Step 7: Approve and Deploy Updates in WSUS 3.0

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Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server Update Services

In this step, you approve an update for any test client computers in the test group. Computers in the group will contact the WSUS server over the next 24 hours. After this period, you can use the WSUS reporting feature to determine if those updates have been deployed to the computers. If testing goes well, you can then approve the same updates for the rest of the computers in your organization.

Step 7 contains the following procedures:

  • Approve and deploy an update.

  • Check the status of the update.

To approve and deploy an update

  1. On the WSUS Administration console, click Updates. Doing so will display a summary of updates in the default views (All Updates, Critical Updates, Security Updates, and WSUS Updates). Use All Updates for this procedure.

  2. On the list of updates, select the updates you want to approve for installation. Information about a selected update is available in the lowermost pane of the Updates panel. To select multiple contiguous updates, press and hold down the SHIFT key while clicking updates; to select multiple noncontiguous updates, press and hold down the CTRL key while click updates.

  3. Right-click the selection and click Approve. The Approve Updates dialog box appears.

  4. Select one of the groups (for example, Test) and click the arrow to its left. You will see a context menu with the choices Approved for Install, Approved for Removal, Not Approved, Deadline, Same as Parent, and Apply to Children. Click Approved for Install and then click OK.

  5. You will see a new window, Approval Progress, which shows progress of the different tasks affecting the approval of the updates. When approval is completed, click Close to close this window.

Note

Many options are associated with approving updates, such as setting deadlines and uninstalling updates.

After 24 hours, you can use the WSUS reporting feature to determine whether the updates have been deployed to the computers.

To check the status of an update

  1. In the WSUS Administration console, click Reports in the left pane.

  2. On the Reports page, you will see a number of standardized reports. Click the Update Status Summary report. You will see the Updates Report window.

  3. If you want to filter the list of updates, select the criteria you want to use (for example, Include updates in these classifications), and then click Run Report on the window's toolbar.

  4. You will see the Updates Report pane. You can check the status of individual updates by selecting the update in the left section of the pane. The last section of the report pane shows the status summary of the update.

  5. You can save or print this report by clicking the appropriate icon on the toolbar.

If the updates were successfully deployed to the test group, you can approve the same updates for the rest of the computers in your organization.