Page Comparison

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Tip: In subsequent examples, we only use the /search option to illustrate how to select updates. This option is ideal to test certain switches, because it just lists the updates and has no further impact on the system. Of course, also the /download or /install switch can be used with all following the examples.

2.1. Specifying criterias

With /criteria you can specifiy a query string, in order to change the search. The default criteria (when no /criteria is specified) is "IsInstalled=0 and Type='Software'".

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You can, for example search for updates which are already installed:

wuInstall /search /criteria "IsInstalled=1"

(here, obviously, a /download or /install makes no sense)

Furthermore you can also just select Drivers:

wuInstall /search /criteria "IsInstalled=0 and Type='Driver'"

or Drivers and Software:

wuInstall /search /alltypes

which is equivalent to:

wuInstall /search /criteria "IsInstalled=0"

2.2. Matching specific search strings

With the /match option, you can get updates of which the title matches a specific search string.

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For example, you can search for a specific update:

wuInstall /search /match "KB956844"

only lists the "Security Update for Windows XP (KB956844)"

In the WuInstall Pro Version /match also supports regular expressions, for example find all updates which have the terms “Language” OR “KB93” OR “Live” in their title:

WuInstall /search /match "(Language|KB93|Live)"

2.3. Not Matching specific search strings

In the WuInstall Pro Version, there is, corresponding to the /match-switch also a /nomatch-switch For example, search all Updates which do NOT match "SQL" OR "Windows" OR "KB"

WuInstall /search /nomatch "(SQL|Windows|KB)"

/match and /nomatch can, of course, also be used in combination, for example search all Updates which match "SQL" OR "Office" but do not Match "KB" or "Microsoft"

WuInstall /search /match "(SQL|Office)" /nomatch "(KB|Microsoft)"

2.4. Search string in files

It is also possible to put search strings in a file. For example, you create a file match.txt with the following search string (seperated by a newline):

c:\Data\match.txt

KB93

KB94

KB95

Office

Internet Explorer 8

If you execute

wuInstall /search /matchfile c:\Data\match.txt

Your will get all updates matching KB93, KB94, KB95, Office or Internet Explorer 8.

There is also a /nomatchfile switch which does the opposite, which excludes updates matching one of the search terms in the file.

wuInstall /search /nomatchfile c:\Data\match.txt

Regular expressions are also possible as search expressions in the files.

2.5. Severity

Each security update has a certain severity. There are five possible severities: ●

Critical (C): A security issue whose exploitation could allow the propagation of an Internet worm without user action.

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Important (I): A security issue whose exploitation could result in compromise of the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of users' data, or of the integrity or availability of processing resources.

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Moderate (M): Exploitation is mitigated to a significant degree by factors such as default configuration, auditing, or difficulty of exploitation.

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Low (L): A security issue whose exploitation is extremely difficult, or whose impact is minimal.

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Unknown (U): No information about the severity is available.

In letter the brackets is the code for the /severity - option. Just put the letters together to select multiple severities.

For example, all critical and important updates:

WuInstall /search /severity CI

Tip: The severity is only filled for security updates, so it is not really suitable for finding high priority updates as security updates usually ARE high prioritoy updates. Classification is better for that purpose.

2.6. Classification

Each update belongs to one of those classifications: ●

Critical Updates (C)

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Security Updates (S)

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Updates (U)

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Update Rollups (R)

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Services Packs (E)

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Feature Packs (F)

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Definition Updates (D)

Just put the letters in the bracket together to select multiple severities. For example, select all security updates, critical updates and Updates:

WuInstall /search /classification SCU

Tip: High priority updates can best be found with the classification CRS (Critical, Security and Update Rollups), however sometimes also U (Updates) can be high priority. Generally speaking, selecting which updates are high priority and which are not is up to the administrator, there is no general rule how to automatically match the high priority categorization on the microsoft update website

2.7. Product

Each update belongs to a Microsoft product, for example Office 2003, Windows XP, Visual Studio 2008, Silverlight, ...

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For example, find all Updates for Visual Studio 2008:

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Tip: The product name has to match exactly, so just specifying "Visual Studio" here would produce no results.

WuInstall /search /product "Visual Studio 2008"

Tip: All update selection options (/match /nomatch /matchfile /nomatchfile /severity /classification /product) can be used in combination with each other!

3. Additional options

There are some additional options with which you can control the behavior WuInstall and the installation of updates. For example rebooting the system, bypassing the wsus or accepting EULAs without user interaction.

3.1. Reboot

The reboot-option just reboots the system n seconds after WuInstall has finished. It can be used together with search, download or install and it can also be used standalone.

For example, reboot in 30 seconds:

WuInstall /reboot 30

If no time interval is specified, 10 seconds is the default delay.

Reboot 10 seconds after the updates have been installed:

WuInstall /install /reboot

Tip: The /reboot option reboots the system after executing WuInstall unconditionally after the specified number of seconds. The result of WuInstall has no influence whether if there is a reboot or not.