WinXP EOL and automatic updates

[VanguardLH]

Perhaps they are buffered somewhere else?

There are lots of WSUS servers running, like on corporate networks.
That doesn't mean *you* have access to them and most likely will never
have access to them unless your host is on their network and behind
their firewall and in a zone that permits your access to their WSUS
server.

I haven't bothered to check if someone besides Microsoft is running a
publicly accessible WSUS server; however, would you really trust an
unknown party with files that modify your OS? Why not just get them
from Microsoft while they are available now rather than stall and find
out later it's too late to get them from Microsoft and you cannot find
them "buffered somewhere else"?

My concern was that I get them all. So I wanted to wait till the end.

Nothing prevents you from getting those that are available today and
then incrementally retrieve the ones that become available later. It's
not a one-time operation that can never be updated and you have to run
all over again. WSUSoffline will retrieve what is available at the time
it is ran. When ran later, it retrieves whatever new updates have
become available since the last time you ran WSUSoffline. In fact, the
first time you run WSUSoffline it can take many hours to download all
those updates. Later runs of WSUSoffline are incremental and so they
don't take as long.

Think of like your postal mail. You've held it while on vacation (all
that time you haven't been collecting it). You get back and pickup a
huge wad of postal mail. Thereafter each day you check your mailbox to
see if there is some more mail. Same for your e-mail client: the first
time it connects to your e-mail account it will download all e-mails
currently in your account but obviously each successive day it only
picks up the few e-mails that have shown up since the prior poll.

 

[Todd]

There are lots of WSUS servers running, like on corporate networks.
That doesn't mean *you* have access to them and most likely will never
have access to them unless your host is on their network and behind
their firewall and in a zone that permits your access to their WSUS
server.

I haven't bothered to check if someone besides Microsoft is running a
publicly accessible WSUS server; however, would you really trust an
unknown party with files that modify your OS? Why not just get them
from Microsoft while they are available now rather than stall and find
out later it's too late to get them from Microsoft and you cannot find
them "buffered somewhere else"?


Nothing prevents you from getting those that are available today and
then incrementally retrieve the ones that become available later. It's
not a one-time operation that can never be updated and you have to run
all over again. WSUSoffline will retrieve what is available at the time
it is ran. When ran later, it retrieves whatever new updates have
become available since the last time you ran WSUSoffline. In fact, the
first time you run WSUSoffline it can take many hours to download all
those updates. Later runs of WSUSoffline are incremental and so they
don't take as long.

Think of like your postal mail. You've held it while on vacation (all
that time you haven't been collecting it). You get back and pickup a
huge wad of postal mail. Thereafter each day you check your mailbox to
see if there is some more mail. Same for your e-mail client: the first
time it connects to your e-mail account it will download all e-mails
currently in your account but obviously each successive day it only
picks up the few e-mails that have shown up since the prior poll.

Thank you!

 

[Jon Danniken]

My main PC is now a W7 Pro 64 bit system, but I still have some old XP
laptops in use for club that I belong to (and their internet
connections are disabled for security reasons).

In using wsusoffline do I have to run it from one of the XP laptops,
or can I run from the W7 machine, just to capture the updates and save
them for future use?

Yes, you can run it from the W7 seven machine just fine. The
application itself doesn't care what it is run on, and presents you with
a number of check boxes to determine what type of updates you want to
assemble. For XP, you just check the XP box, and you're off to the races.

What you end up with is up to you; the program can assemble an .iso
image if you want to burn a disk, or you can use the USB option, which
just assembles them into a directory which will include an application
called "UpdateInstaller.exe". Running that executable will start the
updating process on your XP box, incrementally, depending on what was
already updated.

Jon

 

[Todd]

Yes, you can run it from the W7 seven machine just fine. The
application itself doesn't care what it is run on, and presents you with
a number of check boxes to determine what type of updates you want to
assemble. For XP, you just check the XP box, and you're off to the races.

What you end up with is up to you; the program can assemble an .iso
image if you want to burn a disk, or you can use the USB option, which
just assembles them into a directory which will include an application
called "UpdateInstaller.exe". Running that executable will start the
updating process on your XP box, incrementally, depending on what was
already updated.

Jon

Hi Jon,

Great description! I will probably try it under Wine
in a few days.

-T

 

[Jon Danniken]

Hi Jon,

Great description! I will probably try it under Wine
in a few days.

I run mine in a WinXP virtual machine (VirtualBox). It does run most of
the commands in a "Dos" (technically command) window, and I would be
curious to see if that works under Wine.

Okay, just for fun I installed Wine in my Fedora19 virtual machine, and
ran the wsusoffline executable. I was able to get it going, and I
selected a directory in the ~/.wine hierarchy as a place to set up the
USB installation files.

Upon activation, the program normally opens a "Dos" (I guess it's called
Command now) window, where it does all of it's work. Under wine, this
"Dos" window didn't open, but my bandwidth graph on the host machine
said I was pulling files, and the original wsus directory (the one I
extracted the .zip file into), showed that it was filling up with
goodies. I didn't take it to completion, but it looks like it would work.

So you won't be able to "watch" it work in the "Dos" window, but you can
tell it's working if the installation directory is filling up (and your
router lights are blinking). It does take awhile to finish up,
especially if this is your first time running it, so set it up and go
make a sandwich and eat it and then do something else.

Jon

 

[Andy]

Hello, with EOL coming for XP next year, will the existing updates still

be available after the EOL date? I know they won't be releasing any new

updates, but can a fellow still get the historical updates through

automatic updating?



Basically I am wondering what will happen during a re-installation of

WinXP, and if I will be able to still use automatic updates.



Thanks!



Jon

I did not read every reply, but why not do a disk image after the last update ?

And burn that image to a DVD or 2 for backup.

Andy

 

[Todd]

Hi Jon,

Great description! I will probably try it under Wine
in a few days.

-T

Does not work under wine. there is network traffic, but no files appear
in the download directory

 

[Todd]

Hello, with EOL coming for XP next year, will the existing updates still
be available after the EOL date? I know they won't be releasing any new
updates, but can a fellow still get the historical updates through
automatic updating?

Basically I am wondering what will happen during a re-installation of
WinXP, and if I will be able to still use automatic updates.

Thanks!

Jon

Not ask too stupid a question, but will WSUS download Frankenstein
8.1's (Windows 8.1's) service pack?