Installing and managing updates from the command line

If you download software updates from the Microsoft Update Catalog at http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/Install.aspx?referringpage=Home.aspx, you can silently install the downloaded updates from the command line using the Windows Update Stand-alone Installer (Wusa.exe) utility. For example, if the .msu file for “Update for Windows Server 2008 (KB947562)” is named X86-all-windows6.0-kb947562-x86_6ff6b13433eba0503ffcd8e47e1daefac3dc83b4.msu, you can install the update manually using this command:

wusa X86-all-windows6.0-kb947562-x86_6ff6b13433eba0503ffcd8e47e1daefac3dc83b4.msu /quiet

You can use the Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC) to view the installed updates on your computer. For example, to verify that the update installed in the previous section has been installed on your computer, do this:

wmic qfe list

Caption CSName Description FixComments HotFixID InstallDate InstalledBy InstalledOn Name ServicePackInEffect Status

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=947562 SEA-SC1 Update KB947562 S-1-5-21-940954651-3993729752-4124607334-500 01c8dc69493cee0b

If the WMIC output is difficult to read, you can use Systeminfo instead, as follows:

systeminfo | find ": KB"

[01]: KB947562

For more information on how to do all these things, see my book Windows Server 2008 Server Core Administrator's Pocket Consultant from Microsoft Press.

If you have feedback concerning this tip, please email me. And be sure to check out my website!

About The Author

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Scroll to Top