Autopatcher newbie question

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brundleflyguy
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2014 11:22 am

Autopatcher newbie question

Post by brundleflyguy »

Hello all,
I've been using WSUS Offline Update to update computers from our network. I download all the updates for Vista, 7, and 8 to a single PC in a shared folder, and then use Wsus Offline Updater to install these updates on various computers as they come into my shop. Unfortunately, WSUS Offline Updater never seems to get all the updates, and I end up spending a lot of time manually installing updates after it as finished - WSUS OU really helps, of course, but it would be nice if it got closer to 100% of the updates.
Will Autopatcher do this for me? Can I download all the updates to a single shared location and then install them on each PC that comes in, or am I misunderstanding what it is for?

Thanks for your help,

Jim
ChrisJ
Posts: 353
Joined: Sun Oct 27, 2013 3:32 am

Re: Autopatcher newbie question

Post by ChrisJ »

Hi Jim :)

In my view WSUS and AP function essentially the same way, both can update multiple PCs, are portable apps. WSUS is probably a more mature app, as far as the list of updates, your experience will be similiar with AP, to what degree you will need to test for yourself, no way to know for sure without a sidebyside comparison but there will always be additional updating, impossible to get everything for every PC out there.

AP is much easier to manage IMO though. If you can download the additional updates (exe, msi, etc) to the AP folder (.\modules) it's easy to create an *.apm file (simple text file), therefore adding new updates to your scripts, creating a custom script if you will :) This will cause an Official release to become Unofficial but not an issue if you're aware of your additions - Sweeper.exe will delete so be careful (see \help for switches) if you run Sweeper to clean a package. Sweeper can provide a list rather than delete extra files - helpful for custom Unofficial packages - winkwink. I had hoped AP would be farther along by now, the red Unofficial warning could be disabled for custom releases but not there yet.

You will need multiple scripts to get close to a complete system update, the OS & .NET, the redistributables (VC++ runtimes), here's the list of scripts:
http://www.autopatcher.net/releases.list - simple text file, highlight the link after Script=, open in a new tab in your browser to get an idea of the updates available in the numerous packages.

If you come across updates that are relevant to a wide range of PCs, by all means mention it in the forums and I'm sure they will get added. The project used to have many forum regulars tht would help keep the scripts robust, any more the forums are pretty quiet, mostly 2 or 3 at most trying to keep things together.

Give it a try, overall AP is a very useful program, as robust as WSUS, this is your call :)

The Office scripts may be the one area WSUS is superior to AP, I'm unsure anymore but this was my experience. Office is not an easy script to deal with for AP, not sure how WSUS handles Office updates.

I'm also not sure which of the latest program (AP, APUP) releases are stable, I was having troubles with most of em so I had reverted to older versions - it's been a while though, the progs may be stable once again.

CJ
ChrisJ
Posts: 353
Joined: Sun Oct 27, 2013 3:32 am

Re: Autopatcher newbie question

Post by ChrisJ »

Bummer, Jim came by for a visit on the 14th but didn't say anything, I hope I didn't discourage him :(
brundleflyguy
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2014 11:22 am

Re: Autopatcher newbie question

Post by brundleflyguy »

Sorry, it's been ridiculously busy at work, so I sort of shelved this idea for the time being, but I will be returning to it in the new year. Thanks for your detailed response, it was very helpful.
ChrisJ
Posts: 353
Joined: Sun Oct 27, 2013 3:32 am

Re: Autopatcher newbie question

Post by ChrisJ »

brundleflyguy wrote:Sorry, it's been ridiculously busy at work, so I sort of shelved this idea for the time being, but I will be returning to it in the new year. Thanks for your detailed response, it was very helpful.
No apologies necessary at all, it's just that I'm interested in your opinion of AP and your evaluations of the 2 apps compared, pros and cons of each tool.

Have a Very Merry Christmas - see you in 2015 :D
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