Update Windows with a script

Any know how to run Windows Update (just Critical Updates actually) on a
client machine automatically by a script?

Of course you can set autoupdates to run everynight, only problem is that
users are often logged on as users, and Updates won't install. I suppose I
could just logon as an admin every night at ~3:00 AM, but that seems like a
kluge.

Must be some elegant (oops, sorry, I almost forgot - this is
vbscript...there is no elegance) way to push updates.

Thanks,
Jerry

Jerry
Wed Jul 30 09:31:05 CDT 2003

Looked into it, turns out you must be running IIS, which we're not going to
do...


"Jason" <Mail_bogus@yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
news:0abb01c35689$8df29720$a401280a@phx.gbl...
> You could use SUS and its free
> http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?
> FamilyId=A7AA96E4-6E41-4F54-972C-
> AE66A4E4BF6C&displaylang=en
> >-----Original Message-----
> >Any know how to run Windows Update (just Critical Updates
> actually) on a
> >client machine automatically by a script?
> >
> >Of course you can set autoupdates to run everynight, only
> problem is that
> >users are often logged on as users, and Updates won't
> install. I suppose I
> >could just logon as an admin every night at ~3:00 AM, but
> that seems like a
> >kluge.
> >
> >Must be some elegant (oops, sorry, I almost forgot - this
> is
> >vbscript...there is no elegance) way to push updates.
> >
> >Thanks,
> >Jerry
> >
> >
> >.
> >

Ray
Wed Jul 30 09:32:17 CDT 2003

You probably already are. Why wouldn't you run IIS, anyway?

Ray at work

"Jerry Parlee" <parlee@psy.utexas.edu> wrote in message
news:u8M02cqVDHA.1704@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> Looked into it, turns out you must be running IIS, which we're not going
to
> do...
>
>
> "Jason" <Mail_bogus@yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
> news:0abb01c35689$8df29720$a401280a@phx.gbl...
> > You could use SUS and its free
> > http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?
> > FamilyId=A7AA96E4-6E41-4F54-972C-
> > AE66A4E4BF6C&displaylang=en
> > >-----Original Message-----

Jack
Wed Jul 30 14:34:57 CDT 2003

Is there a reason why you're not letting your users administer their own
machines?

"Jerry" <parlee@psy.utexas.edu> wrote in message
news:uKSXreoVDHA.2004@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> Any know how to run Windows Update (just Critical Updates actually) on a
> client machine automatically by a script?
>
> Of course you can set autoupdates to run everynight, only problem is that
> users are often logged on as users, and Updates won't install. I suppose I
> could just logon as an admin every night at ~3:00 AM, but that seems like
a
> kluge.
>
> Must be some elegant (oops, sorry, I almost forgot - this is
> vbscript...there is no elegance) way to push updates.
>
> Thanks,
> Jerry
>
>

Ray
Wed Jul 30 14:51:04 CDT 2003

Are you serious Jack, or are you joking around?

Ray at work

"Jack Seredyniecki" <jack_seredyniecki@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:uXOdqGtVDHA.2316@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> Is there a reason why you're not letting your users administer their own
> machines?

Jerry
Sat Aug 02 12:32:19 CDT 2003

Absolutely not.
We run Apache and some Mac stuff (its a Mac shop, here at Psych,UT).
I'm stretched out enough already, don't need to worry about some kluge,
insecure monstrosity from MS.

The less you rely on Microsoft the safer you are. I've been busting my hump
all week trying to patch 300 PC's from the RPC vulnerability while the Mac
folk (with about 700 machines) are lolling about laughing at me.

Tell me again why we need PC's? That's what my boss is asking me.

Jerry

"Ray at <%=sLocation%>" <myfirstname at lane34 dot com> wrote in message
news:u$WqhdqVDHA.3404@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> You probably already are. Why wouldn't you run IIS, anyway?
>
> Ray at work
>
> "Jerry Parlee" <parlee@psy.utexas.edu> wrote in message
> news:u8M02cqVDHA.1704@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> > Looked into it, turns out you must be running IIS, which we're not going
> to
> > do...
> >
> >
> > "Jason" <Mail_bogus@yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
> > news:0abb01c35689$8df29720$a401280a@phx.gbl...
> > > You could use SUS and its free
> > > http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?
> > > FamilyId=A7AA96E4-6E41-4F54-972C-
> > > AE66A4E4BF6C&displaylang=en
> > > >-----Original Message-----
>
>

Ray
Mon Aug 04 07:37:17 CDT 2003


"Jerry Parlee" <parlee@psy.utexas.edu> wrote in message
news:uvxTHwRWDHA.1984@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> Absolutely not.
> We run Apache and some Mac stuff (its a Mac shop, here at Psych,UT).
> I'm stretched out enough already, don't need to worry about some kluge,
> insecure monstrosity from MS.

There are zero secure operating systems.

>
> The less you rely on Microsoft the safer you are. I've been busting my
hump
> all week trying to patch 300 PC's from the RPC vulnerability while the Mac
> folk (with about 700 machines) are lolling about laughing at me.

Do you really think that you're the only person in the world who has to roll
out security patches? No, you're not. And as such, there are solutions
that make it pretty damn simple. Have you tried visiting Microsoft's site
to see if there is a way to distribute patches? Have you ever heard of
Microsoft SUS?

Ray at work

Jerry
Tue Aug 05 15:20:22 CDT 2003

BTW, I'm the only PC guy here with 300 PC's, 700 Macs and squirrels for
clients...Only within the last year have I been dragged, kicking and
screaming, into networking maintenance and security.

Please be gentle... No actually you can flame all you want as long as I get
some usable info....

Thanks


> There are zero secure operating systems.
Of course, there are OS's that are more secure and OS's that are less. And
then there are OS's that people love to target...
>
> >
> > The less you rely on Microsoft the safer you are. I've been busting my
> hump
> > all week trying to patch 300 PC's from the RPC vulnerability while the
Mac
> > folk (with about 700 machines) are lolling about laughing at me.
>
> Do you really think that you're the only person in the world who has to
roll
> out security patches?
> No, you're not. And as such, there are solutions
> that make it pretty damn simple. Have you tried visiting Microsoft's site
> to see if there is a way to distribute patches?

Uh, yeah, that's why I'm here, couldn't find anything appropriate.

OK, flame me all you want, but tell what those damn simple solutions are, I
haven't found them, and neither you nor anyone else has mentioned them.

Have you ever heard of
> Microsoft SUS?

As I said earlier, yes I've heard of SUS, but it needs IIS. I'm not a fan of
that and my boss forbids it.

Jerry

Jerry
Tue Aug 05 15:23:45 CDT 2003

Actually the history here has been that anyone can administer any machine,
Mac or PC. I've had to fight like crazy to lock down some PC's. They call me
the Gestapo here...

The policy is that anything goes, including KaZaa or any P2P. I have to
follow after mopping up the mess.

"Ray at <%=sLocation%>" <myfirstname at lane34 dot com> wrote in message
news:eJ%234qPtVDHA.1072@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> Are you serious Jack, or are you joking around?
>
> Ray at work
>
> "Jack Seredyniecki" <jack_seredyniecki@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:uXOdqGtVDHA.2316@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> > Is there a reason why you're not letting your users administer their own
> > machines?
>
>

Ray
Tue Aug 05 23:33:49 CDT 2003

There are products such as Script Logic ("enhanced" Kix Start) that can run
security updates and service packs.

Ray at home

--
Will trade ASP help for SQL Server help


"Jerry Parlee" <parlee@psy.utexas.edu> wrote in message
news:OrFWA84WDHA.2384@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> BTW, I'm the only PC guy here with 300 PC's, 700 Macs and squirrels for
> clients...Only within the last year have I been dragged, kicking and
> screaming, into networking maintenance and security.
>
> Please be gentle... No actually you can flame all you want as long as I
get
> some usable info....
>
> Thanks
>
>
> > There are zero secure operating systems.
> Of course, there are OS's that are more secure and OS's that are less. And
> then there are OS's that people love to target...
> >
> > >
> > > The less you rely on Microsoft the safer you are. I've been busting my
> > hump
> > > all week trying to patch 300 PC's from the RPC vulnerability while the
> Mac
> > > folk (with about 700 machines) are lolling about laughing at me.
> >
> > Do you really think that you're the only person in the world who has to
> roll
> > out security patches?
> > No, you're not. And as such, there are solutions
> > that make it pretty damn simple. Have you tried visiting Microsoft's
site
> > to see if there is a way to distribute patches?
>
> Uh, yeah, that's why I'm here, couldn't find anything appropriate.
>
> OK, flame me all you want, but tell what those damn simple solutions are,
I
> haven't found them, and neither you nor anyone else has mentioned them.
>
> Have you ever heard of
> > Microsoft SUS?
>
> As I said earlier, yes I've heard of SUS, but it needs IIS. I'm not a fan
of
> that and my boss forbids it.
>
> Jerry
>
>

Marc
Thu Aug 07 23:18:17 CDT 2003

The company I work for updated all (around 10,000) of our PC's via
SMS... A couple days ago we were wondering what all the companies
that aren't running SMS or a simlar product were doing to facilitate
this update... Now we know!

Don't get me wrong, SMS is not the answer for everyone as it does have
many pitfalls. From what you have said, it does not sound like an
option for your shop.

But, as pointed out in other posts in this thread, there are other
simple ways of automating this process. If I were you, I would look
into a way to automate future updates. Just a suggestion of course.

There are other things for you to try. Remote execution for one...
You could use something like PSTools
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/pstools.shtml psexec to
remotely run the update using a specified account. Simply write a
script to go through all the machines one at time and fire this off
and you're all set. Providing of course you don't have a shop full of
9x clients...

There are many ways to do updates...



Marc


On Sat, 2 Aug 2003 12:32:19 -0500, "Jerry Parlee"
<parlee@psy.utexas.edu> wrote:

>The less you rely on Microsoft the safer you are. I've been busting my hump
>all week trying to patch 300 PC's from the RPC vulnerability while the Mac
>folk (with about 700 machines) are lolling about laughing at me.
>