Last Updated on July 1, 2020 by GrahamWalsh
One of the common questions I get is how do we keep the systems up to date. Well Microsoft has built in logic for the Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) and allowed them receive certain updates. They will then get delivered when ready and tested.
What you must not do is run Upgrade Advisor and force a system update or run Windows Update manually from the Control Panel (I’m still old school). It’s now Settings > Upgrades & Security. As you can see below, the system was last checked at 2:41AM. Every MTR has a daily task scheduled at 2:01 AM to run and it will run through system checks and also Windows Update. This means you don’t need to manually do them.
So once the inbuilt runs through its updates, you can actually see what updates have been installed. For example, it will has installed the Windows Defender signature updates when I forced the task to run this evening.
You could also manage the updates with WSUS/Intune as well, but the best practise is to leave it to the Microsoft defaults, however, I appreciate everyone has their own way of doing things.
The official recommendations on management of the systems is documented here. Windows Update from well Windows Update and the MTR app comes from the Windows Store. You do not need to sign into the Windows Store and you won’t usually see the MTR app in the store on OEM devices. The Windows Update is meant to be hands off as described here.
However, if you are enrolled in the Microsoft Technology Adoption Programme (TAP), you may be requested to use a LiveID to sign into the store, so you can get special builds of the MTR to test. To sign up to the TAP programme to test out early release features say on a lab system, you can request access here.
Also note the supported versions of Windows here. Windows 1909 is not yet supported for MTR systems. I have forced an update, yes I know I shouldn’t of, but I can easily re-create when needed. So in production, do not force an update as bad things will happen. Also Crestron Flex systems do not support 1903 as of end of February 2020. There is an update being pushed via Windows Update and this will update the Crestron app to build 801, meaning this will allow 1903 to run without issues as it has the Intel driver fix. This should start rolling out in March 2020.
Going off piste
Now I might get my wrist slapped for sharing this, but let’s see. If it’s 0900 and you don’t want to wait until 0201AM for the updates to run, you could manually invoke the Task Scheduler. Simply log into the admin side of things, then start the Task Scheduler App. Then run the task, log out and back to the Skype profile and grab a coffee. It will take anything from 30-45 minutes depending on the update. Remember if there is a major update available such as 1803 to 1903, that update may take longer.
Any comments or feedback, let me know below or via any other methods.