Windows Updates doesn't appear to be doing anything

[simonhayes]

Hi,

I’m trialing BatchPatch because I want a new way of pushing out updates to computers on our network. BatchPatch seems like the ideal solution, however, when I select ‘check for available updates’ in the Windows updates sub-menu, it doesn’t appear to be doing anything. The progress bar doesn’t display anything. If I double click on the computer name or IP, this is the log:

192.168.1.14

Ping Reply

Reply from 192.168.1.14 time=0ms

Windows Update Messages

Attempting to initiate Windows Update (Action: Search for updates: ‘SoftwareOnly’ | Server selection: Default / Managed) … – 11:47:56

All Messages

Tue-11:47:56> Windows Update: Attempting to initiate Windows Update (Action: Search for updates: ‘SoftwareOnly’ | Server selection: Default / Managed) …

Tue-11:47:56> Windows Update: Establishing connection…

Tue-11:47:56> Windows Update: Initializing…

Tue-11:47:56> Windows Update: Queued… (Check for available updates)

I have left this running overnight and the situation is still the same in the morning.

What am I doing wrong?

[doug]

Hi Simon – I’m sorry to hear that you are having trouble. The issue sounds like maybe psexec is being held up. Sometimes when you run psexec for the first time Windows prompts you to tick a box to allow it to run, which Windows sometimes forces you to do for programs that are downloaded from the internet. I wonder if that is happening but the window is hidden so that you can’t see it and can’t click on it to continue. I would start by trying to run psexec manually at the cmd prompt. Also make sure that you are running it as the same user that BP is running it as, which would be the logged on user account or if you input alternate credentials into BP then you would need to make sure it runs with those alternate credentials. If you continue to have problems after that, I would suggest start by going through the steps in the troubleshooting guide.

Let me know how it goes.

-Doug

[simonhayes]

Hi Doug,

I tried running psexec, it didn’t prompt me to allow it to run, but it is a program that I have used in the past. I also tried running “psexec \machinename cmd” which worked as expected.

However, I think it may be a problem with PSExec somewhere along the line, as I can see it is copying the batchpatchremoteagent.exe over to the client, but it doesn’t seem to be running in the task list.

Thanks for your help with this matter. I would appreciate any further suggestions! 🙂

[doug]

Antivirus or other security related software could be the culprit. If you can you should whitelist psexec.exe, psexesvc.exe, and batchpatchremoteagent.exe. Another thing to try is using a custom remote service name under ‘Tools > Settings > Remote execution > Use PsExec – r switch’. This is sometimes enough to bypass antivirus software.

[Jomar]

Did this one get any solution? I have the exact same issue.

BatchPatch is apparantly working like I expect. I’m able to ping, get mac adr, folders are created and batchpatch file is copied to the client, but windows update is hanging at

“Windows Update: Attempting to initiate Windows Update (Action: Search for updates: ‘SoftwareOnly’ | Server selection: Default / Managed)”

I’m able to run psexec \ machine name, but isn’t able to see psexec or batchpatch in the task list. I have tried to change tools >> settings >> Remote Execution as well

[doug]

This issue is generally caused by antivirus or other security software such as HIPS that is blocking psexesvc.exe from running successfully on target computers.

To test this you should disable any/all antivirus and HIPS and other security related software. This should help you confirm that it’s the source of the problem. If yes, you should then whitelist psexec.exe, psexesvc.exe, and batchpatchremoteagent.exe. Another thing to try is using a custom remote service name under ‘Tools > Settings > Remote execution > Use PsExec – r switch’. You can use a name like BatchPatchExeSvc. This is sometimes enough to bypass antivirus and other security software.

[Jomar]

Thanks,

Same issue when Antivirus is disabled and remote service name is changed.

Are there a way I can start batchpatchremoteagent directly from the client?

[doug]

Somehow it seems that psexec is simply not able to run successfully. The only other thing that we have seen cause this behavior is the Windows ‘Open File – Security Warning.’ When you launch psexec it’s possible that Windows is popping up a message for you to confirm that you want to run the application. On this window there is a box that can be checked or unchecked depending on whether or not you want to prevent the prompt from appearing again in the future. Make sure that this is not the cause of your problem. You could simply launch psexec manually one time from the cmd prompt and make sure that this prompt is not the issue.

More troubleshooting steps here.

[sburkett]

I just started using Batchpatch and had the same issue, for me the fix was using an older version of psexec. I was using v2.2, but had to go back to v1.97 and now updates are installing correctly.

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