Deploying Office 2016 64bit while removing previous 32 bit version

Jack Graham 1 Reputation point
2021-03-23T09:29:59.06+00:00

Hello

I am looking to deploy Microsoft Office 2016 64bit to users that currently have previous versions on such as 2010 and 2013. The majority of older versions are 32bit which I'm looking to remove automatically before installing 2016 64bit.

I've tried using the Office Customisation Tool and setting the "Remove the following earlier versions of Microsoft Office programs" within the "Remove previous installations" option but I get an error advising it's a different architecture version and the installation stops. The Customisation Tool works fine for users that have Office 2010 or 2013 64bit, it just seems to be users who have 32bit which is has a problem with.

I'll be deploying to multiple users so not looking for much manual intervention, i.e. trying to avoid remoting each machine, uninstalling the old version then deploying 2016.

Anyone got any ideas how I can do this?

Cheers

Office Management
Office Management
Office: A suite of Microsoft productivity software that supports common business tasks, including word processing, email, presentations, and data management and analysis.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
2,011 questions
0 comments

2 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Erin Ding-MSFT 4,456 Reputation points
    2021-03-24T08:36:05.287+00:00

    Hi @Jack Graham ,

    What version of Office 2016 are you deploying like Office Professional Plus 2016 or Office Standard 2016?
    You could check it in File>Account>Product Information.
    81010-image.png

    >I've tried using the Office Customisation Tool and setting the "Remove the following earlier versions of Microsoft Office programs" within the "Remove previous installations" option but I get an error advising it's a different architecture version and the installation stops. The Customisation Tool works fine for users that have Office 2010 or 2013 64bit, it just seems to be users who have 32bit which is has a problem with.

    <<Generally, it's suggest to follow steps in "Uninstall Office from a PC" to uninstall your 32-bit version of Office completely, then install 64-bit version of Office 2016.
    Please note:make sure that the operation system of the PC that you would like to install 64-bit version of Office is 64-bit.
    You could check the above on a test PC.

    Hope the information is helpful to you.

    If an Answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.
    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

  2. Erin Ding-MSFT 4,456 Reputation points
    2021-03-30T09:47:42.117+00:00

    Hi @Jack Graham ,
    Thanks for your reply.

    Based on my research, you could try steps in the "Setup command-line options reference for Office 2013" to use the /uninstall command to uninstall previous version of Office.

    I did a test in my Office Professional Plus 2013 and successfully uninstalled it with this method.
    82688-image.png

    Detailed .xml is as below. I saved it in the core folder of Office 2013 (For example, the core folder of Office Professional Plus 2013 is proplus.ww).
    <Configuration Product="ProPlus">
    <Display Level="none" CompletionNotice="no" SuppressModal="yes" AcceptEula="yes" />
    <Setting Id="SETUP_REBOOT" Value="Never" />
    </Configuration>
    For Office Standard 2013, you just need to modify the ProPlus to Standard. (This also applies to Office 2010.)

    Then type cmd in search bar, right-click to run it as administrator.
    Type command like \server\share\Office15\setup.exe /uninstall ProPlus /config \server\share\Office15\ProPlus.WW\SilentUninstallConfig.xml.
    \server\share\Office15 is the root of the network installation point.
    \server\share\Office15\ProPlus.WW is the file location of .xml.
    In my test:
    82656-image.png

    You could try to distribute the .xml file and command for silent uninstallation to prevent users interference. And then you could try to deploy Office Standard 2016 again.

    Hope it is helpful to you.

    If an Answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.
    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.