Doing lots of vanilla Win7 installs - a way to auto-reboot and auto-start updates?

[Cerulean]

Greetings,

I am doing a lot of from-scratch vanilla Windows 7 installs and am wondering if there is a way to get the whole bit about Windows Updates and reboots done automatically? It would be nice that if after installation + NIC drivers loaded + OS activated I could run some program that would work on triggering WU to download and install (except optionals) + reboot + repeat when needed until there are no more Windows Updates available.

It would allow me to spend only 15 minutes with a computer rather than babysit it for several hours constantly checking to see if it wants a reboot + start Windows Updates again after machine has rebooted, etc.

 

[Sp33dFr33k]

Is this for identical systems or for different hardware each time?
You could use a pre-made image (that contains the drivers) with all the updates that would be pushed out to the machine. You could also try something like WUInstall and the reboot cycle option.

 

[elzeus]

Make a slipstream os install disk with all the latest updates /drivers or if the systems are the same a drive image that you can clone to the others.

 

[|Night|]

Office enviorment? think about Windows server and distribution image over network, then you can also mange updates from a central point.

 

[dbwillis]

you can download the updates once, then make a batch file to run them, youd end up with 2-3 batch files since some patches have a req that gets installed on the first round of patches

 

[Cerulean]

Is this for identical systems or for different hardware each time?

Different machine every time. I'm just tired of being required to babysit a machine through updates where 98% of the time I'm not doing anything productive (and can't really step away either).

I know there is some program out that -- can't remember its name -- but its a paid software that can manage running Windows Updates remotely and a few other remote management things that was designed for mass maintenance of Windows Servers (but could also be used on regular desktop OS).

EDIT: Aha! BatchPatch http://batchpatch.com/

 

[gantux]

You can check out WSUS Offline Update
It is free afaik, but donations are appreciated.

The origin of this tool/script solution is from the German computer magazine c't. But the author has built a dedicated website some years ago, including English documentation, faq etc.

 

[Demon10000]

I would download the updates offline and integrate them into you install.wim. this way, when to do your installs, you won't have to update them, they will already be updated. You should be able to put together a batch file that applies the updates, so you can quickly and easily update your source as new updates are released.

 

[Coldblackice]

Different machine every time. I'm just tired of being required to babysit a machine through updates where 98% of the time I'm not doing anything productive (and can't really step away either).

I know there is some program out that -- can't remember its name -- but its a paid software that can manage running Windows Updates remotely and a few other remote management things that was designed for mass maintenance of Windows Servers (but could also be used on regular desktop OS).

EDIT: Aha! BatchPatch http://batchpatch.com/

Awesome find!

 

[x509]

you can download the updates once, then make a batch file to run them, youd end up with 2-3 batch files since some patches have a req that gets installed on the first round of patches

I started to drool over BatchPatch until I saw the price. Too much $$$ for a home LAN kind of guy like me. Then I saw that this utility is free for up to four systems.

 

[rudy]

I never understood why MS doesn't just always have an ISO with EVERYTHING slip streamed as a service to their good paying customers.

 

[Stoly]

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit is your friend

Install Win7 SP1 once + updates, sysprep and capture Image.
You'll need to build a drivers library with at least nic drivers so you can download the rest of them.

This is how I do it.

I have an OS only image which I update every patch tuesday.
I use MDT to install it, along with any applications (office, teamviewer, etc.) and drivers.
I can't keep all the bases covered on drivers, but for the most part its only video, usb 3.0 and maybe storage drivers.

Actually I have several custom Images for x86/x64. For example I have one with Windows 8 x64, office 2013, acrobat XI and teamviewer 9.

 

[Demon10000]

Actually I have several custom Images for x86/x64. For example I have one with Windows 8 x64, office 2013, acrobat XI and teamviewer 9.

I use Config Manager to do my OS deployments and I have it down to two images -- one for x64 and one for x86 (I didn't capture an image, they are both the install.wim from the installation media). I use computer variables to control what software gets installed. The variables are set to true/false before the machine is built, and there the task sequence installs all software that has a variable set to true.

I'm not too familiar with using MDT/WAIK directly, but I know that Config Manager uses them. I'm pretty sure you can emulate this behavior.

You should also be able to patch your WIMs directly instead of having to deploy and update them. Once you have a good WIM, you can just download the MSU updates, extract them, and then apply them with DISM. That way you can actually script the updates to be installed.

On a side note, Update Injection into WIMs is a cool new feature of Config Manager 2012 R2. All you have to do is right click a WIM in your library and choose Schedule Updates. It'll then walk you through a wizard and you can pick what updates to apply to your WIM and schedule a time to do it. link to an example.

 

[Stoly]

You should also be able to patch your WIMs directly instead of having to deploy and update them. Once you have a good WIM, you can just download the MSU updates, extract them, and then apply them with DISM. That way you can actually script the updates to be installed.

Theory says yes. Practice says it doesnt work. With MDT you can inject updates on directly on the WIM but more often than not some patches won't install. So the only sure way to do it is by deploying into a VM. Since I only do it once a month and its automated anyway, its not a big deal.

Also this way I can also update applications.

 

[KarsusTG]

You can check out WSUS Offline Update
It is free afaik, but donations are appreciated.

The origin of this tool/script solution is from the German computer magazine c't. But the author has built a dedicated website some years ago, including English documentation, faq etc.

This. It's crazy easy.