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how do I force updates on wsus?

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by downrighttired

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I am running WSUS on our local intranet. All pcs are set to get updates from intranet through group policy. Im wondering how I can remotely force a pc to update? Can this be done through WSUS?

12 replies

by ugadata

Forgive the pun, couldn't resist.

I haven't found any good way of actually forcing a client to update from a WSUS server. That is short of changing and re-changing the update settings to a "near current time" and then waiting for the update time to pass.

What I done instead is to goto Windows or Microsoft Update site, basically bypassing the WSUS server.

by uberstein

You can open a command line window on the client you want to force and type,

wuauclt /detectnow

in order to force a detection cycle to start, but the only way to do that remotely would be using remote desktop or some other similar tool.

by nhahajn

You can, but it is a little complex. You basically create a new computer group, and set a deadline for any updates for that group that is before the current date. It's a little more complex then I want to try to explain in a post, put you can PM me if you want.

by gregg.rosenau

wuauclt /detectnow from a run command worked perfectly. I had been trying gpupdate with no success. My updates have now come down and are now installing.

Thanks!

by caserline3

Does the computer has to be already on a group and updates already aproved for that to work? sorry I am new with WSUS so I have lots of questions.

Do you know the location where the updates are saved and can I copy the updates manually to a client and runn it from there?

by kjell_andorsen

wuauclt /detectnow is just a command that makes the computer you run it on check it's own Windows update settings and download and/or install updates in accordance with it's settings. In order for it to work with WSUS you need to have a GPO that specifices the WSUS target server and the computer must be set up in an update group on the WSUS server.

As an additional tip, if you want to run the command on a remote computer without using rdp to log in to it I recommend the nifty sysinternal tool called psExec which basically lets you open a command prompt for a remote computer where you can run all sorts of nifty commands including wuauclt, gpupdate and even shutdown.exe

by shasca

wuauclt.exe /detectnow at the run command. It will pull updates within minutes

by dougzuck

There is a free app that will give you the control you're looking for to remotely initiate the installation of Windows updates on a lot of computers simultaneously.

Check it here:
http://dougzuck.com/remoterebootx

Good luck

by sanishku

Hi,

i installed the wsus server in 2008r2. i can see the list of machines populated in the unassigned computers list. the problem iam facing is to send the updates to the computers from the server... could you please tell me the steps i should take. iam using the server console instead of group policy

Regards,
Anish

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