The installer package is out of date - KB 122157

Question

My company deploys Sophos via SCCM. We originally set this up approximately 90 days ago. Earlier this week when trying to deploy to new workstations, our service desk was met with the "Installation cannot continue" error. 
 
 We went out and downloaded the installer package again, replaced the source files in SCCM and that seemed to fix it. It wasn't until we looked up the KB listed (122157) that we discovered that apparently this is a routine maintenance thing? 
 Two things on this, it's very easy to fix if you have access to SCCM source files and you're deploying it via an application (not a package) in SCCM. 
 It's frustrating that we weren't informed of this maintenance up front. Had we known, we would have not interrupted new pc image/rollout because of something like this. It really ought to be a highlight of the onboarding with Sophos Central, IMO.

Jiri Hadamek · Answer

Hi Jak, 
 
 Thank you for your answer. 
 I think that it can be useful to have this mentioned (that download is possible unauthorized inside Authorized pages) in manuals or help. Please close this discussion.

Jiri Hadamek · Answer

We have small script in Powershell and copy NEW installer every two weeks. 
 The URL have to be recorded from authenticated Sophos central 
 If it helps: 
 $Log = "e:\Logs\Sophos_download.log" # echo "start" >> $Log $source = "dzr-api-amzn-eu-west-1-9af7.api-upe.p.hmr.sophos.com/......./SophosInstall.exe" $destination = "c:\Your_destination\SophosInstall.exe" $DestinationNew = "SophosInstall-InterceptX.exe" # echo "variables" >> $Log $client = new-object System.Net.WebClient $client.DownloadFile($source, $destination) # echo "after download" >> $Log # Remove .bak, copy old .exe to .bak, copy new to .exe $DestPath = Split-path $destination cd $DestPath $DestFile = Split-path $destination -Leaf $DestinationBak = $DestinationNew.Split(".")[0] + ".bak" #echo "before rename" >> $Log If (Test-Path "$DestinationBak"){ del "$DestinationBak" } ren "$DestinationNew" "$DestinationBak" ren "$destination" "$DestinationNew"

JS · Answer

The installer referred to here has been superseded since earlier this year. The original download URL is still active as it is required by the Sophos Central migration tool, used to move from the on premises Sophos Enterprise Console (SEC) to Sophos Central. 
 
 All downloads of the installer from within Sophos Central using the links in the UI are now of a different newer version and the information in KB 122157 does not apply to it. 
 
 Importantly, the new installer does not have a built in expiry; if you update your SCCM package with it then you do not need to update it every 90 days. 
 
 To avoid installing out of date version of Sophos, the new installer always performs a check for updates to itself when first running; even an old SCCM package will still go straight to an up to date version of the endpoint software, including an up to date installer as we have released a number of versions since its launch bringing assorted improvements and bug fixes. 
 
 The new installer requires different command line options so it will need a one off initial change to the SCCM package. Please see KB 127045 for details of the new command line parameters. https://community.sophos.com/kb/en-us/127045 
 
 Hope that helps, 
 
 Jon