Configure the behavior of the Automatic Updates service

Automatic Updates (AU) uses the following settings as current configuration (Applied when service is started):’

  • Monitor the status of Automatic Updates:

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \WindowsUpdate \Auto Update]
    DetectionStartTime = “2003.09.10 12:38:10” (Local Time, detection process began)
    LastWaitTimeout= “2003.09.10 11:43:10” (GMT Time, next time to check for updates)
    AUState = 2 (The state of AU for diagnostic)

    • 0 = Initial 24 hour timeout after detecting Internet Connection
    • 1 = Waiting for user to run AU wizard
    • 2 = Detect pending (Looking for new patches)
    • 3 = Download pending (waiting for user to accept pre-download prompt)
    • 4 = Download in progress
    • 5 = Install pending (Waiting for install of downloaded patches)
    • 6 = Install complete
    • 7 = Disabled (AUOptions will also be set to a value of 0x1)
    • 8 = Reboot pending (Waiting for reboot required by installed patches)

    More Info MS KB326693

  • Enable/Disable Automatic Updates:

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software \Policies \Microsoft \Windows \WindowsUpdate \AU]
    NoAutoUpdate = 0 (1 = Disables AU and any controls to configure it)

  • Configure the degree of user interaction:> [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \WindowsUpdate \Auto Update]

    AUOptions = 2 (Degree of user interaction)

    • 1 = Disables AU (Same as disabling it through the standard controls)
    • 2 = Notify Download and Install (Requires Administrator Privileges)
    • 3 = Notify Install (Requires Administrator Privileges)
    • 4 = Automatically, no notification (Uses ScheduledInstallTime and ScheduledInstallDay)

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software \Policies \Microsoft \Windows \WindowsUpdate \AU]
    AUOptions = 2 (Degree of user interaction)

    • 2 = Notify Download and Install (Requires Administrator Privileges)
    • 3 = Notify Install (Requires Administrator Privileges)
    • 4 = Automatically, no notification (Uses ScheduledInstallTime and ScheduledInstallDay)
  • Configure how often it should check for updates:

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software \Policies \Microsoft \Windows \WindowsUpdate \AU]
    DetectionFrequency = 22 (1-22 Hours between detection)

  • Configure when it should automatically install downloaded updates:

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \WindowsUpdate \Auto Update]
    ScheduledInstallTime = 0 (0-23 hour of the day)
    ScheduledInstallDay = 0 (1-7 day of the week, 0 = Every day)

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software \Policies \Microsoft \Windows \WindowsUpdate \AU]
    ScheduledInstallTime = 0 (0-23 hour of the day)
    ScheduledInstallDay = 0 (1-7 day of the week, 0 = Every day)
    RescheduleWaitTime = 1 (1-60 minutes to wait after download before installing)

  • Configure when to reboot after installing updates:

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software \Policies \Microsoft \Windows \WindowsUpdate \AU]
    NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers = 1 (0 = Can reboot while users are logged on)
    RebootWarningTimeoutEnabled = 1 (0 = Force scheduled reboot after 5 minutes, Default = 1)
    RebootWarningTimeout = 5 (Minutes to wait before forcing scheduled reboot, Default = 5)
    RebootRelaunchTimeoutEnabled = 1 (0 = Show the “Restart Later” nag once, Default = 1)
    RebootRelaunchTimeout = 10 (Minutes between the “Restart Later” popups, Default = 10)

  • Enable non-administrators to select “Restart Later” and to start installation before the scheduled time:

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software \Policies \Microsoft \Windows \WindowsUpdate]
    ElevateNonAdmins = 1 (Default = 0)

  • Configure whether to use an internal Windows Update Server (WUS) (Formerly known as SUS)

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software \Policies \Microsoft \Windows \WindowsUpdate \AU]
    UseWUServer = 0 (1 = Use Windows Update server specified in WUServer)

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software \Policies \Microsoft \Windows \WindowsUpdate]
    WUServer = “http://intranetsus”
    WUStatusServer = “http://intranetsus”

More Info MS KB328010