Category Archives: Blog

Online Cached Mode Fails to Download Update: Illegal characters in path. HRESULT: -2146233079

By Scott | Published: January 15, 2019

For those of you using BatchPatch in online cached mode… Starting with Windows 10/2016 version 1709 you might start seeing these two errors occur together in the ‘Local Agent Log’ column: An exception occurred during a WebClient request.. HRESULT: -2146233079 Failed: Illegal characters in path. The Problem: Starting with Windows 10/2016 build 1709 Microsoft began […]

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Remotely Deploying Windows Feature Update Version 1809 (the ‘October 2018 Update’)

By Scott | Published: January 8, 2019

In order to use BatchPatch to deploy Windows 10 feature update 1809, please follow the method outlined below. The normal Windows Update actions in BatchPatch are not sufficient for installing the feature updates to Windows 10. Also note just for the sake of clarity that even though these are considered Windows 10 feature updates, the […]

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Windows Update for Offline Computers and Disconnected Networks

By Scott | Published: December 31, 2018

It’s becoming increasingly common for companies and organizations to segregate at least some of their servers (and even non-server computers sometimes too) so that they don’t have any internet access. The goal in eliminating internet access for computers is virtually always to increase security by decreasing the attack surface or vector. However, while it’s true […]

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Configuring Per-Grid Windows Update Filter Exclusions Using Row Templates in BatchPatch

By Scott | Published: December 18, 2018

One of the topics that I have written about in the past is how you can configure filters in BatchPatch to prevent certain categories of updates from installing, or so that you can exclude particular individual updates from being installed on target computers. Those postings are here: Filter Which Available Updates Are Included Or Excluded […]

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Get Adobe Flash Version Number from Multiple Computers

By Scott | Published: December 11, 2018

We recently received the following questions: “How can one tell if Adobe Flash is installed on numerous target computers? If it’s installed, what’s the best way to determine which version is on each target?” Today I’m going to demonstrate one possible way to get the desired information, but there are probably other equally viable methods, […]

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Explanation of ‘Get Pending Reboot Status’ Actions in BatchPatch

By Scott | Published: December 5, 2018

Windows does not offer/provide a sanctioned, singular way to determine with certainty if a computer is in need of a reboot. However, Windows does mark in several places in the OS values that can be used to infer that a reboot is required to complete certain operations. When using one of the ‘Get pending reboot […]

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Windows Update Options for Reboot Timing and Behavior

By Scott | Published: November 20, 2018

One of the questions that people sometimes ask us is can BatchPatch initiate the Windows Update download/installation on target computers *without* also triggering an immediate reboot of those computers? The short answer is yes. The longer answer is that controlling the behavior in BatchPatch is very straightforward and simple, but the behavior of BatchPatch isn’t […]

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What To Do When PsExec Is Blocked By Your Anti-Virus Software

By Scott | Published: November 15, 2018

First, let me just say that PsExec is *NOT* malware and it’s *NOT* a virus. It’s simply a very useful tool, particularly for systems administrators. However, because of the fact that it is so useful to sysadmins, it also happens to be useful to hackers. Some of the major anti-virus software vendors have at one […]

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Configure Each Host to Send a Separate Email Notification Upon Completion of Patching

By Scott | Published: November 5, 2018

I’ve previously written about configuring email notifications in BatchPatch. You can find those postings here and here. However, today I’d like to focus on an aspect of email notifications that I have not yet discussed in much detail. Today the focus is going to be on the situation where you need or want to have […]

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Using a Row Template to Automatically Apply Tasks to New Rows in a BatchPatch Grid

By Scott | Published: October 24, 2018

I think the ‘Row Template Configurator’ falls into the category of features that most people probably are not even aware of but would use if they knew it existed. This feature was published just a couple months ago. If you haven’t yet checked it out, now might be a good time to familiarize yourself with […]

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