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Today I got a very annoying suprise, that our customer's Intune Autopilot deployment configuration contains Skype for Business.
The configuration is:
The problem with attempt of removing this automatically is;
In another enviroment where I have Windows 11 24H2 Enterprise and Office 365 semi-annual channel, I don't see this problem. I haven't tried yet, but I am thinking to change Office channel to semi-annual channel in this enviroment, not sure will it help
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@Pavel yannara Mirochnitchenko, Thanks for your sharing of your finding. It seems Skype for Business update which affect our issues As I know, if we have configured Window Autopatch which allow Microsoft 365 apps updates it will install Skype app automatically. Please check if you have configured this.
Meanwhile, thanks for sharing your workaround here, please let me write a summary to help others quickly find the suggestion:
Issue:
Skype for Business appearance in Windows 11 24H2 professional although it isn't selected to be deployed via Microsoft 365 app.
Workaround:
Thanks for your time and have a nice day!
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No autopatch in this enviroment.
My lab which is clean of Skype for Business, has Autopatch and M365 app updates enabled.
@Pavel yannara Mirochnitchenko, Thanks for posting in Q&A. From your description, I know when we deploy Microsoft 365 app via Intune and choose the update channel "Monthly Enterprise Channel", the Skype for Business is installed. But when we choose "Semi-Annual Enterprise", it will not be installed. if there's any misunderstanding, feel free to let us know.
For the affected environment, I would like to confirm if "Skype for Business" is unselected when we deploy it.
Meanwhile, go to one affected device and check the cfgxxx.tmp file under c:\windows\temp file to see if the contig file has the following information included.
<ExcludeApp ID="Lync" />
In addition, to remove the already installed Skype for Business, I find we can use the following similar command
setup.exe /configure xx.xm
Hope the above information can help.
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I forgot to mention on a starting post, that O365 package in Intune has Skype for Business TICKED OFF.
If I change from Montly Channel to Semi-Annual channel and re-install the computer, Skype for Business is gone. Apperently this happends only with Montly Channel :(
@Pavel yannara Mirochnitchenko •, Thanks for your detailed explanation. I know the Skype for Business is already off.
To clarify the issue, Please go to one affected device and check the cfgxxx.tmp file under c:\windows\temp file to see if the contig file has the following information included.
<ExcludeApp ID="Lync" />
If it is already included but not working, then I think the issue is on office side. If it is not included, then the issue is on Intune side. You can open case to help to fix it.
@Crystal-MSFT unfortunatelly I could find any c:\windows\temp\cfg files in that location with admin rights.
@Pavel, I will deploy a Windows 11 24H2 and test Microsoft 365 Monthly Enterprise Channel to check. If there's any update, I will let you know.
@Crystal-MSFT thank you, unfortunatelly I can tell you that;
@Pavel yannara Mirochnitchenko, Thanks for your reply. I have finished my testing on one window 11 24H2. Here is my configuration:
On the test device, I find other offices apps are installed successfully. Skype for business isn't installed. For your scenario, It's strange. It seems the issue only affected on one tenant. I suggest open case to do deep investigating to see if anything abnormal in the background.
Thank you for testing @Crystal-MSFT
I tried to install Office.xml as silent with setup.exe together with config.xml where lync is excluded. After that, I updated the machine and after the reboot, Skype for Business arrived into the Windows desktop and outlook. This test made me realize, that this is not about Office deployment, but what happends after. For some funny reason, it seems Microsoft still distributes Skype for Business updates or something. And I am not alone with this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Intune/comments/11qpm0y/office_updates_installing_skype_for_business/
So I made a workaround to disable the Skype Addin in Outlook by changing the reg key value:
#This disables the Skype for Business Outlook add-on if it is present in Windows installation
Start-Transcript -Path "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\IntuneManagementExtension\Logs\DEV-Configuration-SkypeForBusiness-addon-remove.log"
New-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\REGISTRY\MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\Addins\UCAddin.LyncAddin.1" -Name LoadBehavior -Value "0" -PropertyType DWord -Force
Stop-Transcript
I also discovered that M365 Business Premium contains a Skype For Business license when you deep dive into Apps listing in M365 license portal. I took that away, but Skype was still installed after that.
@Pavel yannara Mirochnitchenko , Thanks for your reply. I know license and Autopatch are not the reason in your environment. If there's any office update deployed to affected device via KB?