Windows Updates

carlosvr6 · 3 May 2006 at 12:33

Is there any way to set up some computers/laptops so that windows updates start downloadind and installing as soon as the computer is started or logged onto?

MarcLister · 3 May 2006 at 15:29

Well I know that when I logon to my PC and then go online on the day updates are released I pretty quickly get the balloon informing me about the updates. I have my PC set to inform me of the updates but not to download or install them.

You could set your PC to automatically download and install the updates but this wouldn't happen immediately upon logging on. I don't know how the PC senses the updates, if it is set to check with the server on the 2nd Tuesday of every month or if MS send out some kind of data to each PC to prompt the balloon.

I suppose you could set your PC to turn itself on at a certain time every day. Sometime before you use the PC I mean and then set the Automatic Updates feature to check everyday at a certain time. For instance you could set your PC to turn on at 7.58am every day and Automatic Updates to check for updates at 8.00am every day and then download and install them. That way the updates are installed by the time you get up to use the PC; and the PC is already switched on.

I just tried a quick Google but I couldn't find anything about another way to fully automate this process from when you logon to your PC. Hope this helps in some way. Sorry I couldn't get exactly what you wanted.

carlosvr6 · 3 May 2006 at 17:29

MarcLister said:
Snip

Thanks for your reply

I've looked long and hard for a solution too but did'nt find anything. The problem is that it's not for my pc, it's for 70+ laptops and 20+ desktop computers at work which are swithced on at different time during the day. If i could get the updates to download and install upon logon then i would know that they are all updated and would'nt have to go round and manually check & update them all. Because they are set to update around 10:00am we are finding that those who dont logon or swith on their computers till after (e.g lunch) or those who are loging on before 10:00am but loging out before 10:00am are not updating. It's a right pain but i though there would be some way round to automate this.

MarcLister · 3 May 2006 at 17:32

carlosvr6 said:
Thanks for your reply

I've looked long and hard for a solution too but did'nt find anything. The problem is that it's not for my pc, it's for 70+ laptops and 20+ desktop computers at work which are swithced on at different time during the day. If i could get the updates to download and install upon logon then i would know that they are all updated and would'nt have to go round and manually check & update them all. Because they are set to update around 10:00am we are finding that those who dont logon or swith on their computers till after (e.g lunch) or those who are loging on before 10:00am but loging out before 10:00am are not updating. It's a right pain but i though there would be some way round to automate this.

I knew this would happen. I had a feeling it wasn't for a home PC but some kind of work. After I posted I re-read your post and could see the leanings towards work stuff.

Well now this changes things. Couldn't you manually download the updates yourself and put them in a server folder or something. (Not exactly au fait with corporate networks) and then create some kind of bat file that each PC runs on logon, whenever that is. The bat file then makes each PC somehow install the updates either from the main server or by copying them to the computer and installing them that way?

carlosvr6 · 11 May 2006 at 11:10

MarcLister said:
Well now this changes things. Couldn't you manually download the updates yourself and put them in a server folder or something. (Not exactly au fait with corporate networks) and then create some kind of bat file that each PC runs on logon, whenever that is. The bat file then makes each PC somehow install the updates either from the main server or by copying them to the computer and installing them that way?

Just a quick update. I made this suggestion to Staffordshire County Council who provide most of our admin and curriculum support. They said it was possible and would provide me instructions on how to do it. I told them to **** off as firstly they get paid lots of money for little support and secondly i dont have a clue on how to create batch files.

So thanks for your help MarcLister and hopefully the county will come up with a solution which will make life a lot easier.

spirit · 11 May 2006 at 11:13

carlosvr6 said:
Just a quick update. I made this suggestion to Staffordshire County Council who provide most of our admin and curriculum support. They said it was possible and would provide me instructions on how to do it. I told them to **** off as firstly they get paid lots of money for little support and secondly i dont have a clue on how to create batch files.

So thanks for your help MarcLister and hopefully the county will come up with a solution which will make life a lot easier.

hehe, well at my old school they had a remote script which would turn on all the pcs in morning update them, reboot if necessary, and turn them all off at night.. so maybe you can do something like this? (beats me how they did it, but i do know the whole system was actually made by a kid in our school lol)

MarcLister · 11 May 2006 at 12:09

carlosvr6 said:
Just a quick update. I made this suggestion to Staffordshire County Council who provide most of our admin and curriculum support. They said it was possible and would provide me instructions on how to do it. I told them to **** off as firstly they get paid lots of money for little support and secondly i dont have a clue on how to create batch files.

So thanks for your help MarcLister and hopefully the county will come up with a solution which will make life a lot easier.

No probs. Glad to have been able to help. I wouldn't have thought the batch files would be hard to make. You'd just need Notepad and then save the file as a txt file but with a .bat extension instead. Its more a boring task rather than hard. I used to work as a teaching assistant in an Upper school and the two network guys used batch files all the time so I used to see them writing these batch files and it didn't look that hard.

You could ask for the instructions and have a go yourself. If you get stuck I could help you out, perhaps you could send me the instructions you get. If you are allowed that is. We could chat about this on MSN if you want?

I could also email the guy at my old work and ask if he know of a site or some quick instructions on doing this?

M0KUJ1N · 11 May 2006 at 12:36

The following web page gives details of the registry settings that control Automatic Update behaviour in XP:

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Windo...ace052df-74e7-4d6a-b5d4-f7911bb06b401033.mspx

This can also be done with group policy as well.

Personally I would go with SUS or WSUS and updates distributed locally from there, as it will reduce bandwidth costs and download updates faster. The bad news is that it requires a Windows 2000/2003 Server to run it all