Update on SUS synch approval issue

Just an update the SUS 1.0 Approval issue after synching with WU for the
updates released 12/13/05.
We have now republished the KB (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/912307)
which contains a location for a script, which in addition to the previously
released workarounds, can be used to assist in resetting previous
approvals.

thanks- Bobbie

--
Bobbie Harder
Program Manager, WSUS
Microsoft

This posting is provided "As Is" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified at
http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm

All the script appears to have done is Approve everything. There is no
mention of if you need to change the following setting:

Select how you want to handle new versions of previously approved
updates:

On the original KB doc it says you needed to set to:

Automatically approve new versions of previously approved updates

Any advice?

If like me you didnt have a recent backup of the approveditems.txt file
and you dont want to spend days and days rebuilding it as per method 3
then a 4th method would be to find a machine where you normally approve
updates on and look in your temp Internet files (C:\Documents and
Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Temporary Internet
Files\Content.IE5\89BA98AF) for files called approveditems[1].txt,
approveditems[2].txt etc. I managed to get hold of the last file and
used method 1 to restore and thankfully everything is now working
again.


wrote:
> All the script appears to have done is Approve everything. There is no
> mention of if you need to change the following setting:
>
> Select how you want to handle new versions of previously approved
> updates:
>
> On the original KB doc it says you needed to set to:
>
> Automatically approve new versions of previously approved updates
>
> Any advice?

The script determines what your previous approvals were and creates a new
ApprovedItems1.txt which can be copied to replace the existing file -
resetting approvals to previous values. It only resets whats changed, it
will not approve an update which was previously unapproved before the synch.
Regarding the setting option to Auto-Approve new versions of previously
approved updates, thats seperate. If you had that setting option enabled
(to auto-approve previously approved updates) this issue with the synch
would not effect your approval status. The setting option has nothing to do
with how to workaround or resett the approvals, only if you were impacted by
the issue. If your not sure of coarse you should check. Going forward,
whether to set this option or not depends on your particular approval
preferences. Hope this helps-thanks Bobbie
--
Bobbie Harder
Program Manager, WSUS
Microsoft

This posting is provided "As Is" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified at
http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm
<> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
> All the script appears to have done is Approve everything. There is no
> mention of if you need to change the following setting:
>
> Select how you want to handle new versions of previously approved
> updates:
>
> On the original KB doc it says you needed to set to:
>
> Automatically approve new versions of previously approved updates
>
> Any advice?
>

Thanks for the reply Bobbie, am aware what the script tried to do and
had a good look inside it to try and work out why it was approving
everyupdate but couldnt work it out. If you go through the
history-approve.xml file then you can see that maybe 2/3rd of the
patches on my box were approved prior to the problem on the 12/13th but
when I run the script and replace the ApprovedItems.txt file all of
them say Updated,Approved. Its odd I know, I tried doing this a number
of times, at no point have we approved all patches as some of the DHTML
ones break some of our internal web apps. Its not so much of an issue
for me anymore as I found a different solution which I posted.
Thanks again.

Bobbie Harder (MSFT) wrote:
> The script determines what your previous approvals were and creates a new
> ApprovedItems1.txt which can be copied to replace the existing file -
> resetting approvals to previous values. It only resets whats changed, it
> will not approve an update which was previously unapproved before the synch.
> Regarding the setting option to Auto-Approve new versions of previously
> approved updates, thats seperate. If you had that setting option enabled
> (to auto-approve previously approved updates) this issue with the synch
> would not effect your approval status. The setting option has nothing to do
> with how to workaround or resett the approvals, only if you were impacted by
> the issue. If your not sure of coarse you should check. Going forward,
> whether to set this option or not depends on your particular approval
> preferences. Hope this helps-thanks Bobbie
> --
> Bobbie Harder
> Program Manager, WSUS
> Microsoft
>
> This posting is provided "As Is" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
> Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified at
> http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm
> <> wrote in message
> news: oups.com...
> > All the script appears to have done is Approve everything. There is no
> > mention of if you need to change the following setting:
> >
> > Select how you want to handle new versions of previously approved
> > updates:
> >
> > On the original KB doc it says you needed to set to:
> >
> > Automatically approve new versions of previously approved updates
> >
> > Any advice?
> >

Your right - we have validated a problem with the script - and are
re-releasing it. Can you contact me at I'd like to
work with you with the revised script - thanks -Bobbie

--
Bobbie Harder
Program Manager, WSUS
Microsoft

This posting is provided "As Is" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified at
http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm
<> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
> Thanks for the reply Bobbie, am aware what the script tried to do and
> had a good look inside it to try and work out why it was approving
> everyupdate but couldnt work it out. If you go through the
> history-approve.xml file then you can see that maybe 2/3rd of the
> patches on my box were approved prior to the problem on the 12/13th but
> when I run the script and replace the ApprovedItems.txt file all of
> them say Updated,Approved. Its odd I know, I tried doing this a number
> of times, at no point have we approved all patches as some of the DHTML
> ones break some of our internal web apps. Its not so much of an issue
> for me anymore as I found a different solution which I posted.
> Thanks again.
>
> Bobbie Harder (MSFT) wrote:
>> The script determines what your previous approvals were and creates a new
>> ApprovedItems1.txt which can be copied to replace the existing file -
>> resetting approvals to previous values. It only resets whats changed, it
>> will not approve an update which was previously unapproved before the
>> synch.
>> Regarding the setting option to Auto-Approve new versions of previously
>> approved updates, thats seperate. If you had that setting option enabled
>> (to auto-approve previously approved updates) this issue with the synch
>> would not effect your approval status. The setting option has nothing to
>> do
>> with how to workaround or resett the approvals, only if you were impacted
>> by
>> the issue. If your not sure of coarse you should check. Going forward,
>> whether to set this option or not depends on your particular approval
>> preferences. Hope this helps-thanks Bobbie
>> --
>> Bobbie Harder
>> Program Manager, WSUS
>> Microsoft
>>
>> This posting is provided "As Is" with no warranties, and confers no
>> rights.
>> Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified at
>> http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm
>> <> wrote in message
>> news: oups.com...
>> > All the script appears to have done is Approve everything. There is no
>> > mention of if you need to change the following setting:
>> >
>> > Select how you want to handle new versions of previously approved
>> > updates:
>> >
>> > On the original KB doc it says you needed to set to:
>> >
>> > Automatically approve new versions of previously approved updates
>> >
>> > Any advice?
>> >
>

Happy to help, have emailed you.

Bobbie Harder (MSFT) wrote:
> Your right - we have validated a problem with the script - and are
> re-releasing it. Can you contact me at I'd like to
> work with you with the revised script - thanks -Bobbie
>
> --
> Bobbie Harder
> Program Manager, WSUS
> Microsoft
>
> This posting is provided "As Is" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
> Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified at
> http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm
> <> wrote in message
> news: oups.com...
> > Thanks for the reply Bobbie, am aware what the script tried to do and
> > had a good look inside it to try and work out why it was approving
> > everyupdate but couldnt work it out. If you go through the
> > history-approve.xml file then you can see that maybe 2/3rd of the
> > patches on my box were approved prior to the problem on the 12/13th but
> > when I run the script and replace the ApprovedItems.txt file all of
> > them say Updated,Approved. Its odd I know, I tried doing this a number
> > of times, at no point have we approved all patches as some of the DHTML
> > ones break some of our internal web apps. Its not so much of an issue
> > for me anymore as I found a different solution which I posted.
> > Thanks again.
> >
> > Bobbie Harder (MSFT) wrote:
> >> The script determines what your previous approvals were and creates a new
> >> ApprovedItems1.txt which can be copied to replace the existing file -
> >> resetting approvals to previous values. It only resets whats changed, it
> >> will not approve an update which was previously unapproved before the
> >> synch.
> >> Regarding the setting option to Auto-Approve new versions of previously
> >> approved updates, thats seperate. If you had that setting option enabled
> >> (to auto-approve previously approved updates) this issue with the synch
> >> would not effect your approval status. The setting option has nothing to
> >> do
> >> with how to workaround or resett the approvals, only if you were impacted
> >> by
> >> the issue. If your not sure of coarse you should check. Going forward,
> >> whether to set this option or not depends on your particular approval
> >> preferences. Hope this helps-thanks Bobbie
> >> --
> >> Bobbie Harder
> >> Program Manager, WSUS
> >> Microsoft
> >>
> >> This posting is provided "As Is" with no warranties, and confers no
> >> rights.
> >> Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified at
> >> http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm
> >> <> wrote in message
> >> news: oups.com...
> >> > All the script appears to have done is Approve everything. There is no
> >> > mention of if you need to change the following setting:
> >> >
> >> > Select how you want to handle new versions of previously approved
> >> > updates:
> >> >
> >> > On the original KB doc it says you needed to set to:
> >> >
> >> > Automatically approve new versions of previously approved updates
> >> >
> >> > Any advice?
> >> >
> >

Outstanding! Thank you.

--
Bobbie Harder
Program Manager, WSUS
Microsoft

This posting is provided "As Is" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified at
http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm
<> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
> Happy to help, have emailed you.
>
> Bobbie Harder (MSFT) wrote:
>> Your right - we have validated a problem with the script - and are
>> re-releasing it. Can you contact me at I'd like to
>> work with you with the revised script - thanks -Bobbie
>>
>> --
>> Bobbie Harder
>> Program Manager, WSUS
>> Microsoft
>>
>> This posting is provided "As Is" with no warranties, and confers no
>> rights.
>> Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified at
>> http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm
>> <> wrote in message
>> news: oups.com...
>> > Thanks for the reply Bobbie, am aware what the script tried to do and
>> > had a good look inside it to try and work out why it was approving
>> > everyupdate but couldnt work it out. If you go through the
>> > history-approve.xml file then you can see that maybe 2/3rd of the
>> > patches on my box were approved prior to the problem on the 12/13th but
>> > when I run the script and replace the ApprovedItems.txt file all of
>> > them say Updated,Approved. Its odd I know, I tried doing this a number
>> > of times, at no point have we approved all patches as some of the DHTML
>> > ones break some of our internal web apps. Its not so much of an issue
>> > for me anymore as I found a different solution which I posted.
>> > Thanks again.
>> >
>> > Bobbie Harder (MSFT) wrote:
>> >> The script determines what your previous approvals were and creates a
>> >> new
>> >> ApprovedItems1.txt which can be copied to replace the existing file -
>> >> resetting approvals to previous values. It only resets whats changed,
>> >> it
>> >> will not approve an update which was previously unapproved before the
>> >> synch.
>> >> Regarding the setting option to Auto-Approve new versions of
>> >> previously
>> >> approved updates, thats seperate. If you had that setting option
>> >> enabled
>> >> (to auto-approve previously approved updates) this issue with the
>> >> synch
>> >> would not effect your approval status. The setting option has nothing
>> >> to
>> >> do
>> >> with how to workaround or resett the approvals, only if you were
>> >> impacted
>> >> by
>> >> the issue. If your not sure of coarse you should check. Going
>> >> forward,
>> >> whether to set this option or not depends on your particular approval
>> >> preferences. Hope this helps-thanks Bobbie
>> >> --
>> >> Bobbie Harder
>> >> Program Manager, WSUS
>> >> Microsoft
>> >>
>> >> This posting is provided "As Is" with no warranties, and confers no
>> >> rights.
>> >> Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified at
>> >> http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm
>> >> <> wrote in message
>> >> news: oups.com...
>> >> > All the script appears to have done is Approve everything. There is
>> >> > no
>> >> > mention of if you need to change the following setting:
>> >> >
>> >> > Select how you want to handle new versions of previously approved
>> >> > updates:
>> >> >
>> >> > On the original KB doc it says you needed to set to:
>> >> >
>> >> > Automatically approve new versions of previously approved updates
>> >> >
>> >> > Any advice?
>> >> >
>> >
>

wrote:

> Thanks for the reply Bobbie, am aware what the script tried to do and
> had a good look inside it to try and work out why it was approving
> everyupdate but couldnt work it out. If you go through the
> history-approve.xml file then you can see that maybe 2/3rd of the
> patches on my box were approved prior to the problem on the 12/13th but
> when I run the script and replace the ApprovedItems.txt file all of
> them say Updated,Approved.

Same here. Sigh.

--
Gary Flynn
Security Engineer
James Madison University
www.jmu.edu/computing/security

Gary - If you contact me offline I can work with you
on this and get you a preview script. Let me know- thanks Bobbie

--
Bobbie Harder
Program Manager, WSUS
Microsoft

This posting is provided "As Is" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified at
http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm
"Gary Flynn" <> wrote in message
news:...
> wrote:
>
>> Thanks for the reply Bobbie, am aware what the script tried to do and
>> had a good look inside it to try and work out why it was approving
>> everyupdate but couldnt work it out. If you go through the
>> history-approve.xml file then you can see that maybe 2/3rd of the
>> patches on my box were approved prior to the problem on the 12/13th but
>> when I run the script and replace the ApprovedItems.txt file all of
>> them say Updated,Approved.
>
> Same here. Sigh.
>
> --
> Gary Flynn
> Security Engineer
> James Madison University
> www.jmu.edu/computing/security