Project and Project Server December 2018 Updates Released

[Project-Support]

First published on TECHNET on Dec 17, 2018
This week the Public Update (PU) for Project Server 2013 and 2016 were released for December 2018 . This month, client and server updates were released on December 11th. Typically the client updates release on the first Tuesday of the month and server on the second Tuesday release schedule.

There was a Project Server 2010 Cumulative update package released this month that contains fix for security vulnerability. Mainstream support for Project and Project Server 2010 ended October 13, 2015 - see https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle . An SP1 patched 2010 system (with no SP2) is no longer supported - see the Lifecycle site for more information - http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/search?sort=PN&alpha=project+2010&Filter=FilterNO

We are now delivering as Public Updates, although Server fixes are shipped just via the Download Center and not via Microsoft Update (Unless there is a security element or a fix deemed essential - this month both SharePoint Server 2016 and 2013 fixes have security fixes - so some may have come down via the update center). These are still all cumulative and include fixes released in all previous updates since the last baseline (Initial release for 2016 and SP1 for 2013).

A note about Click-to-Run (sometimes abbreviated C2R) versions of Project for Office 365. The updates for this version are not included in this blog. For some information about Click-to-Run versions, please see the following site for version numbers and some fix information: https://technet.microsoft.com/office/mt465751 . We may have a future blog with additional information about Click-to-Run update channels and methods.

Also a note for users of the Project client connecting to Project Online - see https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/projectsupport/2016/12/15/using-project-online-time-to-be-su... -  you will have needed a '2016' level client to connect starting since the end of June 2017.

Feel free to open a support case if you have any questions around this or need assistance getting these patches deployed.

The 2013 PU releases also have a real prerequisite of the appropriate Service Pack 1 (SP1), and links for SP1 are given below. SP1 is enforced in this release, so you will find out (as I did) if you really do have SP1 for all your installed components and language packs! This also means RTM is no longer supported! See http://blogs.technet.com/b/stefan_gossner/archive/2015/04/15/common-issue-april-2015-fixes-for-s... too which describes an issue you might see if you don't have the 'right' SP1. Slipstream would work with the original SP1 - but the updates require the re-released SP1. Since the May PU this shouldn't be an issue - but including here just in case.

Another important point to add here is that there was in early 2013 running the SharePoint Configuration Wizard on a server with Project Server 2013 installed -this is fixed by applying the April 2013 or later- so a good practice would be to load SP1, then the current PU and then run the configuration wizard (if you didn't already load the April 2013 through June 2014 CU).

Project and Project Server 2016

An overview of all the Office 2016 releases for December 2018 can be found here -

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4477615/december2018updatesformicrosoftoffice - December 2018 updates for Microsoft Office
Project Server 2016
With the 2016 release, we just have a single patch (usually this single patch comes in two parts... a wssloc and sts2016 part - however this month we only have the sts2016 part) - as we have also the single msi for installation of SharePoint Server 2016 (Project Server still needs licensing separately though). Both parts need installing before the configuration wizard is executed. The sts2016 part of the patch also contains security fixes so is released via Microsoft Update, the Update catalog as well as the download center.

Description of the security update for SharePoint Server 2016: December 11, 2018- Includes Project fixes, like the roll-up patch in Project Server 2016.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4461541/descriptionofthesecurityupdateforsharepointente...

There is a database schema update this month - it changes to 16.0.4783.1000. Remember, Project Server 2016 data is in the content database. The version number 16.0.4783.1000 can be used to control the connecting client to the December 2018 level. For reference - the RTM build number seen for the DB schema would be 16.0.4327.1000.
Project 2016 Client Package:
December 4th, 2018, update for Project 2016 (KB4461540)

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4461540/december42018updateforproject2016kb4461540

The version of Project Professional 2016 will be updated to 16.0.4783.1000 in the properties for WinProj.exe. In 2016 we don't do a good job of displaying the version in File, Account, About Project - we only display the MSO version and not the specific Project version (You can confirm this by looking at the version of winproj.exe - in (default for 32 bit) C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16)

If you have Click to Run and using Project Pro for Office 365 at the '16' level, then your version will depend on which update frequency you have set. Take a look at https://blogs.office.com/2016/02/09/deferred-channel-build-now-available-for-the-office-365-clie... for a few changes in this area - Current Branch for Business is now called Deferred Channel. We are aware that we don't appear to expose the full change details for Project and are looking into it - you should start seeing more here soon.
Project and Project Server 2013
An overview of all the Office 2013 releases for December 2018 can be found here - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4477615/december2018updatesformicrosoftoffice - December 2018, updates for Microsoft Office. This include multiple fixes, so Microsoft strongly recommends that you test this in a test environment based on your production environment before putting this fix live in production. You can read about the fixes included in the Project and Project Server December PUs from the following articles:
Project Server 2013 Server Rollup Package
December 11, 2018, cumulative update for Project Server 2013 (KB4461553)

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4461553/december112018cumulativeupdateforprojectserver2...

Project Server 2013 Individual Project Package - (cumulative, but only the Project Server fixes):

December 11, 2018, update for Project Server 2013 (KB4461461)

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4461461/december112018updateforprojectserver2013kb44614...

The dbo.Versions table should show 15.0.5093.1000 after applying the December 2018 PU. The version number 15.0.5093.1000 can be used to control the connecting client to the December 2018 PU level. Project Professional Versions (Project Server 2013 settings)

SP1 for Project Server 2013 can be found here - https://support.microsoft.com/help/2880553
Project 2013 Client Package:
No Project client update this month.