Microsoft tells Windows 10 users to uninstall Office

Microsoft today took the unusual step of telling users running Windows 10's Technical Preview to uninstall Office before applying one of December's security updates.

"We just made a tough call after working through the night that I thought I should share with you," wrote Gabe Aul, the engineering general manager for Microsoft's operating system group, in a four-part Twitter understatement Tuesday.

"We have a security update going out today, and the installer fails on 9879 if Office is installed," Aul continued. "Rather than rolling a new fix (losing several days in the process) we're going to publish it as is. The workaround is painful: uninstall Office, install the hotfix, reinstall Office. Sorry. We're working hard to fix."

Aul's mention of "9879" referred to the latest "build" of the preview; Microsoft issued Build 9879 four weeks ago.

:story: Computerworld