Centralize Windows Update?

[Zedric]

We have a network with about 10 computers, all running WinXP Pro. Running Windows Update on all these are a mess since we only have an ISDN connection. If I download all updates using Windows Update Catalog I can save the files on our local server (Linux). The problem is I can't find the settings for the clients to make them look or updates on the local server instead of at Microsoft. I think I've seen it somewhere, but I can't find it!

 

[Zedric]

*bump*
Anyone? Reg? JJB? At least some of you guys must be running larger WinXP networks. How do you do it?

(Maybe I should have posted in Network?)

 

[chooch]

I believe the registry key is: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Update

I do know it could be set via Group Policy, that's the way I do it at work. gpedit.msc is the file that you could use to find this setting on a local workstation running XP Pro.

 

[gballard]

I am not sure if this is what you are looking for...but Microsoft has released Software Update Service to allow you to download all the updates to an update server and service your machines locally. I know it requires either 2000 Server or .NET Server to run correctly. Here is the url for it....http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/windowsupdate/sus/

Hope this helps....if not...i tried...

 

[Reg]

We recently had to switch to the Software Update Service since Microsoft has discontinued the Update Catalog. We also use a third party software that has the ability to roll out updates from our central servers to all the clients. The software we use is the Altiris Deployment Server just in case you are wondering. It isn't cheap though... but it's very very good and easy to use.

Just a note on that Software Update Service, it provides all the documentation needed to configure your machines to access it (for us, it's running on our BDC server so the clients have easy access) but as usual, it is proprietary to Windows Server Products (Windows 2000 Server, Advanced Server, or .NET Enterprise)

 

[Zedric]

Well since we're using a Linux server I suppose we can't use SUS. I temporarily solved it by downloading all updates from Windows Update Catalog and then running a .bat file on each workstation. It works for now, but I'll have to redo everything everytime I want to download new updates.

Thanks anyway!

(I still have a faint recollection of a dialog were I could choose "Look for updates in:". Was I dreaming?)

 

[scooby_work]

Why not install a proxy server? not sure if it would benefit you too much - but it may help considerably.

Scooby

 

[Zedric]

No thank you! Would be like hunting rabbits with a bazooka. Sure you kill the rabbit, but it gets really messy.

 

[Reg]

Just saw a thread on the main site that offers a link to a program called Dynamic Update. It can be installed on actual PCs and allows for updating from the individual PC without visiting the WindowsUpdate website. You just place the file on a network share and allow people to install it. Since it's from Microsoft, it probably runs at the System level so it can install in the background regardless of who is logged on.