Off line updates

The environment is Windows NT 4 workstations with a
combination of Windows NT 4, Windows 2000 and Windows 2003
servers. For a number of different reasons the network is
not connected to the net at all so automatic updates are
not an option. Is there a tool available that will check
the machine and advise what patches/updates/services packs
etc should be deployed.

Thanks

Tom

"Tom" wrote:

> The environment is Windows NT 4 workstations with a
> combination of Windows NT 4, Windows 2000 and Windows 2003
> servers. For a number of different reasons the network is
> not connected to the net at all so automatic updates are
> not an option. Is there a tool available that will check
> the machine and advise what patches/updates/services packs
> etc should be deployed.
>
> Thanks
>
> Tom
>

Tom wrote:

> The environment is Windows NT 4 workstations with a
> combination of Windows NT 4, Windows 2000 and Windows 2003
> servers. For a number of different reasons the network is
> not connected to the net at all so automatic updates are
> not an option. Is there a tool available that will check
> the machine and advise what patches/updates/services packs
> etc should be deployed.
Hi

I suggest you download and run the Microsoft Baseline Security
Analyzer (MBSA), it can scan computers remotely (but not for
MS Office updates though):

<quote>
Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA):

The Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer allows administrators to
scan local and remote systems for missing security patches as well
as common security misconfigurations. More information on MBSA is
available at:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sec...s/mbsahome.asp

</quote>

and

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) 1.2 Q&A
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sec...ls/mbsaqa.mspx


It has it own newsgroup as well:

microsoft.public.security.baseline_analyzer


Note that you can not install MBSA on a NT4 computer, but you can scan
a NT4 computer remotely (more about this in the FAQ link above.


and:

Each time MBSA is run it will attempt to connect to the Internet to
download the CAB file containing MSSecure.XML from Microsoft. If an
Internet connection is not available, the tool will look for a local
copy of the CAB/XML file in the tool installation folder.

For machines that never connect to the Internet, you can separately
download this file from here (this file is updated each time a
security update is released):

ENU (code page 1033): http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=18922
DEU (code page 1031) : http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=18121
FRN (code page 1036) : http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=18122
JPN (code page 1041): http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=18120



--
torgeir, Microsoft MVP Scripting and WMI, Porsgrunn Norway
Administration scripting examples and an ONLINE version of
the 1328 page Scripting Guide:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scr...r/default.mspx