Specify patches/updates

[jesusjordan]

I’m sorry if this has been asked before. I could not find an answer. Is there a way to specify which patches/updates to download on the remote machine? I ran an update check on a remote Windows 7 machine and got back 37 updates. Of those 37, 34 are language packs that I am not interested in. I tried specifying in the agent settings to try and exclude them but I had not luck with that. There is no check box for language packs. Is there a way to specify which updates to download? It seems the only option BatchPatch offers is a download all option. Thanks for your help.

[doug]

Most of our customers use a WSUS server to filter which updates get applied to computers. However, in the absence of a WSUS server, you may use the filtering options that BatchPatch provides in “Tools > Settings > Remote Agent Settings” to control which updates get applied to the machine. These options allow you to filter by “Update Classification.” If you first run “Actions > Windows Updates > Check For Available Updates” you’ll be able to see which update classification the packs fall under, and then you can exclude that particular classification. Unfortunately Microsoft does not publish a classification called “Language Packs.” Instead the Language Packs are classified in one of the other groups. Currently BatchPatch does not allow you to exclude specific update packages by name, although we are considering this for a future build.

I hope this helps. Let me know how it goes. Note, you can setup a WSUS server for free in under 30 minutes on a low-powered machine or virtual machine, so that’s going to be the best bet for the most granularity when it comes to filtering. You only approve the updates that you want to be applied to your machines, and then you can use BatchPatch to initiate the installation.

Thanks,

Doug

[jesusjordan]

Doug,

Thank you for your response. I did what you said and found that they are classified as software updates. I excluded those and was able to get the three I was interested in. Thanks!

In regards to WSUS, I actually added the WSUS role to one of our domain controllers yesterday and it finished doing an initial sync really late yesterday. I have not tried using it yet, though. Is is simple to use? How do I get BatchPatch to interact with the WSUS service? Thanks.

[doug]

You don’t have to configure BatchPatch in any special way. All you’ll want to do is setup a group policy to control how your computers receive updates. See http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc708536(v=ws.10).aspx We recommend choosing the option to have your computers download but NOT install updates automatically. Then use BatchPatch to initiate the installation and reboot process.

-Doug

[ITPRSMB]

Hi Doug

Referring to your above post 2 years ago, you mentioned that “currently BatchPatch does not allow to exclude specific update packages by name” and this is under considering for future build. May I inquire this feature has been introduced to the new version?

My situation is that I need to exclude certain patches (eg. IE11 or adobe 11) from getting updated on my computers. Creating a list of KB seems lengthy process. Any suggestion to avoid these patches from installing when I do a scan and update.

Thanks and Regards

-stephen-

[doug]

Hi Stephen – Yes, in BatchPatch you can now easily exclude certain updates from being installed. Please see the following posting, which explains how to do this.

Remotely Install Only A Subset Of Available Windows Updates

I hope this helps.

-Doug

[ITPRSMB]

Thanks Doug, it works well for me now.

Regards

-stephen-

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