Auto update 6 -> 7.1 on windows ....

[DeepDiver1975]

I downloaded the installer from https://owncloud.com/desktop-app/ which is about as official as it gets. The auto-update occurred whether I installed 5.3.2, 6.0.2, or 6.0.3. At least in 6.0.3 which I just tried, there does not appear to be any way to "pin" an update channel, so upon reboot, it auto-updates in a VERY UNFRIENDLY way. It kills explorer, resulting in a black screen with a blank, unresponsive, blue window. One must Ctrl-Alt-Delete, start Task Manager, then Start a new explorer process to recover.

Originally posted by @kbulgrien in #12574

[DeepDiver1975]

let's work on this with in a new ticket..... @kbulgrien ....

[DeepDiver1975]

As per my understanding 7.1 is not yet pushed to our update server and therefore I really wonder what is going on .....

[kbulgrien]

The autoupdate has occurred for both myself and a colleague. Furthermore, curiously, we both have 5.3.1 on different computers. These installs are not auto-updating. This is why I tried installing 5.3.2 as a downgrade experiment, but that did not prevent autoupdate. I guess I could try to downgrade to 5.3.1.

Edit: Well actually I cannot try 5.3.1 without re-pulling everything from the server. Even if I get a 5.3.1 config file, it refuses to re-use the sync folder even if I remove the metadata files from it's root. Regardless, on reboot it also updates to 7.1.

[kbulgrien]

I will also note that there is Owncloud documentation that says how to disable the auto-update, but I tried these (config file and registry) and none of them worked (at least for 6.0.2/6.0.3). I even tried the GPO version. There are also different directions somewhere that use a different assignment in the config file. I'll have to search history to find out where those suggestions came from.

This is a very interesting thread relating to the topic of auto-updates.

[DeepDiver1975]

Just installed 6.O.3 on windows. No update was been offered so far.....
Regardless of the update channel used....

[johndball]

This is happening to me as well.

• Organization A: 25 clients, keep updating to 7.x even though the registry is set via GPO to disable auto updates. I blocked all access to (wildcard)owncloud(wildcard) at the edge which prevented updates on prem but our off prem users not on VPN are still updating.
• Organization B: 10 clients, keep updating to 7.x but this organization has AppLocker. I downloaded then blocked the 7.x MSI with a DENY rule in AppLocker

The registry "fix" is not working. My suggestion for a long-term solution would have the 6.x clients check for a new version but server-side deliver a no update available message (AKA: prevent 6.x clients from upgrading to 7x and beyond).

[DeepDiver1975]

Thank you for the details!

We are still missing a piece here. The ownCloud client update server is not publishing the 7 series. I really wonder why this is happening for you guys....

[johndball]

Thank you for the details!

We are still missing a piece here. The ownCloud client update server is not publishing the 7 series. I really wonder why this is happening for you guys....

Is there a specific URL or IP address being used by clients (in general) for download updates automatically? I'd be happy to push out client-side IP blocks for the update URL and dig into networking logs.

The only system event logs I can find are below. They are useless for troubleshooting but I figured I'd share them so you don't think I'm crazy. ;-)

The earliest log I can find for an update was on 24 June 2026 at 03:04:27 US Eastern time. Prior to that date/time there are no attempts to install 7.x.

• Windows Installer installed the product. Product Name: ownCloud. Product Version: 7.1.0.19041. Product Language: 1033. Manufacturer: ownCloud GmbH. Installation success or error status: 0.
• Ending a Windows Installer transaction: C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\WinGet\defaultState\ownCloud.ownCloudDesktop.7.1.0.19041\ownCloud-7.1.0.19041.x64.msi. Client Process Id: 32016.

Once I blocked the MSI via AppLocker, these are the events showing on client endpoints:

• The installation of ownCloud-7.1.0.19041.x64.msi is not permitted by software restriction policy. The Windows Installer only allows installation of unrestricted items. The authorization level returned by software restriction policy was 0x0 (status return 0x0).

[kbulgrien]

Regarding "We are still missing a piece here. The ownCloud client update server is not publishing the 7 series. I really wonder why this is happening for you guys....". The fact that blocking "download.owncloud.com" (e.g. setting 127.0.0.1 download.owncloud.com in C:\Windows\System32\default\etc\hosts) prevents auto-upgrade, it is clear that there IS an updated owncloud accessible. Clearly then, in our (some) cases, owncloud is updating from there, or, it is checking that location before updating and cannot continue when that check fails.