Category Archives: Tutorials

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

By Scott | Published: February 26, 2020

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

By Scott | Published: February 19, 2020

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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Automatically Trigger an Email Notification for an Entire Grid Only After All Targets’ Actions Have Completed

By Scott | Published: January 28, 2020

There are different ways to utilize email notifications in BatchPatch. For example this link illustrates how to schedule email notifications or include them inside job queues. Additionally we have a couple of other tutorials on email notifications here and here. Today I would like to address a particular scenario for triggering email notifications that some […]

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A Utility to Schedule Windows Updates on Numerous Computers

By Scott | Published: January 14, 2020

When we first created BatchPatch it was intended to be used primarily as a real-time utility, where an administrator could initiate the download and installation process for Windows Updates on many target computers at the same time, while also being able to monitor the progress of each action on every computer all the way through […]

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Deploying Windows Feature Update Version 1909 (the ‘November 2019 Update’) to Numerous Remote Computers Simultaneously

By Scott | Published: December 18, 2019

To remotely apply Windows 10 feature update 1909 (as well as the other Windows 10 feature updates) to numerous computers using BatchPatch, you should follow the process outlined below. The built-in, default Windows update features in BatchPatch will not work to successfully deploy these feature updates in most cases, so instead you’ll need to follow […]

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Using BatchPatch in Non-Domain Environments with Standalone or Workgroup Computers

By Scott | Published: November 22, 2019

One of the questions we are asked regularly is can BatchPatch work on computers that are *not* domain members? How does one go about making that happen? The answer is yes, in addition to working in a domain environment BatchPatch will also work on computers that are not members of a domain but rather are […]

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Running the Disk Cleanup Tool (cleanmgr.exe) Remotely on Multiple Computers

By Scott | Published: November 13, 2019

We recently received a question about how to successfully run the Windows Disk Cleanup Tool remotely using BatchPatch. The user noted that when running cleanmgr.exe in BatchPatch on a target computer, the cleanmgr.exe would stay running indefinitely. This is essentially the same problem that we discuss in numerous places on this website when it comes […]

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Explanation of ‘Reattach Orphaned Windows Update Process’ Feature

By Scott | Published: October 29, 2019

There is a menu item in BatchPatch under ‘Actions > Windows updates > Reattach orphaned Windows Update process‘ that contains the following sub-menu-items: Reattach orphan + do not reboot / shutdown Reattach orphan + reboot if required Reattach orphan + reboot always Reattach orphan + shutdown What is ‘Reattach orphan’ ? The ‘Reattach orphan’ actions […]

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BatchPatch Host Status “LED” Indicator Image Icons

By Scott | Published: October 7, 2019

GREEN: online BLUE: online after reboot (BatchPatch does its best to determine if a host was rebooted by counting the number of ping timeouts that are tracked immediately before a ping success. You can modify this setting in ‘Tools > Settings > Ping Failure Threshold‘) ORANGE: host doesn’t exist / not found RED: host offline […]

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How to Automate Monthly Windows Patching and Updates for Numerous Computers

By Scott | Published: September 25, 2019

While it’s true that our favorite way to use BatchPatch is for real-time control of the Windows Update process, it also works great for automating Windows updates and everything that goes along with Windows updates like reboots etc. In fact, BatchPatch is arguably one of the most powerful tools available when it comes to automation […]

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