No Microsoft Update

Problem

I was preparing to roll out SQL Server 2016 and Windows Server 2016 and had deployed the first server in  production. I suddenly noticed that even if I selected “Check online for updates from Microsoft Update” in the horrible new update dialog, I never got any of the additional updates. Btw, this link/button only appears when you have an internal SCCM or WSUS server configured. Clicking the normal Check For Updates button will get updates from WSUS.

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Analysis

This was working as expected in the lab, but the lab does not have the fancy System Center Configuration Manager and WSUS systems. So of course I blamed SCCM and uninstalled the agent. But to no avail, still no updates. I lurked around the update dialog and found that the “Give me updates for other Microsoft products..” option was grayed out and disabled. I am sure that I checked this box during installation, as I remember looking for its location. But it was no longer selected, it was even grayed out.

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This smells of GPOs. But I also remembered trying to get this option checked by a GPO to save time during installation, and that it was not possible to do so in Win2012R2. Into the Group Policy Manager of the lab DC I went…

It appears that GPO management of the Microsoft Update option has been added in Win2016:

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This option is not available in Win2012R2, but as we have a GPO that defines “Configure Automatic Updates”, it defaults to disabled.

solution

Alternative 1: Upgrade your domain controllers to Win2016.

Alternative 2: Install the Win2016 .admx files on all your domain controllers and administrative workstations.

Then, change the GPO ensuring that “Install updates for other Microsoft products is enabled. Selecting 3 – Auto download used to be a safe setting.

Alternative 3: Remove the GPO or set “Configure Automatic Updates” to “Not Configured”, thus allowing local configuration.

Author: DizzyBadger

SQL Server DBA, Cluster expert, Principal Analyst

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