates for other Microsoft Products may be a possibility. Windows Update Manager looks pretty interesting too but it appears to be a 3rd party solution so 2 primary concerns would be 1) Is it safe? Hopefully would be since it is being suggested here but you always have to be cautious. 2) With the 3rd party is always a concern whether MS will change something and trip it up.

dalchina · 07 Apr 2020

It's actually the other way round. Some simplistic approaches to disabling WU have been overcome by MS.

I have cited one utility that is given in one of the tenforums tutorials. See Option 2. I somewhat doubt anything dubious would be cited in a tutorial.

I would not intentionally suggest something that is dubious.

Respected sites like MajorGeeks list WUMgr, Sledgehammer for example. These have been used by a number here at various times; please search the site for references to them.

sabretel · 20 Apr 2020

Hello,

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Finally did get what appears to be a permanent fix without having to disable Windows Update, or play around in the registry though I am fairly comfortable working in there too. In the end the heart of the issue was that the apps were not visible to the control panel or any other uninstall program but there were, as pointed out above, some remnants though not easily found in the registry.

The one place where the phantom apps were visible were in the msi files which are somewhat difficult to view, analyze, and edit. Fortunately Microsoft appears to have developed a routine to analyze the msi files, list installed programs directly from there, and then allow you to select the otherwise invisible and problematic program that needs to be removed.

That utility seemed to do the trick. I also ran SFC /scannow and DISM to make sure the OS and media all seemed to be healthy after running this process. I also cleared the %temp% files and deleted the Windows Update logs to give Windows update a fresh start. After that the Windows routine seems to be running regularly with no errors, no longer trying to delete the phantom Office programs, and seems to still be picking up legitimate updates without issues.

The Microsoft routine is located here.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...led-or-removed