WSUS has this great feature which can be used to manage your WSUS server from a Windows XP or Vista machine.

WSUS3 comes up with this new concept of *console only* install.

If you want to use this feature, you need to specify "CONSOLE_INSTALL=1" parameter while running the wsussetup.

Note that the option to choose console only install is not available in the UI wizard of wsussetup.

So you will need to type "WSUSSetup.exe CONSOLE_INSTALL=1" in a command window.

Also note there are no forward slashes or any other funny characters in this command.

When you specify "console_install=1", minimal set of WSUS server bits are installed on your machine to allow a remote WSUS server to be administered from this machine. This includes UI and few API binaries.

Following is a list of prereqs and platforms.

Following pre-requisites are required on the machine.

·         MMC 3.0

·         Report Viewer (if you wanna view the reports)

·         .NET Framework 2.0 

You can have the console only install on following platforms.

·         Windows XP SP2

·         Windows Vista Beta2

·         Windows Server 2003 SP1

Have fun with WSUS3 B2 !!

Chinmay Parekh(WSUS).

stop press:
The setup files which beta2 users can download from connect site are named WSUSSetup-x86.exe and WSUSSetup-x64.exe. In the above blog, whenever I mention WSUSSetup.exe, I mean WSUSSetup-x86.exe or WSUSSetup-x64.exe based on the architecture you want to install WSUS on.

Take full advantage of Remote Console functionality of WSUS3 UI, by managing all your WSUS Servers from the same MMC console window.

You won't need to TS to another machine to manage the WSUS server on that machine.

Follow these simple steps to add a remote WSUS Server to your WSUS MMC console tree.

(1) Right Click on "Update Services" node, and click "connect to server".

(2) Specify the machine name of another wsus server that you want to manage.

(3) Select if you are using SSL.

(4) Specify correct port number.

(5) Click "Connect".

Chinmay Parekh (WSUS).

It'll help with bugs/questions if we all use the same terminology, so I
thought I'd run down a few of the features in the UI.  I've posted this in the beta newsgroup as well for easy reference.

MMC hosts "Snap-ins" within a "Console."  You can run MMC.exe and add
multiple snap-ins to a console file - for instance hosting the GPMC snap-in
and WSUS snap-in within the same console file.  The .MSC file is your
console file. (And yes, we know about the icons for the snap-in in the
add/remove snap-in UI.)

Within the MMC snap-in for WSUS:
The left side "Tree View" has "Scope" nodes.
The right side collectively is is the "Result Pane."

We have three main types of result panes:

1) Summary panes/pages: these are the views with a summary over the scope
nodes immediately below.  For example, there's the "Snap-in summary page"
that goes with the snap-in scope node.  It shows a basic status over all the
servers you've added to your console.  (You should use the scope node
"Action" to connect to more servers instead of adding multiple WSUS snap-ins
to the same console.)
Other summary panes:
    The Server summary page is your best "home page" for your server.  All
sorts of useful info here.
    Update summary page - shows summaries over all update views you've
created.
    Computers & Groups summary page - shows summaries over all groups on
your servers, including the built-in "All Computers" and "Unassigned
Computers."
    There are others as well...

2) "View" pages.  These are result pane pages for a scope node like
"Critical Updates."  Generally there's a toolbar at the top with filtering
options, a "grid view" with results, and a "preview pane" at the bottom.

3) Other pages.  As an example, the page for the Options scope node.

Today we're super pleased to announce the release of our first public beta for WSUS 3.0.  Pre-ceeded by a private TAP beta, beta 2 went live today, August 14th at 9:30 PDT. 

Windows Server Update Services 3.0 delivers new features enabling administrators to more easily manage and deploy updates across your organization. Now contained within a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) 3.0. snap in, WSUS 3.0 lets you efficiently manage updates using advanced filtering, sorting, shortcut menus, and robust reporting. WSUS 3.0 enables you to get started quickly with an easy setup and configuration wizard. Plus you can manage the WSUS console on remote computers as well as maintain multiple WSUS servers from a single console. Improved deployment options allow you to synchronize updates every hour, set rules to auto-deploy specific updates, and provide read-only reporting access on the WSUS server.

Other new capabilities include NLB support and the ability to change the management model of a downstream server from a replica model to an autonomously managed server, (and vice versa) on the fly.  You can also choose to download just a subset of update languages to a downstream server, even if it is a replica.

We look forward to your feedback and suggestions on the WSUS 3.0 beta 2 release.  We have dedicated PSS personnel and folks from the product team to augment the peer support and the WSUS 3.0 MVP expertise you can find in the WSUS 3.0 public beta 2 newsgroups.  

You can register for and participate in this beta via the main WSUS product page link at or directly via the Microsoft Connect Site by choosing the WSUS beta 2 program. 

The Connect beta site has all the information you need to register, download the documentation and the beta, file bugs and suggestions directly, and access the beta newsgroups.  We look forward to your feedback on WSUS 3.0 beta 2!!!

The WSUS 3.0 team

Developers do the grunt work, then let the PMs get all the glory with fancy well-formatted announcements. Ah well.  Expect something fancier soon, but in the meantime check out: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/wus/default.mspx

I've read statistics that less than 60% of people make back-ups with any regularity.  Given WSUS is in a mission critical (security) role in our users' organizations, hopefully none of you fit into that bucket.  My personal request is that you make a back-up of a WSUS 2.0 SP1 database, put it on a test machine, then try out the beta.  Operative word being a back-up.  Not your live production machines.

Comment back when you're set, and let us know what cool things you find...