Windows 7 and Windows 8 updates slow

The last few months, I've noticed brand new clean Windows 7 installs have a hard time updating for the first time. Doesn't matter if they are updating from the original Microsoft update service of from a WSUS server, the time until the first update sometimes can be hours.

This update is supposed to fix that. I haven't tried it myself yet:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3161608

© GeekLabInfo Windows 7 and Windows 8 updates slow is a post from GeekLab.info. You are free to copy materials from GeekLab.info, but you are required to link back to http://www.geeklab.info

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...

Remove “standby” from shutdown window

I recently discovered that one of my most annoying users has found another way to frustrate the WSUS update process: First, she simply didn't shutdown the computer when she went home. Now I've installed a psshutdown script on the SBS Server that forces a shutdown every evening, she found out that she could put the computer in hibernation mode. Which of course isn't a bad idea to shutdown the computer in the lunch break, but is terrible for the administrative processes if you do it every night, day after day.

The solution

I removed the hibernation option from the shutdown window. This can be done by adding a parameter to the ACPI section of the registry:
Key: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ACPI\Parameters
Attribute name: Attributes
Attribute value: 0x70

You can change this parameter on the command line:
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ACPI\Parameters" /v Attributes /t REG_DWORD /d 0x70 /f

To use this in a GPO, you'll need to create a .adm file... or simply run above command as a startup/shutdown script.

© GeekLabInfo Remove "standby" from shutdown window is a post from GeekLab.info. You are free to copy materials from GeekLab.info, but you are required to link back to http://www.geeklab.info

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...

Backup your WSUS database

"c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\binn\SQLCMD.EXE" -E -S np:\\.\pipe\MSSQL$MICROSOFT##SSEE\sql\query -Q "BACKUP DATABASE [SUSDB] TO DISK = N'C:\backups\SUSDB.BAK' WITH NOFORMAT, INIT, NAME = N'WSUS Database Backup', SKIP,NOREWIND, NOUNLOAD, STATS = 10"

c:\backups must be writable by the user that is running the database. In my case, I believe this is user "NETWORK SERVICE".

© GeekLabInfo Backup your WSUS database is a post from GeekLab.info. You are free to copy materials from GeekLab.info, but you are required to link back to http://www.geeklab.info

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...

How to move your SUSDB (WSUS)

WSUS 3 by default stores its metadata in the "Windows Internal Database". According to wikipedia, this is an embedded version of SQL Express, which ships with Win2k8, Sharepoint Services and WSUS.

So, how move this datastore around?

As with a regular SQL Server datastore, you can detach and move the database.

Download and install required tools

I got the tools from the microsoft website. I downloaded sqlncli.msi and SQLServer2005_SQLCMD.msi

Stop services

The following services must be stopped to be able to detach the database: IIS Admin Service and Update Services (Not Windows Update Service!). To do this, run:
net stop "update services"
net stop w3svc

Move it around

1. Detach the database
"c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\binn\SQLCMD.EXE" -E -S np:\\.\pipe\MSSQL$MICROSOFT##SSEE\sql\query -Q "sp_detach_db 'SUSDB'"

2. Now move the SUSDB.mdf and SUSDB.ldf to their new location. In the example below, we use E:\WSUSDB\. Use explorer to move the files to the path you'd like.

3. Then we reattach the database:
"c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\binn\SQLCMD.EXE" -E -S np:\\.\pipe\MSSQL$MICROSOFT##SSEE\sql\query -Q "sp_attach_db @dbname=N'SUSDB',@filename1=N'E:\WSUSDB\SUSDB.mdf', @filename2=N'E:\WSUSDB\SUSDB_log.ldf'"

Restart services

Restart the services we stopped before. To do this, run:
net start "update services"
net start w3svc

Related info

If you want to move the WSUS data itself as well, please see this page

© GeekLabInfo How to move your SUSDB (WSUS) is a post from GeekLab.info. You are free to copy materials from GeekLab.info, but you are required to link back to http://www.geeklab.info

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (8 votes, average: 4.63 out of 5)
Loading...

KB974417 install fails – working solution! – updated

(This article is an update to this original page from march.)

This article is an update to this original page from march.
If you can't get these instructions to work, you may try the old instructions.

I recently installed a new Microsoft WSUS server. Most of it went just fine. Except for a few updates that weren't needed according to windowsupdate.com, but were required according to WSUS.

Especially KB974417 was pretty annoying. I tried installing it a dozen times, but after each reboot, WAU came back telling the update was ready to install. I checked out the eventvwr, and got the following useless message:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: HotFixInstaller
Event Category: None
Event ID: 5000
Date: 3/16/2010
Time: 3:06:25 PM
User: N/A
Computer: PC1
Description:
EventType visualstudio8setup, P1 microsoft .net framework 2.0-kb974417, P2 1033, P3 1642, P4 msi, P5 f, P6 9.0.40302.0, P7 install, P8 x86, P9 w2k3r2, P10 0.

Installing it manually

I downloaded the file from the Microsoft website, to find that the update itself thought itwasn't needed as well: None of the products that are addressed by this software update are installed on this computer. Click Cancel to exit setup.

So what I did:

Continue Reading…

© GeekLabInfo KB974417 install fails - working solution! - updated is a post from GeekLab.info. You are free to copy materials from GeekLab.info, but you are required to link back to http://www.geeklab.info

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading...

Windows update: Install at night

In order to keep my users from getting windows update messages, I try to install any client updates at night. I have a few tricks to make this possible:

1: Boot up at night

Most computers can boot up automatically at night, using Wake-On-LAN. If your computer or its NIC does not support WOL, you can use the bios' power management to boot at night.

Don't start all computers at the exact same time, as this will result in a power peak - better spread it, like 5 computers per minute.

Continue Reading…

© GeekLabInfo Windows update: Install at night is a post from GeekLab.info. You are free to copy materials from GeekLab.info, but you are required to link back to http://www.geeklab.info

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (2 votes, average: 2.50 out of 5)
Loading...

KB974417 install fails – working solution!

Please read this updated article instead.
This page remains available for archiving purposes.

I recently installed a new Microsoft WSUS server. Most of it went just fine. Except for a few updates that weren't needed according to windowsupdate.com, but were required according to WSUS.

Especially KB974417 was pretty annoying. I tried installing it a dozen times, but after each reboot, WAU came back telling the update was ready to install. I checked out the eventvwr, and got the following useless message:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: HotFixInstaller
Event Category: None
Event ID: 5000
Date: 3/16/2010
Time: 3:06:25 PM
User: N/A
Computer: PC1
Description:
EventType visualstudio8setup, P1 microsoft .net framework 2.0-kb974417, P2 1033, P3 1642, P4 msi, P5 f, P6 9.0.40302.0, P7 install, P8 x86, P9 w2k3r2, P10 0.

Installing it manually

I downloaded the file from the Microsoft website, to find that the update itself thought itwasn't needed as well: None of the products that are addressed by this software update are installed on this computer. Click Cancel to exit setup.

So what I did:

Continue Reading…

© GeekLabInfo KB974417 install fails - working solution! is a post from GeekLab.info. You are free to copy materials from GeekLab.info, but you are required to link back to http://www.geeklab.info

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (21 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading...