It supports Updates for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Server 2003, Server 2003 R2, Server 2008 and Server 2008 R2 both, Office 2003, Office 2007 and Office 2010. One can select the required languages, in- or exclude Service Packs, .Net Frameworks, C++ Runtime libraries, Windows Defenders definitions, Microsoft Security Essentials and so on. Updates can come either from Microsoft Update directly or also from your WSUS Server.
Once downloaded, one can create ISO images per product and language or per language only. Or copy a subset of selectable updates on a USB Stick. Then a second component can be called from each individual computer that shall be updated, either locally or over the network. This will then evaluate the current computer against the available updates and install all missing ones plus a bunch of additional items like Internet Explorer, PowerShell, Windows Defender, .Net Frameworks, etc.
How it works?
First, download the most recent version from WSUS Offline Update (http://download.wsusoffline.net/). Be sure to unblock the file and then extract the content to a folder. Can be locally or on a network share. If you place it on a share, be sure to map it with a Drive letter.Now you want to get the updates and optionally create the Update medias. To do so, start the “UpdateGenerator.exe” from the just extracted folder.
As you can see, there are plenty of options what to download and to create. All downloads will be stored in some sub-folders at the location, where you started the application from. So be sure to have some space available. We will go over some of the more important ones a bit later. Also be sure to start the download regularly to always have the latest updates available.
Now if you have selected all the products you would like to download updates for, click on “Start” and the download process will start. It will first get a list of all available updates and then just download the ones that haven’t been downloaded already. Depending on your selection and bandwidth, this can take quite some time.
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It will also check for superseded Updates, mark and optionally remove them. It’s also maintaining a list of excluded Updates which can be tweaked to your own needs.
How to Update a Windows Client
After the Updates have been downloaded, you an use the created CD/DVD/USB media to update a computer. Optionally it’s also possible to call it over the network, even if that’s not the preferred method and contradicts a bit with the idea of an “Offline” Update. However to do so, just share the Client subfolder and make sure that you map this share with a drive letter on the computer, as the scripts don’t work with a UNC path. Now execute the “UpdateInstaller.exe”. Preferably with Administrative privileges.
The GUI will let you choose only available options. So it might differ depending what you downloaded or have made available on your media and the OS and installed components itself, to start the update process, simply click on the “Start button" and your system will be updated:
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