Installing SharePoint 2016 Updates

Planning / Pre-work

Check what patches have already been installed

1. Connect to Central Admin
2. Click Upgrade and Migration
3. Click Check product and patch installation status
4. Review Updates installed on each server to see what patch level has been reached.

Download desired patches

1. Compare installed to Microsoft’s SharePoint History List
2. Download the patch(es) that you want to install

Installation

1. Copy patch download files to each server in farm
2. Run patches on each server
3. Go back to Central Admin > Upgrade and Migration
4. Click Review Database Status
5. If any database’s status reads Database is in compatibility range and upgrade is recommended or Database is too old. Upgrade is required, continue to these next steps
6. Open SharePoint 2016 Products Configuration Wizard
7. Follow the steps in the wizard, and confirm it is ok to shutdown certain services to proceed. (step 9 took 15-20 minutes)
8. After Wizard completes, repeat running wizard on next server in farm. Repeat until all servers have run the wizard (cannot be run simultaneously).
9. Reboot the farm
10. Confirm it works, and that CA shows an updated patch level on all servers.

Verification

1. In CA > System Settings > Manage servers in this Farm, confirm the Status column for each server shows No action required
2. In CA > Upgrade and Migration > Check upgrade status, confirm there are logged upgrade sessions for todays date showing Succeeded for each server in the farm.

Also reference this article for more tips, or the MS article on installing SP 2016 Software Updates.

Troubleshooting

I think if the wizard fails, you cannot attempt the upgrade again via the GUI, you’ll have to use the command line:

psconfig -cmd upgrade -inplace b2b -force -cmd applicationcontent -install -cmd installfeatures

If that command gets through all of the steps, and appears to hang for a long period of time (I expect it to take 10-15 minutes), you may just have to click in to the window, and tap an arrow key to get the command line window to refresh. I just waited about 45 minutes past when CA says the update completed for that window to tell me it was done. On a co-worker’s advice, I clicked and arrow’d, and then it updated and said it was complete.