AutoUpdateTool: Is This A Joke?!

Doug

Eric Newell posted a (seemingly) fantastic write up on how to set-up,
configure and deploy the CRM AutoUpdate tool. It seemed like this would be a
fantastic way to allow us to update and patch our customer's clients without
having to touch their PCs...Just upload to server, and the update prompt will
open the next time they start the Outlook Client.

However, upon further examination and review, it appears as though we must
change/add a value in the registry for EVERY customer's PC using AutoUpdate.
Take a look at the instructions for Step #2, which was included in Mr.
Newell's Blog Post:

2. On each client, go to the registry and add a value in the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MSCRMClient key called
AutoUpdateDownloadUrl (String). Give it a value of
http://[servername]/crmpatches/ (remember the closing /). If you don't set
this value, the clients will look to http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=
then the value in the LinkId XML parameter.


.........

Now, for the life of me, why the hell would I bother to post
patches/hotfixes to the server, if by default the client will look to a web
address? I realize that this registry change would be a one time addition,
but doesn't this seem a little counterintuitive? For an "auto" process there
should is a lot of leg work.

Take for example a customer we have that has 50+ people using the Outlook
Client. To use this "great" "Auto" update tool, we would have to track down
all 50 salespeople and ensure that they all have made the appropriate
registry changes. Imagine the situation of John D. Salesman who may;ve been
out of the office the day of the registry changes (and this is where things
get MESSY)

As soon as we upload the patches to the server, each time a user opens the
outlook CRM client they would receive the prompt instructing them to download
these mandatory updates. For the folks with the registry change, this is not
an issue, but for the poor persons who did not update their registry, the
installation will FAIL. It may not seem bad that installation would fail, but
this also means that CRM is DISABLED on their PC until the patch can be
downloaded...

The AutoUpdate Tool may seem like an excellent addition into CRM, but for
the life of me, why is it configured to require a registry change? Isn't that
the whole point of an "auto" update? To not have to physically touch a
customer's PC? If I am understanding this correctly, then why the hell does
the tool even exist? Why not just point it to a website and cut out the work
of ouploading to server?

Sorry if this is lengthy, but this is very poor design IMHO.

Rob Mottram

I agree that it seams a little odd that they did not default this to the same
server as the CRM server, but changing it is not an issue. Have a look at
Group Policy, which can easily be used to automatically set a registry
setting for everyone.
In a managed system, there are many advantages to using group policy to
standadise settings throughout a network.

Rob

"Doug" wrote:

> Eric Newell posted a (seemingly) fantastic write up on how to set-up,
> configure and deploy the CRM AutoUpdate tool. It seemed like this would be a
> fantastic way to allow us to update and patch our customer's clients without
> having to touch their PCs...Just upload to server, and the update prompt will
> open the next time they start the Outlook Client.
>
> However, upon further examination and review, it appears as though we must
> change/add a value in the registry for EVERY customer's PC using AutoUpdate.
> Take a look at the instructions for Step #2, which was included in Mr.
> Newell's Blog Post:
>
> 2. On each client, go to the registry and add a value in the
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MSCRMClient key called
> AutoUpdateDownloadUrl (String). Give it a value of
> http://[servername]/crmpatches/ (remember the closing /). If you don't set
> this value, the clients will look to http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=
> then the value in the LinkId XML parameter.
>
>
> ........
>
> Now, for the life of me, why the hell would I bother to post
> patches/hotfixes to the server, if by default the client will look to a web
> address? I realize that this registry change would be a one time addition,
> but doesn't this seem a little counterintuitive? For an "auto" process there
> should is a lot of leg work.
>
> Take for example a customer we have that has 50+ people using the Outlook
> Client. To use this "great" "Auto" update tool, we would have to track down
> all 50 salespeople and ensure that they all have made the appropriate
> registry changes. Imagine the situation of John D. Salesman who may;ve been
> out of the office the day of the registry changes (and this is where things
> get MESSY)
>
> As soon as we upload the patches to the server, each time a user opens the
> outlook CRM client they would receive the prompt instructing them to download
> these mandatory updates. For the folks with the registry change, this is not
> an issue, but for the poor persons who did not update their registry, the
> installation will FAIL. It may not seem bad that installation would fail, but
> this also means that CRM is DISABLED on their PC until the patch can be
> downloaded...
>
> The AutoUpdate Tool may seem like an excellent addition into CRM, but for
> the life of me, why is it configured to require a registry change? Isn't that
> the whole point of an "auto" update? To not have to physically touch a
> customer's PC? If I am understanding this correctly, then why the hell does
> the tool even exist? Why not just point it to a website and cut out the work
> of ouploading to server?
>
> Sorry if this is lengthy, but this is very poor design IMHO.
>
>

Doug

Rob thank you for the recommendations! I was not aware of the Group Policy
but this sounds like the way around my biggest gripes! Thanks again

"Rob Mottram" wrote:

> I agree that it seams a little odd that they did not default this to the same
> server as the CRM server, but changing it is not an issue. Have a look at
> Group Policy, which can easily be used to automatically set a registry
> setting for everyone.
> In a managed system, there are many advantages to using group policy to
> standadise settings throughout a network.
>
> Rob
>
> "Doug" wrote:
>
> > Eric Newell posted a (seemingly) fantastic write up on how to set-up,
> > configure and deploy the CRM AutoUpdate tool. It seemed like this would be a
> > fantastic way to allow us to update and patch our customer's clients without
> > having to touch their PCs...Just upload to server, and the update prompt will
> > open the next time they start the Outlook Client.
> >
> > However, upon further examination and review, it appears as though we must
> > change/add a value in the registry for EVERY customer's PC using AutoUpdate.
> > Take a look at the instructions for Step #2, which was included in Mr.
> > Newell's Blog Post:
> >
> > 2. On each client, go to the registry and add a value in the
> > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MSCRMClient key called
> > AutoUpdateDownloadUrl (String). Give it a value of
> > http://[servername]/crmpatches/ (remember the closing /). If you don't set
> > this value, the clients will look to http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=
> > then the value in the LinkId XML parameter.
> >
> >
> > ........
> >
> > Now, for the life of me, why the hell would I bother to post
> > patches/hotfixes to the server, if by default the client will look to a web
> > address? I realize that this registry change would be a one time addition,
> > but doesn't this seem a little counterintuitive? For an "auto" process there
> > should is a lot of leg work.
> >
> > Take for example a customer we have that has 50+ people using the Outlook
> > Client. To use this "great" "Auto" update tool, we would have to track down
> > all 50 salespeople and ensure that they all have made the appropriate
> > registry changes. Imagine the situation of John D. Salesman who may;ve been
> > out of the office the day of the registry changes (and this is where things
> > get MESSY)
> >
> > As soon as we upload the patches to the server, each time a user opens the
> > outlook CRM client they would receive the prompt instructing them to download
> > these mandatory updates. For the folks with the registry change, this is not
> > an issue, but for the poor persons who did not update their registry, the
> > installation will FAIL. It may not seem bad that installation would fail, but
> > this also means that CRM is DISABLED on their PC until the patch can be
> > downloaded...
> >
> > The AutoUpdate Tool may seem like an excellent addition into CRM, but for
> > the life of me, why is it configured to require a registry change? Isn't that
> > the whole point of an "auto" update? To not have to physically touch a
> > customer's PC? If I am understanding this correctly, then why the hell does
> > the tool even exist? Why not just point it to a website and cut out the work
> > of ouploading to server?
> >
> > Sorry if this is lengthy, but this is very poor design IMHO.
> >
> >