This is a text-only version of the following page on https://raymii.org: --- Title : Windows 10 updates with PowerShell Author : Remy van Elst Date : 06-01-2020 URL : https://raymii.org/s/blog/Windows_10_Updates_with_PowerShell_PSWindowsUpdpate.html Format : Markdown/HTML --- Recently I had issues updating one of my machines that runs Windows 10. Turns out the network firewall was to restrictive. However, the information provided by the update dialog was just, "Oh, updating failed, maybe try again". Nothing useful, so I tried to figure out if it's possible to use Powershell for updating. Since Windows 10 build 1709 Microsoft provides a built in module, but that is not that user friendly. In this article I'll talk about using `PSWindowsUpdate` and the built in Microsoft `WindowsUpdateProvider` to update a Windows 10 machine via the command line.

Recently I removed all Google Ads from this site due to their invasive tracking, as well as Google Analytics. Please, if you found this content useful, consider a small donation using any of the options below:

I'm developing an open source monitoring app called Leaf Node Monitoring, for windows, linux & android. Go check it out!

Consider sponsoring me on Github. It means the world to me if you show your appreciation and you'll help pay the server costs.

You can also sponsor me by getting a Digital Ocean VPS. With this referral link you'll get $200 credit for 60 days. Spend $25 after your credit expires and I'll get $25!

These steps were tested on a Windows 10 machine running build 1703 and one running 1903. The module is not open source and the source is also not available since version 2 of the module. It is a compiled `.dll` file. ### PSWindowsUpdate vs WindowsUpdateProvider (Install-WUUpdates) I choose to use this module instead of the `Install-WUUpdates` / `Start-WUScan` powershell module provided by Microsoft because the machine I was using did not run build 1709 or later. These microsoft modules are not available on Windows 10 1703, which the machine ran. Also, the powershell module is way more user friendly. Later I updated the machine to build 1909, after which the modules are available: Get-Command -Module WindowsUpdateProvider Output: CommandType Name Version Source ----------- ---- ------- ------ [...] Function Install-WUUpdates 1.0.0.2 WindowsUpdateProvider Function Start-WUScan 1.0.0.2 WindowsUpdateProvider #### Updating with WindowsUpdateProvider Once you're on a new enough build you can use the following commands to install updates. Not as verbose and easy to use, but it does not require an external module installation. Scan for updates and install them, including other microsoft products: $Updates = Start-WUScan -SearchCriteria "IsInstalled=0 AND IsHidden=0 AND IsAssigned=1" Write-Host "Updates found: " $Updates.Count Install-WUUpdates -Updates $Updates If you want a bit of a progress report or information, you need to write up a loop yourself. Now back to the `PSWindowsUpdate` module, which features more information, filtering and more user friendly features. ### PSWindowsUpdate Installation Fire up Powershell as an Administrator and install the module with this command: Install-Module -Name PSWindowsUpdate -Force In my case I was asked to update the NUGet modules before the installation started. I also had to confirm installation from an untrusted source. Once the module is installed you can check the version: Get-Package -Name PSWindowsUpdate Output: Name Version Source ProviderName ---- ------- ------ ------------ PSWindowsUpdate 2.1.1.2 https://www.powershellgallery... PowerShellGet Set the execution policy to unrestricted, for the [current process only][1]: Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Force Try not to just set the entire execution policy to unrestricted. That feels the same as just disabling SELinux. When you are going to install updates in the future, remember to change the the execution policy with this command. ### PSWindowsUpdate Usage Since the graphical dialog window didn't show my any information on errors or what went wrong, I was happy to find this module having a `-Verbose` flag. With that flag I found out the [network firewall][3] was blocking specific requests. After fixing that, Windows was able to find updates again. Get a list of available updates: Get-WindowsUpdate -MicrosoftUpdate -Verbose Output: VERBOSE: GATEWAY (5-1-2020 13:15:47): Connecting to Microsoft Update server. Please wait... VERBOSE: Found [3] Updates in pre search criteria VERBOSE: Found [3] Updates in post search criteria ComputerName Status KB Size Title ------------ ------ -- ---- ----- GATEWAY ------- KB4533002 63MB 2019-12 Cumulatieve update voor .NET Framework 3.5 en 4.8 voor Windows 10 V... GATEWAY ------- KB2267602 720MB Beveiligingsinformatie-update voor Windows Defender Antivirus - KB2267602 (... GATEWAY ------- 3MB Intel - net - 8/26/2019 12:00:00 AM - 20.70.12.5 Install everything without prompting: Install-WindowsUpdate -MicrosoftUpdate -AcceptAll -AutoReboot Output: X ComputerName Result KB Size Title - ------------ ------ -- ---- ----- 1 GATEWAY Accepted KB4533002 63MB 2019-12 Cumulatieve update voor .NET Framework 3.5 en 4.8 voor Windows 10... 2 GATEWAY Downloaded KB4533002 63MB 2019-12 Cumulatieve update voor .NET Framework 3.5 en 4.8 voor Windows 10... 3 GATEWAY Installed KB4533002 63MB 2019-12 Cumulatieve update voor .NET Framework 3.5 en 4.8 voor Windows 10... Everything includes updates for office and other microsoft products. Accept all and autoreboot are self-explanatory I think. If you omit the flags and just use `Install-WindowsUpdate`, it will ask you to accept each update and confirm the reboot. ### Extended usage The module seems to be quite comprehensive, including support for remote computers, WSUS servers, uninstalling updates, search filtering and a few more bits and pieces I have no use for at the moment. [This website][2] describes the usage in more details. For me, just having the commandline to list and install updates was good enough. [1]: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.security/set-executionpolicy?view=powershell-6#examples [2]: http://woshub.com/pswindowsupdate-module/ [3]: https://github.com/joeypiccola/PSWindowsUpdate/blob/359f595ff1eb22b7a1d6b7487cccbd9f815fd978/Hide-WUUpdate.ps1#L393 --- License: All the text on this website is free as in freedom unless stated otherwise. This means you can use it in any way you want, you can copy it, change it the way you like and republish it, as long as you release the (modified) content under the same license to give others the same freedoms you've got and place my name and a link to this site with the article as source. This site uses Google Analytics for statistics and Google Adwords for advertisements. You are tracked and Google knows everything about you. Use an adblocker like ublock-origin if you don't want it. All the code on this website is licensed under the GNU GPL v3 license unless already licensed under a license which does not allows this form of licensing or if another license is stated on that page / in that software: This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see . Just to be clear, the information on this website is for meant for educational purposes and you use it at your own risk. I do not take responsibility if you screw something up. Use common sense, do not 'rm -rf /' as root for example. If you have any questions then do not hesitate to contact me. See https://raymii.org/s/static/About.html for details.