Updating a Teams Room device after unboxing

Ok, you’ve just received a shipment of MTRs. You’ve ripped open the boxes and connected them up on your test bench. The next step – getting them updated with the latest MTR app and supported version of Window.

Windows Version

First and foremost, it’s important to bring the Windows Version running on the MTR up to a supported version (documented here: Microsoft Teams Rooms app version support – Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Docs). At time of writing, 1909, 20H2 and 21H2 are supported. 21H2 is recommended.

Depending on how long your MTR has sat in a warehouse, it may be running a much older version of Windows 10. How old will depend on how you next proceed.

Pre 1909

If the MTR is currently running any version of Windows prior to 1909, connect the MTR to the internet via the Ethernet port, ensuring it has access to Windows Update and the Windows Store for Business. The MTR will run a scheduled task at 2AM which will automatically go and fetch updates and install them, and will then reboot the MTR.

If you’re running a really old version of Windows 10 such as 1803, it may take several nights of automatic updates to bring the machine up to 1909 or newer.

e.g:

Once you’re up to version 1909, you can continue with the below steps. if you want to update to 20H2 or 21H2.

If you wish to speed this process up, you can run the scheduled task under Microsoft > Skype called NightlyReboot a number of times. Keep in mind though that often, Windows Update won’t immediately provide the next available update just after a machine has started, so give it an hour or two between running the task after each reboot. Above all, be patient. It’s unlikely that you’ll go from 1809 to 1909 in one night.

1909 or newer

If you’re running version 1909 or newer, you can speed things up by running the manual room update tool.

Essentially, the current Teams app version running on the MTR controls what version of Windows will be installed. If you want to run 21H2, you must be running the latest MTR app.

To run the app, login as the Skype user, and then switch user (by plugging in a keyboard and pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL and clicking switch user), then login as Admin (default password is sfb).

Once logged in as Admin, download the Powershell script from here: Manually update a Microsoft Teams Rooms device – Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Docs

Once downloaded, right click the file and choose Properties and be sure to check the unblock box to allow the script to run.

Next, launch an administrator powershell window and run:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

Press Y and ENTER to confirm.

Then launch the script by typing its path:

\MTR-Update-4.12.126.0.ps1

The script will take a few minutes to run. Once finished, Version 4.12.126 (or newer!) will now be installed.

At this point, the MTR is ready to receive the latest version of Windows – 21H2. You can either wait for the nightly reboot to occur at 2am, or go in to Task Scheduler, expand Microsoft > Skype, right click on the NightReboot task and click run. The task will take aprox 30-45 mins to run, possibly much longer and will eventually reboot the MTR.

It may take several nights of updates and reboots to bring the MTR up to 21H2. It’s unlikely the MTR will jump straight from 1909 to 21H2 in one night as the MTR will need to install a number of pre-reqs first.

A note on running the scheduled task manually

If you choose to run the scheduled task manually, don’t be alarmed when nothing appears to happen after clicking run. Everything will be happening in the background, and normally within 30-45 minutes the MTR will automatically reboot and sign itself back in to the Skype account and launch Teams.

Of course, if the MTR is downloading a large Windows update, it could take several hours for the MTR to reboot.