CODEWITHSUNDEEP
windowswinapi
Achim Kottmann
Achim Kottmann

Reputation: 1

Check for available Windows Updates offline

Is there a way to check if Windows Updates are available without going online? I know there is the Windows Update Agent API and you can check offline by providing the wsusscn2.cab, but then I'd have to update this file regularly. I think there must be a way to check a file, the registry, WMI or something else to get the info if there are Windows Updates available.

The best solution I found so far is parsing the WindowsUpdate.log file, but I'm not really happy with that.

Thanks, Achim

Upvotes: 0

Views: 920

Answers (1)

Harry Johnston
Harry Johnston

Reputation: 36318

On Windows 7, the UpdateCount REG_DWORD value in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update\UAS appears to contain the number of pending updates.

Since this isn't documented, it might change without warning, but for in-house use it may meet your needs. On the other hand, depending on your circumstances, you might be better off running WSUS, which includes reporting capabilities. There's also a WSUS API.

Upvotes: 1

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