Howto: Enable Automatic Updates in Windows 2008 Server Core

Windows 2008 Server Core uses the SCregEdit.wsf script found in C:\Windows\System32 to configure Automatic Updates behavior.

To view the current Automatic Updates settings, from the command prompt type:

c:\windows\system32\scregedit.wsf /AU /v

The following values correspond to the response generated by the scregedit.wsf script.

1 = Automatic Updates Disabled

4 = Automatic Updates Enabled

To enable Automatic Updates, from the command prompt type:

c:\windows\system32\scregedit.wsf /AU 4

To disable Automatic Updates, from the command prompt type:

c:\windows\system32\scregedit.wsf /AU 1

Note:

I’ve seen all over the Internet people posting that the syntax to enable AU is:

~~Cscript c:\windows\system32\ scregedit.wsf /au /4~~

I can tell you for sure using the syntax on the line above will generate the following error:

“Parameter 1 : Parameter type mismatch expected DWord.”

Make sure there is no leading slash before the numbers 1 or 4. There is a slash before the letter v when viewing current AU settings.

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

Michael January 14, 2009 at 11:32 am: Hi

how can I check that the updates have been properly instaled. Can you help to understand what is installation result and what is the number after each line of an installed update ?
Thanks for the great blog.
Michael

Julie January 14, 2009 at 11:56 am: Michael

Super easy way is to run this on the server

WMIC QFE GET /format:CSV >mymachine.csv

It will give you a nice listing of installed updates you can sort in Excel.

-Julie