General quick fix for Windows Update problems

Most problems with Windows Update can be solved by the simply renaming the folder SoftwareDistribution from the Windows directory. To be able to do so you are required to stop the service Automatic Updates (if you’re on Windows XP or Server 2003 or earlier) or the Windows Update service if you are on Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 and later.

The SoftwareDistribution folder is automatically recreated when you start the service again. Bear in mind that you will lose the update history when performing this trick, something you can get back of course if you change the name of the SoftwareDistribution folder instead of just deleting it.

Also keep in mind that deleting the SoftwareDistribution folder is for fixing problems with searching for updates or contacting a WSUS server for instance, you will not solve problems installing various hotfixes or updates using this method. To troubleshoot problems related to Windows Update or Automatic Updates look in the WindowsUpdate.log located in the root of thew Windows directory for clues. For problametic hotfix installations see the hotfix log file.

Easy uninstall of patches in Windows 7

Windows Vista introduced patches in MSU (Microsoft Standalone Update) format which has many advantages over the traditional Windows XP patches format. However, if one want to uninstall patches in Windows Vista, this is kind of tricky.

You will be glad to learn that in Windows 7 the wusa.exe command line tool has been improved so that you can use an uninstall switch and just supply the KB number for the update you want to remove.

wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:940102 /quiet

Could it become easier to uninstall patches using scripts?

Windows Update client in Windows 7 also coming for Windows Vista

If you have tried out Windows 7 you know that it includes some changes when it comes to Windows Update. The good news for Windows Vista users is that the Windows Update client included in Windows 7 also will be available for Windows Vista. A few days ago the beta program for the next version of the Windows Update client started on Microsoft Connect.

Some of the improvements that can be seen in Windows 7 and that will be available in Windows Vista are as follows:

• Reduced number of UAC prompts and the option to allow all users to install any updates.
• Much better interface and separated optional and important updates.
• More information when errors do occur, now also with descriptions.
• Better notification for the user telling them that the computer will be restarted at xx:xx hours and that the user need to save all open documents, if the settings are set to automatically install and restart the client that is.

If you want to try the new Windows Update client for Windows Vista, go to http://connect.microsoft.com and apply to the program called “MUv4 Beta”.

More information about setting Microsoft Update to be the default instead of Windows Update by script can be found in this post I made quite some time ago. I’ve also verified that this works in Windows 7 as well as in Windows Vista.

Slipstream the “new” Windows Update components

More than half a year ago Microsoft silently released updated Windows Update components. No official notice was made about this silent release until now, when Microsoft finally published a Knowledge Base article about it, providing download links. But hey, wait! The downloads have been available since the new components were released in mid August. That is because the new Windows Update components are automatically downloaded via Windows Update, and all files that are downloaded via Windows Update are specified with download paths in WindowsUpdate.log. You can always find the download links directly in the WindowsUpdate.log (located in %WINDIR%) if you look at what the file name requested is and then adding it to the base download path.

The benefits of downloading the new Windows Update components from here is that you can integrate the CAB files directly into the Windows Vista install.wim image. Here are the links to the Windows Update Components CAB files (please note that you need to integrate/slipstream all three files for each platform):

• Windows Update Component ActiveX, x86 or x64.
• Windows Update Component Aux, x86 or x64.
• Windows Update Component Core, x86 or x64.

More information and download links for the EXE installers for Windows Vista and Windows XP can be found in the Microsoft Support KB article KB946928.

Setting Microsoft Update to be default using a script

Windows Update in Windows Vista is wrapped in a regular window in the operating system itself rather than being opened as a web page in Internet Explorer 7. The basics are the same and it is the same underlying components in both Windows Vista and when you run Windows Update in a browser window on for instance Windows XP. Never mind, on a Vista client computer set to connect to a WSUS (Windows Server Update Services) server it will of course always check for updates there. In the Windows Update control panel on a client computer you can however choose to alternatively search for updates on Windows Update. If you deploy other software such as Office 2007 you might want to use Microsoft Update instead of Windows Update, to see if there are other updates available for Office and other Microsoft products, not only Windows.

The reason why I want to check Microsoft Update manually from time to time us is to regularly check which updates arrive to the various client computers that can be downloaded separately and then integrated into our installation media. Since opting into Microsoft Update require administrative rights on the computers I want to set Microsoft Update somehow automatically and apparently there are still no GPO settings for this, which I find rather strange. After doing some reserach I have found the solution to automatically set that Microsoft Update will be the default instead of Windows Update. The script to add is as follows:

Set ServiceManager = CreateObject(“Microsoft.Update.ServiceManager”)
ServiceManager.ClientApplicationID = “My App”
‘add the Microsoft Update Service, GUID
Set NewUpdateService = ServiceManager.AddService2(“7971f918-a847-4430-9279-4a52d1efe18d”,7,”")

Add this to a startup or login script to make sure Microsoft Update is always default.