Windows Updates should usually complete during off-hours, but sometimes an error means the system needs a little help from you or LITS' computer technicians.
Overview
When computers have problems with installing Windows Updates, it's usually either because the computer can't receive the necessary configuration from campus management servers, or because the computer itself has some connection issues out to Microsoft.
Quick Checks/Fixes
Try these easy steps
- Check basic network connectivity: can the computer reach https://microsoft.com ? Select the link or type it into a web browser.
- Refresh group policies:
- On-campus computer, log out and log back in, or restart and log in
- Off-campus, connect to VPN and allow the system to refresh its policy settings (up to two hours)
- Check that Windows Updates are being managed by MHC -- see the next section
Check Group Policy Configurations
The behavior of Windows Update is partially controlled via policy applied from MHC's management servers. Computers must be able to connect to the server to receive new configurations, either directly on campus or through the VPN.
- To see which Windows Updates settings are being supplied by the management servers to the computer, go to Settings > Update & Security > View configured update policies
- This will not show you the specific settings, but will show list the items that have had a setting applied by group policy. The text from the policy configuration page can be pasted into a Helpdesk ticket for troubleshooting.
Updating Windows Group Policy Settings
To receive fresh Windows configurations, the computer can be connected to the campus, using VPN if necessary.
Once connected, the computer should receive updated group policy configurations within two hours (within 90 minutes plus up to a random 30 minutes, but if a computer has not been connected it's likely to be much sooner as it catches up). For on-campus computers, a refresh can be encouraged by logging out and logging back in, or restarting the computer. For off-campus computers, logging out or restarting will disconnect the VPN and probably will interrupt any configuration refresh.
About Management Configurations
Most computers on campus are managed together with other computers that have similar management needs, installed software, and tolerance for restarts. Configuration ranges from heavily controlled in areas such as public computer labs, to a light touch for office computers, to no touch for very specialized systems.
If a group set of configurations is not working out for a certain computer or small group of computers, folks can let LITS know about the needs and we can make adjustments accordingly.