CalNetAD Documentation: Windows Update


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	Windows Update Note: SUS will be officially abated by CCS on March 1, 2006 and replaced by WSUS. More info on WSUS can be found here Overview Windows Update is an automated patching mechanism included with Windows 2000 and newer. The windowsupdate.berkeley.edu "service" is unfunded and unofficially sponsored by Central Computing Services. The windowsupdate.berkeley.edu server automatically approves any new Microsoft updates at noon each Monday. This gives administrators time (patches are generally released on Tuesday or Wednesday) to test the patches. The automated process will also send an e-mail to a majordomo mailing list named windowsupdate. The mailing list is also a discussion forum for windows patch issues, in case there is the need to delay the approval of new patches. In the next few months, Central Computing Services should have a new development web server that will house a testing version of windowsupdate. The testing version will approve patches as soon as they are issued from Microsoft. To subscribe to the windowsupdate mailing list, send e-mail to: majordomo@lists.berkeley.edu with a body of: subscribe windowsupdate Windows Update has several configuration options: manual, registry, and Group Policy. This document deals with configuration of the registry for non-CalNetAD machines and Group Policy for CalNetAD members. For manual configuration of Windows Update see the Microsoft Protect Your PC site. Group Policy Object for CalNetAD members The Automatic Updates service will poll for new updates every 22 hours plus or minus a random offset. The Automatic Updates service will then wait until the time specified in the GPO, 3:00am and install the updates. If a reboot is required, the machine will reboot without user intervention. OU Administrators may want to make a customized version of the Windows Update GPO to account for backup windows or running processes. Configuration Steps Use the GPMC tool, select an OU that contains the member machines. Add a link to the Windows Update GPO. Note: The Windows Update GPO configures campus machines to pull updates from the pilot windowsupdate.berkeley.edu server. OU Administrators may want to modify the GPO to poll Microsoft or a local SUS server for approved updates. Manual Registry Settings Windows Update and the Automatic Updates service can be configured manually via registry key entries. Pages 51-64 of the Software Update Services Deployment White Paper provide detailed information about the Registry keys. Below are two pre-generated reg files with common settings for campus users: Windows Update (Microsoft) - Uses Microsoft's Windows Update site for downloads. Windows Update (Berkeley) - Uses a campus windowsupdate.berkeley.edu site for downloads (this site is still a test site) After downloading, the reg files must be executed from an account with administrator privileges.

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