Step 1: Review WSUS Installation Requirements for Migrating from Software Update Services

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

The following are the baseline installation requirements for WSUS installations that use the default options. You can find hardware and software requirements for other installations in the “Deploying Microsoft Windows Server Update Services” white paper.

Hardware recommendations for a server with up to 500 client computers are as follows:

  • 1 gigahertz (GHz) processor

  • 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM

Software Requirements

The following is a list of required software for each operating system that supports WSUS. Ensure that the computer you will use for the WSUS server meets this list of requirements prior to your running WSUS Setup. If any of these updates require restarting the computer when installation is completed, you should restart your server prior to installing WSUS.

Windows Server 2003

The following software is required for running WSUS on Windows Server 2003:

Windows 2000 Server

The following software is required for running WSUS on Windows 2000 Server:

Disk Requirements and Recommendations

To install WSUS, the file system of the server must meet the following requirements:

  • Both the system partition and the partition on which you install WSUS must be formatted with the NTFS file system.

  • A minimum of 1 GB free space is required for the system partition.

  • A minimum of 6 GB free space is required for the volume where WSUS stores content; 30 GB is recommended.

  • A minimum of 2 GB free space is required on the volume where WSUS Setup installs Windows SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (WMSDE).