
Systems: Win 7 Pro SP1, a bunch of x32 and x64 machines.
A simple question: How does AP determine to flag a KB as "Not applicable to your system"?
Yesterday I was updating a machine and got a bit more curious than usual as to how AP determines that a patch applies or not, to a particular installation. Normally, after I do my usual runs of AP (download, install, reboot), I then run MBSA to check for security compliance and anything that might have been missed. MBSA will often report some KB's as missing so I hunt around in the AP folders or head on over to the MS Catalog site to find the patches and apply them manually. Sometimes a patch really does not apply to a system and the patch itself, trying to install, will report as such and abort the installation. That's fine with me, I leave it at that.
But yesterday I decided to do an AP run and KB3191566 (Windows management framework 5.1 ...) was checked on the list. Upon highlighting it to do some reading on what it was about, AP reported "Not applicable to your system". As a test, I closed AP and fetched it from the folders and tried to install it. Surprise - it did install and WU confirmed its installation / presence.
So this has left me with the question stated in the title... I will add that I rely very heavily on AP and MBSA to keep my 4 machines fully patched, as this makes (my) life so much easier than the built-in Windows Update. Although not a huge dealbreaker, It would be nice if I didn't have to second-guess AP in regards to which patches do in fact "not apply" to a system.
Any thoughts, insights, mods I could make on my end, etc.?
Thanks a bunch, AP team!