Microsoft Update Product Team Blog : Windows Update

Reminder on upcoming update for Windows Update

muteam — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:04:00 GMT

Hi All,

Just a reminder, we are starting the Windows Update and Microsoft Update service upgrades today. The service upgrade will include updates to the online update services and the Windows Update (or Automatic Updates on XP) client code installed on your computer. As explained in our previous post, the upgrade will take several months to complete, and you don’t need to do anything on your own to complete the service upgrade. The client code will be updated automatically when needed, if your computer is configured to automatically check for updates, download updates, or install updates. If you have disabled updating and do not check for updates then the client code will not be updated automatically.

For more information, please refer to our previous post.

Thanks,

MU Team

Upcoming Update for Windows Update

muteam — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:49:00 GMT

Hi All,

Please be aware that beginning next month, we will start an upgrade to the Windows Update and Microsoft Update services. As a part of the service upgrade, an update to the Windows Update and Automatic Updates client code will be required. We will start this infrastructure update in late August, and it will take a couple of months to complete the rollout. Updates to the services and Windows code are required from time to time to maintain and improve service quality, reliability, and operations. The last update occurred in November of 2008.

This update will not change your current Windows Update or Automatic Updates settings. It will improve the user interface for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 computers running Windows Update, adding a more visible and detailed description of updates as well as improvements in how users are notified about service packs. This update will not change the look and feel of Automatic Updates.

The Windows Update or Automatic Updates client software must be updated, or you may not be able to successfully check for updates or perform other configured actions. If Windows Update or Automatic Updates is enabled to automatically check for updates, download updates, or install updates on your computer then the infrastructure update will be downloaded and installed automatically. Your computer will not be updated if you have disabled Windows Update (or Automatic Updates) and do not check for updates.

This infrastructure update is being provided in the same way as previous infrastructure updates. For more information about infrastructure updates and the last infrastructure update, please refer to last year’s infrastructure update post.

WU/MU Team

Update Notifications and Install-at-Shutdown Behavior

muteam — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 03:32:00 GMT

Hi All,

There have been some recent questions about how users are notified about updates and comments that sometimes customers aren’t being notified that updates are available when they shut down their computer. We are investigating the reports and trying to clarify with the community exactly what people are experiencing. We also want to make sure you understand how the update notifications work.

1. The tray icon should display when all of your available updates have been downloaded. If there are some downloads that haven’t completed, Windows Update (WU) and Automatic Updates (AU) will reschedule the “updates are available” tray notification until those downloads have completed. We wait to notify you after all available updates are downloaded, so you are not constantly interrupted with notifications while using your computer.

2. Upon shutdown, Windows Update and Automatic Updates will also notify customers if there are any available and downloaded (but not yet installed) updates. We do this by prompting customers via the shutdown button to install the downloaded updates. The shutdown and install updates button does not prompt users to install updates – like Service Packs, Internet Explorer, etc… – that require manual interaction (accepting a EULA or completing an installation wizard). It only prompts on updates that could otherwise be installed automatically, according to the user’s configuration. Customers can also choose not to install these updates at shutdown.

Please call Microsoft Support if updates are installed when you shut down your computer and the shutdown button did not inform you that updates would be installed. If you don’t want to be prompted to update at shutdown, you can disable this feature using the guidance provided in the Controlling the Install Updates and Shutdown Feature section of the linked TechNet article. Please note that if your computer attaches to a corporate network, your IT Administrator may be enabling this feature through Group Policy, and it may be turned back on the next time you connect to your corporate network.

Note: Some updates shown in the update list aren’t downloaded with the other updates, and you aren’t notified to install them (described in KB910340). Some customers call support believing that WU isn’t working correctly, because it isn’t downloading or notifying them about some updates. These updates are held back by WU. You can download and install them manually through WU, but WU won’t automatically download or notify you about these specific updates until the WU servers make them “available” for your computer. We gradually allow computers to start downloading larger updates, like Service Packs, because they are bigger downloads that require more network bandwidth to download. If an update is held back from your computer, it will not prevent WU from notifying you on the system tray after all of the “available” updates have been downloaded.

We hope this helps!

MU Team

Get ready for Vista and Win2k8 SP2!

muteam — Thu, 21 May 2009 02:09:00 GMT

Hi All,

Just a heads up to prepare for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2. It will be available in the coming weeks on the Download Center (DLC) and also through Windows Update and WSUS. On April 28^th, we announced the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) of Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. SP2 includes all updates that were released since SP1. It also includes support for new types of hardware and other technology improvements. For more information on the changes with SP2, see the notable changes document on TechNet.

Here’s a short list of the tools and guidance that’s available for SP2:

· If you’re managing systems that connect directly to WU, you can use the updated Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit to prevent WU from offering SP2 to your client computers.

· For more information about SP2, refer to the SP2 Frequently Asked Questions on TechNet.

· For help with deployment related questions, you should read this blog post on the Windows team blog.

We hope this information helps you prepare to deploy SP2.

--
The MU Team

Windows IE 8.0 Installation

muteam — Sat, 09 May 2009 04:17:00 GMT

Hi All,

We’ve been hearing that there is some confusion with how Windows Internet Explorer 8 is offered through Windows Update (WU) and Automatic Updates (AU), so we thought we’d post a little bit of information regarding this update.

WU and AU will not automatically install Internet Explorer 8. It can be installed just like any other interactive update in WU or AU. The update will be offered to you, and you can choose Install, Don’t Install or Ask me later. If you choose Don’t Install then it won’t be actively offered to you again, and it will become an Optional Update which you can manually install at some point in the future.

Why is it classified as an Important (or High Priority on XP) Update? This classification is used for updates that protect you from security or privacy threats, significantly improve the reliability of your PC, etc. There are many new security features in IE8 that protect you while browsing the Web, and this update is offered like other updates that have similar security implications, like the Microsoft Software Removal Toolkit (MSRT). For more information about how we classify updates, please visit the Windows Update Website on microsoft.com.

Hope this information is clear!

MU Team

Upcoming Expiration Reminders of Windows XP and Windows Vista SP Blocker Tools

muteam — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 01:01:00 GMT

Hi Folks,

Just a reminder, If you have used the Service Pack Blocker Tool for Windows XP or Windows Vista then make sure you’re prepared for the expiration of the blocker tool. The Windows Vista blocker tool expires on April 28, 2009. The Windows XP SP3 blocker tool expires May 19, 2009.

For those of you who haven’t used the blocker tools. They temporarily prevent certain updates or service packs from being offered to a computer through WU. The service pack blockers work for one year after general availability of the service pack. We provide them for business customers who don’t manage software updates using Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) or our System Center products and solutions.

For more information on the Service Pack Blocker Tool, please see the FAQ available through the Springboard Series on TechNet.

Thanks,

The MU Team

Enabling Microsoft Update to keep Office 2003, Office XP, and other Microsoft Products Secure and Up-To-Date

muteam — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:07:00 GMT

Hi Folks –

We want to remind everyone that enabling Microsoft Update and keeping your computer up-to-date will give you the best possible experience with Windows. Are you wondering about the difference between Windows Update and Microsoft Update? Windows Update offers updates for Windows and drivers for your hardware and devices. Microsoft Update offers updates for Windows, other Microsoft software, and drivers. So, if you have any version of Microsoft Office installed on your computer, or any other Microsoft software, then you should enable Microsoft Update. Otherwise you won’t even get security updates for your other Microsoft software.

Enabling Microsoft Update gives you updates for more software, it doesn’t change how you get updates. If you use Windows XP, you can find the updates through Automatic Updates or by visiting the Microsoft Update Website. If you use Windows Vista, you can find all available updates in the Windows Update control panel.

So, you’re probably wondering how to "opt-in", or "enable" Microsoft Update, or check your configuration and stay up to date. It’s very easy, just follow the steps below:

1. To enable Microsoft Update and verify your update settings, click here: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=146977.

Note: If you’re a Windows Vista user, this link will take you to the Windows Update Control Panel “applet”.

A. On Vista, on the Control Panel App, if you have not enabled Microsoft Update your Control Panel Windows Update screen will look like this and you will see the Get updates for more products link in a yellow highlighted area. Simply click Get updates for more products, to start the Microsoft Update install and scan process:

B. On Windows XP, clicking the above link will take you to the Microsoft Update page. If Microsoft Update is already enabled you can check to see if you need updates for Windows, other Microsoft programs, or your hardware of devices from this page. If you have not yet enabled Microsoft update, you will see this page. Simply click Start now and follow the steps to install Microsoft Update.

2. Regardless of your Windows version or your automatic update settings, you can always check for new updates and new software available through Microsoft Update. If you are a Windows XP user click here: http://update.microsoft.com/. If you are a Windows Vista user (or Windows 7 Beta user), you can open the Start menu, click All Programs, and then click Windows Update.

Thank you!

The MU Team

.NET Framework 3.5 SP1 Package Clarification

muteam — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:55:00 GMT

Hi Folks,

We’ve been noticing some questions regarding the recent update for Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 titled “Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 and .NET Framework 3.5 Family Update (KB951847)”. This update includes a full family update for .NET Framework bringing versions 2.0 and greater, up to version 3.5 SP1, as well as a small compatibility update for .NET Framework 3.5 SP1.

If you already have .NET Framework 2.0 or higher installed, you will be offered this update as an Important Update. If you do not have .NET Framework 2.0 or higher installed, then you will be offered a Recommended Update. For those users who already have .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 installed, only the app compatibility update will be installed as part of this update; for all other users, .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 will be installed, followed by the compatibility update.

Hope this helps,

The MU Team

Critical Security Update Released Today

muteam — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:31:00 GMT

Hello,

Microsoft has released a critical security update today, 10/23/2008 and made this update available via all update distribution channels. For more information see: Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-067.

Windows Update and Automatic Reboots

muteam — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 01:18:00 GMT

Windows Update plays an essential role in keeping your computer safe, and in order to do that, it sometimes has to reboot your computer. In this blog post, we want to help clarify how WU reboots your machine (including key differences between XP and Vista behavior), why it does it, and how you can change your WU settings to better fit your needs.

Automatic Rebooting

The goal of Windows Update is to always keep your computer as safe and secure as possible. Therefore, if you decided that Windows Update should Install updates automatically, an automatic system reboot may be a part of the process. Choosing any other option will disable automatic reboots, but we do recommend that you keep automatic updates enabled!

Why does Windows Update sometime require a reboot? Well, some updates require access to files currently in use by your system. Windows Update does not know if or when those files will be available to use, so your system requires a reboot to avoid any conflicts. For security-related updates, your computer is unsafe before that reboot occurs: it is vulnerable to attacks which exploit the issue(s) fixed by the update requiring a reboot.

For that reason, when Windows Update automatically installs an update that needs a reboot, it proceeds with an automatic reboot. In order to make the updating process more convenient for you by preventing disruptions to your work, WU defaults to installing updates (and subsequently rebooting your computer) at 3:00AM. Additionally, if updates are installed while you happen to be using the computer, and a reboot is required, Windows Update notifies you with this dialog:

The center countdown timer starts at 5 minutes. You can Restart now, or Postpone the reminder by 10 minutes, 1 hour, or 4 hours (In Windows XP, you can postpone for 10 minutes).

There is one exception – a system administrator can deny your rebooting privileges. For user accounts without rebooting privileges, Windows Update disables the Restart now button. You can still Postpone, or your system will automatically reboot after 5 minutes.

Update Deadlines

A system administrator can configure some computers behind a Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) server with update deadlines. When reaching a deadline, Windows Update begins an automatic install of those updates based on settings determined by the system administrator.

This deadline-based automatic install behaves identically to a Windows Update automatic install. Therefore, if one or more of the deadline updates requires a reboot, Windows Update presents the same dialog box to you with the same options and conditions. However, if a deadline update requires a reboot, then the reboot cannot be postponed – the Postpone button in the dialog will be disabled.

Policies to Change Automatic Rebooting Behavior

Two group policies allow you to configure how Windows Update handles automatic reboots. In order to edit these policies, you must own Windows XP Professional, Windows Vista Business, or Windows Vista Ultimate. The Group Policy Editor is not available in Home Windows versions.

To use the Group Policy Editor, follow these directions for both Windows XP and Windows Vista: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307882

In Windows Vista, there is another way to access the Group Policy Editor:

· Click Start

· Select Control Panel

· Type Group Policy into the search box

· Click Edit Group Policy, the only result that appears

Once inside the Group Policy Editor:

· Expand Local Computer Policy

· Expand Computer Configuration

· Expand Administrative Templates

· Expand Windows Components

· Finally, select Windows Update.

The Group Policy Editor with related Windows Update policies looks like this:

With Automatic Updates enabled, the two following policies help you configure automatic reboot behavior.

No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates installations

If you set this policy to Enabled, then your system will never automatically reboot when a user is logged on to it. After Windows Update automatically installs updates that require a reboot, it presents all logged-on users with the following dialog box:

With this policy Enabled, Windows Update never automatically reboots your system, so there is no 5 minute timer. You can Restart now, or Postpone the reminder by 10 minutes, 1 hour, or 4 hours (In Windows XP, you can postpone for 10 minutes).

Not Configured is the default policy setting and uses the 5 minute timer. Disabled works identically to the Not Configured setting.

Delay Restart for scheduled installations

This policy allows you to change the initial timer for automatic reboots. If you set this policy to Disabled or Not Configured, the default setting, then Windows Update uses the default wait time of 5 minutes. However, if you set the policy to Enabled, it asks you to enter a number which sets the initial wait time.

For example, if you set the number to 15, Windows Update presents the following dialog after it finishes automatically installing an update that requires a reboot:

Notice how the text following “Restarting in:” began with a 15 minute timer instead of a 5 minute timer. Other behavior remains the same.

There are a lot of tools available to help you set up Windows Update to act how you want it to. We hope that this blog post will help you to do so! If you want some more in-depth detail about how Windows Update works, the Microsoft Update team just posted a white paper on TechNet.

We’ll be paying attention to your comments, so please give us your feedback!

Thanks,

-WU Client Team

Things to Know about Windows Search 4.0 installation...

muteam — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:02:00 GMT

Hey everyone,

Windows Search 4.0 has been available on WU for a few weeks now, and we've been getting some questions about installation failures and error code 0x643. We've done some investigation and found out that the installation failure in this case may actually be caused by the computer configuration, which in most cases can be easily changed to allow for successful installation and functionality of Windows Search 4.0.

In this case, when WS4.0 runs under Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP, it requires Terminal Services to be running. By default, Terminal Services are set to start automatically in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003; however, system administrator or third-party software may have chosen to disable them. In order to enable installation and subsequent functionality of Windows Search 4.0 on your machine, you need to have Terminal Services running first.

You can check the status of Terminal Services on your system and start the service, if needed, from the Start menu by clicking Run and entering “services.msc”. Locate Terminal Services – if the status of the service isn’t “Started”, right-click the service, click Properties, set startup type to Automatic, click Apply and then click Start. Now you can restart the installation of Windows Search 4.0 if it was failing before due to Terminal Services not running on the PC.

More information on how to manage services running on your PC is available here and KB940157 provides more information about Windows Search 4.0 and its prerequisites.

- Hope this is helpful-

Reminder - Windows Search 4 coming to WU soon...

muteam — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:14:00 GMT

Hi everyone –

Thought I’d drop a line and remind you that we’re planning to release Windows Search 4.0 (KB940157) via Windows Update sometime in late July. Windows Search 4.0 updates previous versions of Search in Windows Vista SP1, Windows XP SP2 and Windows XP SP3, Windows Server 2003 SP2, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Home Server.

Windows XP users will see Windows Search 4.0 available as an Optional update, which means you must visit the Windows Update Web site to install it. Windows Vista users with SP1 installed will see the update as a Recommended update. This means that, if a Windows Vista user has set their machine to automatically install updates, Windows Search 4.0 will automatically install on PCs running Windows Vista SP1. The release of Windows Search 4.0 to Windows Update will be gradual for these users. If you’re running Windows Vista SP1, and you would like to install it right away, you can go to the Windows Update control panel and install it manually once it is made available.

One thing you should note: In order to make search functionality more efficient and reliable, the Windows Search team updated the structure of the search index in this release. This requires re-indexing users’ data. The re-indexing occurs in the background after the installation is completed and a reboot has been performed. The cool part? Windows Search will release most of the requested resources and slow down the indexing process as soon as it detects mouse or keyboard activity, or when another application requires computer resources.

If your organization is running Windows Vista Service Pack 1, has no update management solution, and would like to postpone the installation of Windows Search 4.0, the Windows Search team has provided guidance on how to do so here.

And, if you’d like to find out more about Windows Search 4.0, check out the Windows Experience Blog.

Upcoming Update to Windows Update

muteam — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:02:00 GMT

Hi everyone,

I'd like to let you know that, beginning at the end of this month and continuing over the next few months, we’ll be rolling out an infrastructure update to the Windows Update agent (client). I wanted to take this opportunity to provide some background on the update and discuss the value these updates bring to you.

How Windows Update Keeps Itself Up-to-Date

Occasionally, we must update the infrastructure of Windows Update in order to ensure a high level of service quality, reliability, and operation. As part of this process, we update both the back-end infrastructure that supports the service as well as the client side code (i.e. the Windows Update agent, or client).

So what are we doing this time? Well, this particular update won’t really change the way the client looks or feels to you, but you may notice some improvements in the length of time it takes Windows Update to scan for updates and how quickly you’ll receive signature updates. For example, in this update, we’ve invested heavily in reducing the amount of time it takes the Windows Update agent to scan to see if new updates are available. In this case, we’ve seen some instances of the scan times on some machines decreasing almost 20 percent.

Settings 101

Before we dive into how Windows Update issues the infrastructure updates, let’s review some information about different changes you can make to your personal Windows Update settings. We recommend that you install Important + Recommended updates (in Windows Vista) or High Priority updates (in Windows XP) automatically; these options are presented when you set up Windows. After initial setup, if you would like to change your settings, go to the Windows Update application in Windows Vista or the Automatic Updates Control Panel in Windows XP. There you can select from 4 settings: (1) Automatically Download and Install; (2) Download Only (updates are downloaded but the user chooses whether and when to install them); (3) Check for Updates (no updates are downloaded and you’re notified that updates are available for download and install); and (4) Off. See Figures 1 and 2 below.

Figure 1: Windows Vista Windows Update Control Panel

Figure2: Windows XP Automatic Updates Control Panel

What does this mean for you?

Anytime the Windows Update agent is turned on, Windows Update will take care of updating itself. Windows Update is considered “on” when anything other than “Never check for updates” or “Turn off Automatic Updates” is selected. What this means is that if you’ve selected “install updates automatically,” the update to the Windows Update client will install automatically. You may also notice that Windows Update will also automatically download and install updates necessary for the Windows Update client to function properly if you’ve chosen a different setting, like setting 2 (“Automatically Download Updates”) or setting 3 (“Automatically Check for Updates”). This is done in order to ensure that a system will continue to notify the user about available updates.

The Windows Update client does not download or install infrastructure updates if the user has selected setting 4 (“Off”). In other words, if a Windows Vista user selects “Never check for updates,”( or if a Windows XP user selects “Turn off Automatic Updates”), the user will not receive Windows Update client infrastructure updates unless they choose to manually install it from Windows Update.

Windows Update has been keeping itself up-to-date this way for many years, and while these infrastructure updates are important to maintain the quality of the Windows Update service, they aren’t that frequent (they usually occur about once a year).

Why does Windows Update need to self update?

You may be wondering why this process is different from other updates you’ve come to expect from Windows Update. The reason Windows Update issues infrastructure updates in this way is to ensure that users are able to successfully check for updates and/or receive expected notifications. If Windows Update wasn’t able to do this, it may cause some users to believe that they have all of the latest security updates even though there was no installation and/or notifications of updates. To avoid a false sense of security, the Windows Update client automatically checks for and installs any available infrastructure updates anytime a system uses the Windows Update service, independent of the settings for how it handles updates.

I hope this information was useful in helping you understand infrastructure updates, and that you have the time you need to prepare for the update.

We continue to be confident in the value Windows Update offers. For more information about infrastructure updates, please refer to KB946928. If you’d like more information about Windows Update, and how the service works, please review the newly launched Windows Update information on windows.com.

We look forward to hearing your feedback.

Thanks,

Michelle Haven

Product Mgr., WIndows Update

Reminder - Windows Vista SP1 RC Builds Expire soon!

muteam — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 06:59:00 GMT

Hi there -

Quick reminder for all of you out there who helped test Windows Vista SP1 and may still be running Release Candidate builds (any build less than 6.0.6001.18000). The RC builds will expire on June 30th - so if you happen to running one, be sure to uninstall it before the end of the month. More info is available in the SP1 Forum.

Thanks,

-MU Team

More on Windows XP Service Pack 3...

muteam — Thu, 15 May 2008 21:01:00 GMT

We'd like to provide more information and address reports you may have heard about "continuous reboot loops" occurring upon the update to Windows XP SP3.

After investigation, we’ve determined this problem occurs on AMD-based machines with Windows XP images that were originally captured by an OEM on an Intel-based machine. The problem is a registry value, present on images created w/ Intel processors, that causes a driver (intelppm.sys) to load at boot. When intelppm.sys attempts to load on an AMD-based system upon the install of SP3, it causes a blue screen and the continuous reboot. We’re planning to add a filter to prevent Windows Update from offering SP3 to affected systems and are investigating a fix. Any customers affected by this issue should contact Microsoft Customer Support Services for assistance. More information is available in KB88372 and here.

On a related note, we've heard a few questions about SP3’s distribution. To clarify our earlier post, SP3 is currently available as a High Priority update on the Windows Update website. This means that if you go to WU and do an express or custom install - you should see SP3 listed. We’re planning to begin automatic distribution (via AU) of SP3 sometime in early summer.

Hope this is helpful,

-MU Team