WSUS Options

Owned by Gerald Novak
Last updated: Sept 07, 2016

/bypass_wsus !!!DEPRECATED!!!

This option is deprecated, use /UseUpdateService instead.

The bypass_wsus option bypasses any configured WSUS and forces WuInstall to access the Windows Update site.

If a WSUS is configured, WuInstall changes the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU, Value UseWuServer from 1 to 0, which means that no WSUS should be used.

If you type

WUInstall.exe /search /bypass_wsus

and a WSUS is configured, the output is:

You are using WSUS Server http://mywsus.local:8530
bypass_wsus specified, bypassing WSUS ... successful!

After the execution of WuInstall, resetting the UseWuServer value to 1 restores the initial state.

bypass_wsus specified, reactivating WSUS ... successful!

When the execution of WuInstall is aborted for some reason before WuInstall can reset the registry value, it has to be reset manually!

/use_wsus wsus_address 

The /use_wsus option works similar to the /bypass_wsus option, but you can specify another WSUS, which is valid during the execution of WuInstall (or it allows you to switch from no WSUS at all to a certain WSUS).

WuInstall manipulates the following registry keys:  

  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU\UseWuServer: is set to 1 
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\WUServer: is set to the specified wsus_address 
  • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\WUStatusServer: is set to the specified wsus_address

and stores the initial values for resetting them after WuInstall has finished.

For example, if you have WSUS http://mywsus.local:8530 configured, and want to go to the WSUS http://mywsus2.local:8530, you type:

WUInstall.exe /search /use_wsus http://mywsus2.local:8530

and WuInstall puts out:

 You are using WSUS Server http://mywsus.local:8530
use_wsus specified ....  WUServer and WUStatusServer successfully set to http://mywsus2.local:8530

After the execution of WuInstall, the initial state is restored (in this example, the WSUS is reset to http://mywsus.local:8530)

 use_wsus specified, deactivating WSUS again
resetting  WUServer to http://mywsus.local:8530, WUStatusServer to http://mywsus.local:8530 ... successful!

When the execution of WuInstall is aborted for some reason before WuInstall can reset the registry values, they have to be reset manually!

/use_mu_on_error

When an error occurs while trying to install an update using WSUS, WuInstall automatically tries again to install the updates bypassing the WSUS using Microsoft Update.

/use_wu_on_eror

When an error occurs while trying to install an update using WSUS, WuInstall automatically tries again to install the updates bypassing the WSUS using Windows Update.