Disable Microsoft AutoUpdate on MacOS (Office 365 updater)

Disable Microsoft AutoUpdate on MacOS.md

Following commands disables Microsoft AutoUpdate launch agent from launching at boot and periodicaly checking for updates.

sudo defaults write /Library/LaunchAgents/com.microsoft.update.agent.plist Disabled -bool YES
sudo defaults write /Library/LaunchAgents/com.microsoft.update.agent.plist RunAtLoad -bool NO
sudo chflags schg /Library/LaunchAgents/com.microsoft.update.agent.plist

source: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/how-to-get-rid-of-microsoft-autoupdate.2231809/?post=28384662#post-28384662

One more thing, if you want to disable feedback, telemetry and starting of the Microsoft AutoUpdate app when you start another Microsoft app:

defaults write com.microsoft.autoupdate2 'MAUFeedbackEnabled' -bool FALSE
defaults write com.microsoft.autoupdate2 'SendAllTelemetryEnabled' -bool FALSE
defaults write com.microsoft.autoupdate2 'StartDaemonOnAppLaunch' -bool FALSE

source: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/how-to-get-rid-of-microsoft-autoupdate.2231809/?post=28384747#post-28384747

@refo Thanks for this

For some reason lines 1 and 2 didn’t work for me /Library/LaunchAgents/com.microsoft.update.agent.plist would be overwritten with what looked like a directory listing.

> sudo defaults write /Library/LaunchAgents/com.microsoft.update.agent.plist Disabled -bool YES

> cat /Library/LaunchAgents/com.microsoft.update.agent.plist

-rw-r--r--  1 root  wheel  715 17 Oct 13:25 /Library/LaunchAgents/com.microsoft.update.agent.plist

Not sure why, I cannot see why this is happening 🤷🏼‍♂️

Anyway I got around this by using an alternative way to change the plists.

sudo /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Set Disabled YES" /Library/LaunchAgents/com.microsoft.update.agent.plist
sudo /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Set RunAtLoad NO" /Library/LaunchAgents/com.microsoft.update.agent.plist