This post gives an overview of problem solutions for Windows Update errors or if Windows Update is not working.

Considering the number of updates that are pushed out through Windows Update every year, this service is quite reliable. Nevertheless, sometimes Windows Update does not work properly. Due to the complexity of a modern operating system, many possible causes for Windows Update errors exist. In this article, I list the most common troubleshooting tips related to Windows Update errors. Since the Windows Update Agent is the client for the Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), these tips can also be used if you are working with WSUS to deploy updates in your network.

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WSUS Offline Update is a free portable tool that allows you to download updates for Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, and all Office versions and install those updates on computers with no Internet connection.

When Steve Ballmer raves “we are all in,” he probably means that most of the things we do with computers nowadays are in one way or another connected to the cloud, and that means most computer programs assume that your computers have Internet access.

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The free Microsoft tool WSUS ClientManager allows you to add Windows workgroup computers to a WSUS server. To add multiple computers to WSUS, you can use the REG file that WSUS ClientManager creates.

If you want to update Windows computers with Microsoft’s patch management solution, WSUS, you have to add them to your WSUS infrastructure. In an Active Directory network, this can be done through Group Policy (Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update). To add workgroup computers to WSUS, you have to set the corresponding Registry settings manually. Microsoft’s free WSUS ClientManager for Workgroups helps you with this task.

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This article explains how to turn automatic reboots triggered by Windows Update.

If Windows ever rebooted your PC during your lunch break while an important task was still running or you forgot to save data in an open application, then you understand the full extent of this problem. Modern applications are able to prevent Windows from rebooting, but this doesn’t always work.

In my view, a computer should never ever automatically restart without explicit confirmation from the user. If security measures can destroy the work of users, then the bad guys have already won. No Windows update is important enough to delete a whole morning’s work of your boss.

And if a new dangerous computer worm is really threatening your PCs, then network-wide restarts have to be managed and controlled by humans, not computers.

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A while back I reviewed WuInstall Pro, a patch management tool that allows you to push Windows updates to client computers. The publisher of the command line tool hs2n has added an important new feature, which I will discuss in this post.

One of the disadvantages of WSUS is that clients can only pull updates. With WuInstall , you can push urgent updates to clients at your convenience. This lets you control exactly when Windows clients and servers receive specific updates.

Actually, WuInstall also pulls the updates from a WSUS server or Windows Update. However, since the updates are installed whenever you run the command on a client, you can write a script that centrally forces machines to download and install updates immediately. Thus, essentially, you can push Windows updates to clients with WuInstall.

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Submitted by Doug Z

Remote Reboot X is very useful for sys admins to install updates on MANY remote computers simultaneously and then reboot them all with real-time monitoring.

The tool works in conjunction with WSUS, so if you have a WSUS server (or use Microsoft’s update server) but need precise control over when your computers install the updates and reboot, you can use my tool to handle the process.  So, for example, I have about 150 servers that need to be updated and rebooted once per month, but I only have a 1-hour maintenance window.  I’m able to load the list of 150 servers into my tool and initiate the updates installation and reboot on all machines simultaneously while monitoring the status in real-time.

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Windows Update is certainly one of the most important components of Windows. Do you remember how time-consuming patch management was before this feature was added to Windows? The only thing is that some genius in Redmond managed to somehow implement Murphy’s Law into the Windows Update client. I don’t know how they did it, but it is amazing how accurately the Update client determines the worst time for installing updates or requesting reboots. WuInstall 1.2 Pro is a command line tool that enables you to overrule Murphy’s Law when it comes to Windows updates. You can use the tool together with Microsoft’s update service, or with WSUS.

Its publisher, hs2n, is now raffling off five licenses for WuInstall 1.2 Pro, each worth US $250. It authorizes to use the tool for 50 clients and 5 servers. Non-commercial institutions may run WuInstall 1.2 Pro on an unlimited number of machines. Please note that a former version of WuInstall can be found on the 4sysops list of free Windows administration tools. The new version, however, includes quite a few important new features.

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Submitted by hs2n

WuInstall is a command line tool for Windows, which enables you to install Windows-updates for a certain workstation in a controlled way by using a command line script instead of the standard Windows update functionality.

It can be used by administrators for updates on many workstations using scripts or for users who do not want to us the automatic Windows upates.

WuInstall uses the windows update API and is written in C++. It searches either on the Microsoft – Update – Server or at the internal WSUS-Sever (depending on system configuration) for currently available updates for the current workstation and can also download and/or installs these updates. It is roughly comparable with a simplified apt-get command like in Linux.

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WSUS 3.0 SP1 RTM has been released. This time it is not just a “fake release” like that of Vista SP1. You can really download it! Another question is if you really need this service pack. I tried to find out what the new features of WSUS 3.0 SP1 are.

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Microsoft offers an update that allows you to manage WSUS 3.0 SP1 with Server Manager. I think this is the first non-Windows Server 2008 product that can be integrated in Server Manager. It seems that Microsoft is indeed copying the concept of Linux management tools such as SuSE’s yast.

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Microsoft released WSUS 3.0 SP1 RC. You can download it from Microsoft Connect now. You might be tempted to install it already on a productive server. However, I would recommend waiting for the release of the final version.

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Whenever I have to deal with Microsoft’s update services, I get confused about the different terms. When I configured the security health validator (SHV) policy of NAP (Network Access Protection) in Windows Server 2008, I was puzzled again by the difference of the phrases “Automatic Updates”, “Windows Update” and “Microsoft Update”.

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I didn’t know that one can upgrade Firefox to Internet Explorer. At least this is what Microsoft recommends when you access the new Microsoft Update Catalog with Firefox. This catalog allows you to perform a full-text search in Microsoft Update database and download the patches. You can import these updates in WSUS or System Center Configuration Manager 2007. This is all quite useful.

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I wanted to try Forefront Client Security (FSC), Microsoft’s new desktop antivirus software for the enterprise, already for quite some time. Today, I thought I could just have a quick look at it even though I am still busy exploring Windows Server 2008.

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It’s my first day after vacation, and I am somewhat overwhelmed by the number of new releases relevant to my work, even though, I tried to keep myself updated through my RSS feeds. This post is more or less a to-do-list for me. If you are sys admin in a Windows shop, you’re probably in the same situation.

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