This post has been republished via RSS; it originally appeared at: Project Support Blog articles.
First published on TECHNET on Aug 10, 2016Yesterday saw the release of the August 2016 Public Update (PU) for Project Server 2013 and 2016. There is no update for Project and Project Server 2010 this month.
The Project 2013 and 2016 client updates continued their new pattern this month, the Office client non-security updates released on the 1st Tuesday – August 2nd. Any Office client security updates will still release on 2nd Tuesday. We are now delivering as Public Updates, although Server fixes are shipped just via the Download Center and not via Microsoft Update (Unless there is a security element or a fix deemed essential). These are still all cumulative and include fixes released in all previous updates since the last baseline (Initial release for 2016, SP1 for 2013).
Feel free to open a support case if you have any questions around this or need assistance getting these patches deployed.
The 2013 PU releases also have a real prerequisite of the appropriate Service Pack 1 (SP1), and links for SP1 are given below. SP1 is enforced in this release, so you will find out (as I did) if you really do have SP1 for all your installed components and language packs! This also means RTM is no longer supported! See http://blogs.technet.com/b/stefan_gossner/archive/2015/04/15/common-issue-april-2015-fixes-for-sharepoint-2013-cannot-be-installed-on-sharepoint-2013-sp1-slipstream-builds.aspx too which describes an issue you might see if you don’t have the ‘right’ SP1. Slipstream would work with the original SP1 – but the updates require the re-released SP1. Since the May PU this shouldn’t be an issue – but including here just in case.
Another important point to add here is that there was in early 2013 running the SharePoint Configuration Wizard on a server with Project Server 2013 installed – this is fixed by applying the April 2013 or later– so a good practice would be to load SP1, then the July 2016 PU and then run the configuration wizard (if you didn’t already load the April 2013 through June 2014 CU).
In most of the KB articles the term hotfix is used in place of Cumulative Update. They tend to be interchangeable terms – a Cumulative Update is just a hotfix built to a schedule. I should also point out that the individual Project Server packages are only ‘individual’ in the sense that they do not include the SharePoint patches – they are still cumulative and the August PU will contain all previous CU releases (at least back to the applicable baseline).
Project 2016
An overview of all the Office 2016 releases for August 2016 can be found here https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3181038 – August 9, 2016, update for Office. As mentioned above, the client updates were released August 2, 2016.
Project Server 2016
With the 2016 release we just have a single patch (but this month the single patch comes in two parts… a wssloc and sts2016 part). – as we have also the single msi for installation of SharePoint Server 2016 (Project Server still needs licensing separately though). Both parts need installing before the config wizard is executed.
August 9, 2016, update for SharePoint Server 2016 (KB3115441)
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3115441
August 9, 2016, update for SharePoint Server 2016 (KB3115437)
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3115437
There is a database schema update this month – so the dbo.Versions table should now show 16.0.4417.1000 after applying the August 2016 PU. Remember, Project Server 2016 data is in the content database. The version number 16.0.4417.1000 can be used to control the connecting client to the August 2016 level. For reference – the RTM build number seen for the DB schema would be 16.0.4327.1000.
Project 2016 Client Package:
August 2, 2016, update for Project 2016 (KB3115424)
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3115424
The version of Project Professional 2016 will be updated to 16.0.4417.1000. However, I have noticed that in 2016 we don’t do a good job of displaying the version and in File, Account, About Project we only display the MSO version and not the specific Project version (You can confirm this by looking at the version of winproj.exe – in (default for 32 bit) C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16)
If you have Click to Run and using Project Pro for Office 365 at the ‘16’ level, then your version will depend on which update frequency you have set. Take a look at https://blogs.office.com/2016/02/09/deferred-channel-build-now-available-for-the-office-365-client-apps/ for a few changes in this area – Current Branch for Business is now called Deferred Channel. We are aware that we don’t appear to expose the full change details for Project and are looking into it.
Project 2013
An overview of all the Office 2013 releases for August 2016 can be found here https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3181038 – August 9, 2016, update for Office. As mentioned above, the client updates were released August 2, 2016.
This include a number of fixes, so Microsoft strongly recommends that you test this in a test environment based on your production environment before putting this fix live in production.
The article below provides information on how to deploy the Project Server Cumulative Update.
You can read about the fixes included in the Project and Project Server July PUs from the following articles:
Project Server 2013 Server Rollup Package
August 9, 2016, cumulative update for Project Server 2013 (KB3115448)
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3115448
Project Server 2013 Individual Project Package – (cumulative, but only the Project Server fixes):
August 9, 2016, update for Project Server 2013 (KB3115456)
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3115456
There is a database schema update this month – so the dbo.Versions table should now show 15.0.4849.1000 after applying the August 2016 PU. The version number 15.0.4849.1000 can be used to control the connecting client to the July 2016 level, but only if you are loading the November 2014 CU or more recent to the server. This version control no longer blocks server side scheduling engine since the November 2014 CU, but as this fix is server side you cannot use a higher value until you have this server patch or a more recent one.
SP1 for Project Server 2013 can be found here – http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2880553
Project 2013 Client Package:
August 2, 2016, update for Project 2013 (KB3115434)
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3115434
The client version number will be 15.0.4849.1002. The server scheduling engine is no longer blocked by version control since the November 2014 CU on the server, so providing you have November 2014 CU or above on the server you can use the 15.0.4841.1000 value to control connection of the August 2016 PU patched client. If you are running a server CU earlier than November 2014 CU, then follow the suggested version number for the server patch level you are running. See Project Server 2013- Controlling the version of connecting clients–and PWA edits- for more details. As mentioned above – the version number entered no longer controls the server side scheduling engine – so from the November 2014 CU release onward you can set a higher version to control clients without blocking the server side scheduling in the schedule web part.
We are working on the specific CU installation documentation for 2013, but the process hasn’t changed from 2010 – so if you are familiar with 2010 patching or read the 2010 instructions below you should be good to go.
SP1 for Project Professional 2013 can be found here – http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2817433
Also note that Click to Run installations will be automatically patched. Installations in Enterprise Environments that have been modified will be deployed based on the schedule determined by your Administrator. See http://support2.microsoft.com/gp/office-2013-click-to-run . You may also choose to update your click to run Project Pro for Office 365 to the new 2016 level – this can still connect to Project Server 2013 – see the 2016 section above for current version.