Automatic Download of Updates, etc.

Velocet

New Member
I wanted to make a Windows 7 ISO with the latest updates and it was a pain in the ass (thanks MS ^^). I thought i would download a so called Update Pack that contains every update since SP1 but this wouldn't work as expected. After the installation Windows ran about 30 updates. It's no real problem with Windows 10 but Windows 7 is a real pain...

How about a function that will automatically update the loaded Windows version to the latest version with updates from the Windows Update Catalog. I would suggest a list based approach (simple text file). Such lists are used by other tools for downloading Windows updates like "Windows Updates Downloader" (see MSFN). It would be even greater if this function would be extended to download and integrate things like the .NET Framework and even more important VC Redistributables (The latest supported Visual C++ downloads), PowerShell 6.0, etc. This would make work a lot easier.
 
Hi Velocet,

yeah, that's something I wished as well. It's not the coding problem, it's the extra work needed to maintain those lists on time.
Automatic listing from MS servers never worked perfectly, looking at the other tools, so I'm guessing it needs to be manual.
Plus maybe parsing the HTML from the catalog for some, need to know what you're searching there to see it, can't dump a full list for Win7 WU for example.
Then language differences, various complications not visible at first, make it a much more expensive upgrade long-term than it looks on the surface.
So it definitely cannot be a free feature.

Maybe it gets done for v1.7, still haven't decided on the one big feature update for it, so far it was exactly this.

Will post here when a beta gets it.
 
Hi nuhi,

maybe it's possible to use the lists maintained by MSFN users (they do a lot of great work over there..)? So ntlite would just ships the feature but not actual lists. This alone would make a great difference. It's not that you have to supply them but maybe the community?

What do you think about this: I imagine a file format that just contains KB numbers (like KB4093105). ntlite loads the file and automatically downloads the listed updates.

For Windows 10 there is a site from Microsoft that's called "Windows Update History". But the real problem is Windows 7 and i also dunno how to handle this one.

Since the downloading of features like the Visual C++ Runtimes or PowerShell 6 could also be done manually there is no need to make it a free feature. ntlite is worth every penny/euro! :)
 
Hi nuhi,

maybe it's possible to use the lists maintained by MSFN users (they do a lot of great work over there..)? So ntlite would just ships the feature but not actual lists. This alone would make a great difference. It's not that you have to supply them but maybe the community?

Is not as easy as it sounds, there are more thing to look in to.

There are updates that apply to AMD or Intel systems (some updates for specific make could be needed to avoid bluescreens).

Lately i have found a couple but i haven't had updated my list yet, i'm in the process of adding latest only with Consumer Experience Index Program (CEIP/Telemetry), Get Windows 10 (GWX), Windows Activation Technologies and see if all of them can be added with NTLite, registered and removed but leaving the registry as if the updates are already installed.
 
@Velocet, yeah providing an external download list would be a nice addition, especially for trial/free users.
I am leaning towards the manual lists use being free and the server-side ones premium.
Then there is the need for managing the update download cache locally, split per OS, trim old versions and so on.

But yes, it's a logical next step, I am 99% on-board for it in v1.7, only direct ISO management might get in the way :)
 
OK, so first version of NTLite's update downloading is up, build 6373.
No custom lists for now, but it is planned to support folder organization.
Even now you can put your own updates and the tool lists them depending on the list chosen, more info here.
 
Will the download feature be using the offline updates cab file from ms or just the updates list in future?
 
Information for users who start then stop/disable Windows Update service as and when needed.

On Windows 7 SP1 64bit(with kb3125574) the Windows Update service resides at 3 locations in the registry,

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\wuauserv]
"Start"=dword:00000004
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\services\wuauserv]
"Start"=dword:00000002
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\wuauserv]
"Start"=dword:00000004

Disabling the service from the OS Services page only disables it in 2 locations, see above, it still is the default setting at ControlSet002 and this could be why the service resets to the Default settings sometimes, i dont know if it is the reason but it could be.

The attached registry file disables the service at all 3 locations and remains disabled after a hot restart. If you use an os other that that above then search your registry before using and adjust/add or delete locations and values as required.
 

Attachments

  • Windows Update Service Disable-W7.reg
    305 bytes
Clanger
Will the download feature be using the offline updates cab file from ms or just the updates list in future?
I don't understand the question, it is using only updates from MS.
CAB files are detected in the cache and can be used for integration. It is planned to have the option to auto-extract CABs when downloading updates, instead of MSU by default as is now.
 
The offline files used by Microsoft Baseline Security Analyser and other tools to check for updates, WSUSSCN2.CAB
 
Oh that, not for now.
It's 370MB big as of now, while this manual list is instant. And at least by glancing the CAB, it was updated on 10th of July, while there were many new updates since then.

Maybe in the future as a backup method.
 
Last edited:
Ok thanks Nuhi :)

"MBSA only scans for 3 classes of updates, security updates, service packs and update rollups. Critical and optional updates are left aside." Source
 
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\wuauserv]
"Start"=dword:00000004
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\services\wuauserv]
"Start"=dword:00000002
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\wuauserv]
"Start"=dword:00000004

Disabling the service from the OS Services page only disables it in 2 locations, see above, it still is the default setting at ControlSet002 and this could be why the service resets to the Default settings sometimes, i dont know if it is the reason but it could be.

that's not how it works
https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.TECH231071.html

basically, CurrentControlSet represent the current loaded profile (99% it's ControlSet001)
while ControlSet002 is for the "Last Known Good Configuration" profile

so one should only modify CurrentControlSet for live system
and ControlSet001 for offline image
 
Ahh ok, Thanks abbodi. I can only report my findings, if i have this question then others may have too and if someone who knows this stuff corrects me then other users will get it right too. If i have a registry file to add to an offline mounted image registry then i only add the values under ControlSet001. :)
 
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