After SP2 install no windows update?

[danomac]

Last month I installed SP2. I tested it, and everything was working fine, so I went on my merry way.

Unfortunately, Windows Update no longer works. If you click the "Custom" button it says there are no updates (it comes up and says 0 updates to install.) I know for sure there are 2 updates (one being microcode patches.)

I tried Microsoft Update, but it goes around in circles and never actually lets me check for updates. You click "Start Now", then "Continue". It then complains about Automatic Updates being off, and clicking "Check for Updates" sends you back to step 1.

Does anyone have any idea what's going on here before I try uninstalling SP2?

 

[GerritR]

Is this on a Windows 2k3 server?

 

[danomac]

Yes, it is.

 

[Smorgan11]

do you get an error code from Windows update site?.

 

[danomac]

No, this is the bizarre thing. There's no error code. The updating screens pops up saying there's no updates available for the machine. However, I know there's 3 updates available. It just doesn't list them. I could install them manually, but I'd like to figure out what caused this server to stop working first.

We do run WSUS but the server in question is not in the object that has the WSUS policies applied. It's in it's own container. At first I thought for some reason it's trying to use our old WSUS server (the URL has changed) but it shouldn't be, unless it's remembering something it's not supposed to.

Is there a way to figure out what windows update URL it's trying to use?

 

[Smorgan11]

I had something similar and it was my Firewall. If you have logging on your Firewall you may see a deny to Microsoft's Websites

Silly question have you rebboted the server in case there is a pending update that is causing the grief?

 

[danomac]

The thing is, the other servers are fine. It's just this particular one running 2003 Server.

I did try rebooting it, but it had no effect. I am beginning to wonder if it's using the old WSUS url.

 

[danomac]

OK, I managed to figure it out.

It appears after SP2 something weird happened to our group policy and it was pointing to our old WSUS server (which it shouldn't have been, there was no policy on that OU at all, and it wouldn't have inherited it from anywhere.)

So I forced a GP to point to our new WSUS location... and it works.

Why it remembered the old server is beyond me. That policy was removed 6 months ago.