How to update Windows Server 2008 R2 Core and verify it

updatewindows-server-2008windows-server-core

How do I proceed to update a Server 2008 R2 Core?
And to verify that it is up to date?

Best Answer

There are four possible ways to do this. Have a look at this brief TechNet article in which they describe methods for servicing Server Core.

  1. Windows Server Update Service (WSUS) If you're in a domain environment, you can configure your Server Core machines, with Group Policy, to use WSUS and join the correct group for their update scheduled. This is dead simple and WSUS provides fairly detailed reports. This is the method we use.

  2. Turn on automatic updates. You can flip the switch to turn on automatic updates with: c:\windows\system32\scregedit.wsf /AU 4 This will, by default, install available updates at 3am. Using Group Policy you can change the time, frequency and post-install behavior. You can verify installation by using wevtutil.exe to check the event logs. You can even filter Windows Update events wmic qfe list /format:list | find "HotFixID". Or, if you prefer GUIs, connect to your Server Core machine using eventvwr.msc on a remote machine.

  3. Manually download/install If you have plenty of free time, you can manually download Windows updates and install them by-hand. It would probably be "easiest" to stage them on a network share so they would be available to all your core servers. You can manually install Windows update with: Wusa UpdateName.msu /quiet

  4. There also exist utilities that will download updates and stage/install them for you. I have never used any of these tool, but they do exist and, it seems, many people use them without trouble. I would almost be certain they are completely unsupported by Microsoft. On MSDN, there is a script WUA_SearchDownloadInstall.vbs I am not sure of it's supported-ness, others do vouch for its functionality.

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