Any easier way then having to use ms update on every pc?

Phil2008

Phil2008

Phil2008

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This week end Ive just done 2 office machines with their winxp cd, but it was so time consuming doing all the ms updates. Ive been about 3hr on each pc running the updates and about 1 hr installing the progs.

Now to me it should be the other way around, so is their a easier way to do all the ms updates?
 
How similar are the machines? If they're identical just do one and then clone it. Windows Updates are a problem that require proper management to do correctly and are really just part and parcel of doing a proper job.
 
Yeah i did try true image but the 2nd pc didnt like it at all, xp started to boot but then restarted.. Just thought, I couldnt use that way cos what about the windows key??
 
It depends on how the software is licensed really.

WSUS is an option, it depends how many PCs and what resources you have. A slightly cruder way would be to download the major updates, put them on a network share or even a USB stick and run them directly cutting out the download time. Unfortunately sometimes it's just a case of biting the bullet and then taking a disk image of the machine so you don't have to go through it all again in the future.
 
wsus can work. In the past I have use a caching proxy server for good effect - (squid) Do the updates on one machine and then when it pulls the updates down they get cached on the server. Subsequent updates copy of as fast as your lan.

Also, set up VNC/RDP and do the updates from the comfort of your desk.

Or slipstream updates as suggested.

WSUS of course is the correct MS solution for the problem.
 
WSUS is a crapper to get working outside of a domain, I have scripted it and scripted it and its operation was rather hit or miss.

For base builds, as already stated slipstream updates onto your install media.

However, if you download SP3 and .NET 3.5 SP1 redistributables and install them that's ~60% of your update downloads right there, you should be pulling down less than 80mb on a machine with those 2 installed.
 
Phil2008 said:
This week end Ive just done 2 office machines with their winxp cd, but it was so time consuming doing all the ms updates. Ive been about 3hr on each pc running the updates and about 1 hr installing the progs.

Now to me it should be the other way around, so is their a easier way to do all the ms updates?
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Was it not possible to do both systems at the same time ??? (I.E were they both in the same office ?)
 
chaparral said:
Was it not possible to do both systems at the same time ??? (I.E were they both in the same office ?)
Click to expand...

Basically what happened, friday his main pc decided to die on him in the office, but luckliy he was given 2 pcs on thursday, and hes gonna replace his main pc with one of these newer ones. So he brought all 3 over to me to sort out.

On his old pc, it looks like the cpu, board, gfx card or memory has died, cos theres nothing on the screen when its turned on.

Theres not much point figgering out whats wrong with it if he's going to change it for 1 of these newer pcs.. Oh yeh spec of the newer pcs are.... P4 2.90Ghz, 40gb hdd and 512mb of mem. Not great I know but he's buying my 320gb ide hdd from me and Ive ordered him 1gb of mem for his main pc, so his pc should be quite snappy, or thats the idea anyway.:D

So basically this weekend Ive been cleaning the pc's up and getting all the software on them, then tomorrow to go to the office and set them up.
 
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na no overtime, he's my nextdoor neighbour

But what a time to brake down on friday 13th and the day after he got these 2 pc's... Very spooky if you ask me....

But im amazed he didnt have hdd failier cos 1 of the hdds was screwn down to the motherboard tray..The drive didnt look very heathly when checking it out on my pc

But all the drives on these other 2 pc's was all setup wrong, and the dvd/cd drives didnt even work on 1 of the pcs cos they were both set to master:D
 
I would say slipstreaming would be the easiest option. From what you have said the machines were different and the fact you had to do two or three was a one-off. Build yourself a slipstreamed CD/DVD with all the updates and in future use that to install Windows.

As for the current machines, create some disk images for them and save them somewhere safe. Next time your neighbour decides XP is broken you can restore it in no time.
 
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