Patch Tuesday with PowerShell

It’s actually Wednesday here, but yesterday was another “Patch Tuesday” and Microsoft released its update packages.

So – it’s time to patch! 😊

Not sure how you’re patching your machines, but just wanted to make you aware of the nice PowerShell module called PSWindowsUpdate.

You can read more about it on the official PowerShell Gallery page and also here.

In short – this module takes care of controlling Windows Update from within PowerShell on your local and also remote machines.

And… I know it’s not nice like the Windows Update screen, but it does its job! 😊

To make use of it, you’ll have to take care of some minor prerequisites and install it via PowerShell Gallery.

Once done, you can use it to control Windows Update:

To make it easier for you, here is the installation script which takes care of… everything:

And that’s it – we’re done!

Happy patching!

Cheers!

Continue using Windows Server vNext Technical Preview

If you have Windows Server vNext Technical Preview installations that are expiring in a day or so, you’ll be pleased to know that Microsoft yesterday addressed this issue and released a patch (as promised). Patch will extend the evaluation period of those installations until the October, 2015.

With the next build just around the corner, maybe you won’t need this patch to last for that long, but… it’s fixed.

You can find the patch on Microsoft Download Center, and find the official announcement here. Just remember to read the install instructions coming with it.

Some of us in the MVP community noticed (and finally resolved it, with support from Microsoft people) that the installation of this update on some machines (Hyper-V hosts, in my case) requires that you also (re)activate your Windows installation. If you don’t do it, it may seem that the patch wasn’t applied. Also, remember that this patch needs a reboot or two to be actually “installed”.

My colleague Nirmal also blogged about, and even recorded the installation process, so check it out.

WSvNext

Voilà… enjoy your “renewed” Technical Preview (1) machines! Smile

Cheers!