Category Archives: General

Windows Offline Update for Multiple Computers

You can use BatchPatch to apply Windows security updates to numerous computers that do not have internet access. Many organizations will have a high-security network where no computer on that network may access the internet. Further, it’s common to have the network so protected that it cannot even house a WSUS for update delivery. If […]

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Looping, Branching with Goto:Label in the BatchPatch Job Queue

The April 2020 release of BatchPatch has some new functionality in the job queue that we’re excited about. People have been asking for a while for more flexibility in the job queues, particularly to be able to create loops and have branching etc. We wanted the functionality to be as simple to use as possible […]

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Error 1605: Failed to create remote working directory. HRESULT -2147024829: The network name cannot be found.

Today I’d like to take a moment to talk about an error that I haven’t addressed specifically in the past but that does crop up sometimes. It can appear in any of the following ways, but each has the same cause/resolution: Windows Update: Error 1605: Failed to create remote working directory. Please check permissions on […]

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BatchPatch – New Version Released in April 2020

At the end of last week we released a new version of BatchPatch. Today I’d like to go over some of the new features available, some of which we think are going to be popular with our users. For a complete list of of changes, click on ‘Help > Check for updates > View changelog‘ […]

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Using the Job Queue to Clear ‘All Messages’ Before Executing a New Action

Some of our users launch a fresh instance of BatchPatch each time they use it, and they start with a brand new grid (or a set of grids) each time. They load their hosts and then begin patching. However, some of our users prefer to re-use the same grid file (.bps) over and over and […]

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Preventing Particular Updates from Installing on Target Computers

Under normal circumstances BatchPatch is used to initiate the download and/or installation of updates on a group of target computers. So long as you have setup your environment to work with BatchPatch as far as permissions and firewall settings are concerned, then BatchPatch can, if desired, be used without altering your existing Windows Update settings. […]

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Incorporating Custom Scripts in BatchPatch – Get Local Administrators Group Membership

Let’s have a look at how to incorporate a custom script into BatchPatch. In this case we’ll use BatchPatch to run a script that will retrieve the list of users who are members of the local administrators group on each target computer, and then optionally write it all to a text file. If you would […]

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Remotely Uninstalling Windows Updates

Let’s face it… even though we all wish Microsoft’s quality assurance and testing was better, it really seems to have gotten worse in recent years… significantly worse. There are a few primary ways that systems administrators can reduce the likelihood of encountering problems after installing Windows updates each month. First, have a testing lab setup […]

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Using the Job Queue to Execute an Ordered List of Actions on Target Computers

One of the most commonly used features in BatchPatch is the Job Queue. The Job Queue enables you to execute a series of actions, sequentially, on target hosts. Just about any action that BatchPatch can perform through manual execution can also be added to a job queue. One of the most common reasons people use […]

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Notify Users of Upcoming Reboot or other Patching Activity

When a systems administrator is performing a maintenance operation on end-user computers, one of the things that can really help significantly is being able to notify any currently logged-on users of any impending actions that are about to occur. Even if it’s a late-night or early-morning maintenance window, you never really know who might actually […]

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