How can I stop automatic viewer updates on multiple computers for multiple users?

[Skooter10]

I am installing Second Life Viewer on multiple computers for multiple users (Enterprise System). However, viewer updates have been being release every few days, which prevents users from using the SL viewer. How can I turn off auto updates for the Second Life viewer?

[Rolig Loon]

In Preferences >>> Setup, look at the pulldown menu and the checkbox that deal with software updates. Updates are usually not mandatory, but it is wise not to stay too far behind with major updates of any kind.  Linden Lab is in a continuous development, triage, and QA  cycle, so there are always new features and repairs to bugs in old ones.  You should get in the habit of reviewing the Release Notes frequently to make your own judgment about when it is smart to do manual updates. 

For example, the most recent viewer upgrade contains the following note:

Apple recently announced that they are no longer supporting QuickTime for Windows and most importantly, will not be providing security updates going forwards. We use QuickTime in the viewer to play back media type likes MP3 MPEG-4 and of course MOV.

This viewer replaces the QuickTime media plugin for the Windows version of the viewer with one based on LibVLC (https://wiki.videolan.org/LibVLC/). The OS X viewer is unchanged since Apple will continue to support QuickTime there.

That's a fairly important change, but it might not strike you as crucial if your users will not be viewing streaming video in world. 

[Whirly Fizzle]

Even disabling the automatic updates in preferences doesn't fully disable them.

One way you can totally stop the updater ever kicking in is to change the viewer channel by using the --channel parameter - see http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Viewer_parameters

So for example, if this is on a Windows system, right click the viewer shortcut -> Properties  -> Shortcut tab.

In the "Target" text box, go to the end of the text, add a space and then add --channel MyName . You can use any channel name you like.

For example, if the original target text is "I:\Program Files\SecondLifeViewer\SecondLifeViewer.exe" , you would change this to "I:\Program Files\SecondLifeViewer\SecondLifeViewer.exe" --channel NoUpdate

Remember to check regularly for viewer updates if you make this change & you can install updates when it's convenient.