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Microsoft AutoUpdate in Mac OS v4.35 Update Error

If you are seeing the Update Error (updates are temporarily unavailable) message in Microsoft AutoUpdate v4.35.21051700, you are not alone!

After installing version v4.35.21051700 of the Microsoft AutoUpdate the update worked once for me, every further start gave me an Update Error (updates are temporarily unavailable)!

Update Error (updates are temporarily unavailable)

The error in detail:

Checking for updates...
XPC Connection to updater invalidated. Exiting.
Proxy Error: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=4099 "The connection to service on pid 0 named com.microsoft.update.xpc was invalidated." UserInfo={NSDebugDescription=The connection to service on pid 0 named com.microsoft.update.xpc was invalidated.}

Or:

Checking for updates...
XPC Connection to updater invalidated. Exiting.
Segmentation fault: 11

I found no documentation for the new XPC backend handler, so I did open a service request for that: Case #:25801975. The Support Advice (fallback) wasn’t something that I was even thinking about. Mostly because a fallback means you have to downgrade everything and prevent the update for the Microsoft AutoUpdate itself. Knowing, that the older version (Microsoft AutoUpdate v4.34) has other documented issues!

Shortly after opening the support request, to following solution was provided from a friend:

/bin/launchctl stop /Library/LaunchAgents/com.microsoft.update.agent.plist
/bin/launchctl unload -w /Library/LaunchAgents/com.microsoft.update.agent.plist
/bin/launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchAgents/com.microsoft.update.agent.plist

You can run the commands above as a regular user, no need for sudo!

This will fix the Update Error (updates are temporarily unavailable) issue

Microsoft AutoUpdate (MAU)

But you might still get this error when you run an office application (e.g. Word or Outlook):

Microsoft AutoUpdate (MAU) issue on Office App start

It is secure to ignore this and confirm it (just press OK).