Windows Update 2

[Cojast]

This is probably an easy question but here it goes. Is there a way that i can download the windows update files and burn them to CD. Everytime i build a computer or reformat one i have to go back to microsoft and download like 60 updates or more. That takes a long time. I was wondering if i could just download them once and burn them to a cd or dvd so i can install them off the disk. And before anyone says anything imagine my build drives will not work cause they are custom and no computer has the same part or very rarely. It would take longer to prepare the image then to download the files.

thanks for the help

 

[maxthedork]

This site[/liknk] explains in great detail everything you want to do. Based on information on this website, I've slipstreamed the Windows XP Pro CD with Service Pack 2 and every hotfix released since SP2 up until mid June of this year, which is about 48. Consequently, the install of XP is much leaner and cleaner, and the hotfixes are incorporated in the OS and not uninstallable.

Yesterday was MS Patch Day, so there's 7 new hotfixes since the last time I slipstreamed. I'm not concerned about 7 but it's nice to install the OS and not worry about installing a truckload of patches.

 

[linney]

For future reference you can manually download updates from the Windows Update site and save them to disk. Maybe you know of such a person who has and would then let you copy them?

The trick with the above procedure is to let Windows manually scan your computer and tell you what updates are required. With a list of the updates in your hand, you then use the Administrators option link on the Windows Update site to access the Windows Catalog of updates, where you can then save them to disk. When you know what updates you require, go here and look for the link called "Find updates for Microsoft Windows operating systems". This will be available after a Brief Update of the Windows Update engine.

Find updates for Microsoft Windows operating systems.

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=8973

How to download Windows updates and drivers from the Windows Update Catalog

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;323166&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

 

[torandson]

Hi,
Okay, I went to a MS security updates page where I was able to specify "XP Pro", "SP2", and "Critical" level in a search form and it gave me a list (without needing to scan my system) of about 20 some updates going back to 2004.

I downloaded them. Then I installed about half of them before going online again to get the "XP Pro", "SP2", "Important" level updates. Another 20, and I downloaded them.

Now I've rolled my system back to a clean install, (plus mobo, printer-scanner and camera drivers, Adobe Reader 7.0, etc.) and want to install them again.

(I installed the anti-virus and firewall software for the download before going online, but I want to install the updates and then my apps on a clean system before re-installing the security software.)

I have another system which is just past the clean install phase also.

Is there a way I can automate the installation of all these security updates with a batch file of some kind?

Some of them require a reboot, some don't. Is it possible to set things up so that the system reboots when needed and continutes the installations with the next item in the list afterward?

I don't want to slipstream the XP installation, because XP SP2 is already installed, just all the post-SP2 security updates that I have downloaded.

Is there a way to do this?

--torandson

 

[BadBigBen]

@ Torandson - there are several people that have already compiled the PATCHES into a single application, ergo a one click thing... the only reboot needed then is at the end of the INSTALLIATION of the Patches, not a reboot every time the PATCH thinks it needs one...

PS: use GOOGLE for AUTOPATCHER...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[guitarzan]

Yes, you can execute them one by one in a batch file. There are command-line switches available... run one of the patches you downloaded from a command prompt with the /? switch to see the switches available... one important one is "quiet mode", which will not require user interaction.

Regarding reboots, you can probably get away with the whole post-SP2 batch of updates without a restart, but if I were you I would install the patches in chronological order (from oldest to newest).

I would also add errorlevel checks to make sure each patch installed correctly.

 

[linney]

How to install multiple Windows updates or hotfixes with only one reboot

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=296861#appliesto

"Note The procedure that is described in this article does not work for product updates that do not use Hotfix.exe or Update.exe as the installation program. For example, Internet Explorer updates."

 

[torandson]

BigBadBen,
Yes, I am aware of this, but I don't install anything that doesn't come from the horse's mouth anymore.

And even the stuff that does is suspect now that Sony and MS have joined the spyware vendors.

--torandson

 

[torandson]

guitarzan,
Yes, one reason that this whole thing has been so time-consuming is that I have been recording this information in a text file: the date printed on the actual download page, whether the update also applies to SP1 or only to SP2, and references to KB articles that document caveats. This information, too, has been copied to the text file.

This makes it possible to arrange them in chronological order.

I may break it into two or three batches, though.

The time at the front end will prove to have been well spent if I should ever again need to install these things.

--torandson

 

[torandson]

linney,
Thanks, I think that's exactly what I was looking for.

By the way, how can I tell which patches are installed with update.exe?

How about hotfix.exe?

Are IE updates the only ones that do not fall into this category?

I notice that filenames generally say WindowsXP-KBxxxxxx..., or sometimes Windows-KBxxxxxx...

And what about WindowsMedia9-KBxxxxxx...?

Is there a way to use the filenames to filter out the non-update.exe patches?

Is there a way to determine from the available information which is which, or is this just a "Some know it, some don't" kind of thing?

--torandson

 

[guitarzan]

torandson,

What I have done in the past is what linney suggested earlier... let Windows Update tell you which updates you need.

For example, do a fresh load of XP on a computer, install the drivers, etc. If the XP CD you used is not SP2, download and install the SP2 update.

Then, run Windows Update (Custom, not Express)... should be something like 40 or 50 (!) critical updates post-SP2. One-by-one, click the "details..." links, and eventually you'll get to the download page for the update. Download the exe and move on to the next.

When you're done, you have all the critical post-SP2 updates, without any of the optional updates (I think that's what you meant by "non-update.exe patches"). At least, until the next "patch Tuesday".

If the batch file works, it can be repeated on other machines that have SP2 loaded. If you are loading machines from scratch, you may want to create a slipstreamed CD with the latest updates. This involves copying your XP CD onto your hard drive (to, let's say, C:\MyXPInstallCD), and running all the "WindowsXP-KBxxxxxx.exe" files with a special switch that tells it "don't install this update into C:\Windows... instead install it to C:\MyXPInstallCD".

 

[bcastner]

I would reconsider your stance on slipstreaming:

http://www.vorck.com/hfslip-info.html

 

[torandson]

guitarzan,

I appreciate your intended helpfulness, but you missed my point.

I don't want to slipstream an installation CD. I've done that before, and can do that if I want to. This is a different need. I want to be able to update a system without having to start from a clean, formatted partition with nothing on it. Maybe I already have the OS, SP2 and several mobo drivers, peripheral drivers and low-level apps installed. I don't want to have to do that all over again.

I already have XP SP2 installed. I already have the updates downloaded. All I want to do is install them in one operation on the second new machine (which also already has SP2.)

And I have DVD images of the OS clean install partition(s) with SP2 installed, mobo drivers, and a few low level apps.

Now, I want to install the updates. If I don't like the result, or some patch is screwing everything up, I want to reload the clean install SP2 image, and re-install the critical and important updates without having to install them one at a time and reboot 40 times. I may want to add one or delete one from the list to be installed.

I may not know I have a problem until after I install Office 2003 or some third party app and have spent six months working with the system.

To kick one patch out of the system, I will need to roll back to an image that does not contain it, and move forward from there again. So having a way to install all of the needed patches in one operation is the goal. (Yes, in some cases I could UN-install one, but, no ... I can't. Not and sleep, too. And there are patches that cannot be uninstalled.)

By 'non-update.exe' patch, I did not mean what you thought. I meant patches that are not installed by the MS update.exe installer program, such as updates to Internet Explorer.

I have other systems to update here, too. In each case, there may be anthing from several to very many updates to install. I may try a list of updates, and discover that one of them is crashing my system, or turning it into molassas or a stutterer with a speech impediment. When I know which update is crashing the system, I want to be able to go back to the most recent image that does not contain that update, and then re-install everything that came afterward except that one.

And another use for this is, I am never again going to turn on the 'Automatic Updates' feature for reasons that many, I am sure, are already well aware of. It may be that I will find myself with a dozen new updates to install on four or five systems some months from now. I don't want to install a dozen updates one at a time on five different systems.

I appreciate your willingness to be helpful and your offer of additional information, but I am really seeking only one kind of information here.

In short, I am looking for one particular system management technique---one of many in the overall picture: the one called "How to install multiple update patches in one operation."

That's all.

--torandson

 

[torandson]

bcastner,

See above reply to guitarzan.

I checked out your link. Its own FAQ page lists the primary reason for not using it:

A6. I don't like using other people's dll's and exe's.

Simple is good. But it's not as good as safe.

I'd rather someone simply explained to me how to make something than to download someone else's version of it. I generally don't use freeware for this reason. At least, if I pay for software, there is an implied contract that weighs against it containing something sticky and smelly.

True, I can think of a dozen ways that show my precautions are potentially futile ...

But I think I'll lock all the doors I have access to anyway, thanks.

--torandson

 

[linney]

That "article does not work for product updates that do not use Hotfix.exe or Update.exe" so perhaps it doesn't really matter?

You might be able to use the Icon of the hotfix/Update to distinguish between them? Do Hotfixes have a plain (DOS) type icon, while Updates have an Installer Package icon?

I'm not too sure. I'm not on XP at the moment so I can't easily check what the result would be for searching for Update.exe and Hotfix.exe, but it might turn up something or nothing?

P.S. I hate Vista's (beta) Search Engine.