Windows Update in corporate environment

I work for a major electronics company. One of my job responsibilities is to
install and configure WinXPPro/Home/MedCenter on a customer's newly-purchased
comptuer. One of the big slow-downs I have to deal with the the horrible
amount of time I have to spend downloading the collection of updates for
those OSes. I found a tool ("AutoPatcher" at neowin.net), but as wonderful as
that is, they also install addons and tweaks that are not appropriate for my
company to install on customer machines. In researching, I found WSUS might
be a solution...until I read that there could be a licensing issue. The use
license for WSUS says that I can legallyl only use WSUS to update machines
that are licensed to my organization. In fact, the machines don't get updated
until they are sold.

So the first question deals with the license: can I legally use WSUS to
update my customers' computers prior to those customers taking possession of
the PCs?

If so, my next problem is in the installation and configuration of WSUS. I
can get a Win2003 server set up and dedicated to WSUS services, so my concern
is what I need to install on that server. Am I correct in understanding that
IIS must be installed, and that I can choose between SQL and MSDE for the
database of updates? Am I missing any major components?

Perhaps my greatest concern is about future updates. Once I perform the
initial boot and update via WSUS, the computer goes "home" to a customer's
house. Will they be able to perform their own Windows Update properly?

Thank you for your insights!

Mark Racicot <mark-no-spam-please!-> wrote:

> I found a tool
> ("AutoPatcher" at neowin.net), but as wonderful as that is, they also
> install addons and tweaks that are not appropriate for my company to
> install on customer machines.

Isn't that done only by user request? You have to ask for the tweaks?

--
Robin Walker [MVP Networking]

As far as I can see, the FULL version of AutoPatcher includes non-MS-addons.
They have "Lite" versions with fewer addons, but in order to use the lite
versions, one must download the last Full version (from April) first before
downloading the May-June-July Lite patches... So as I said, for my personal
machine, that's OK...but for my customers, I need a way to install ONLY
MS-released patches and updates.

Mark

"Robin Walker [MVP]" wrote:

> Mark Racicot <mark-no-spam-please!-> wrote:
>
> > I found a tool
> > ("AutoPatcher" at neowin.net), but as wonderful as that is, they also
> > install addons and tweaks that are not appropriate for my company to
> > install on customer machines.
>
> Isn't that done only by user request? You have to ask for the tweaks?
>
> --
> Robin Walker [MVP Networking]
>
>
>
>

Mark Racicot <mark-no-spam-please!-> wrote:

> As far as I can see, the FULL version of AutoPatcher includes
> non-MS-addons. They have "Lite" versions with fewer addons, but in
> order to use the lite versions, one must download the last Full
> version (from April) first before downloading the May-June-July Lite
> patches... So as I said, for my personal machine, that's OK...but for
> my customers, I need a way to install ONLY MS-released patches and
> updates.

Have you tried the Full version? Does it offer user dialogs to select
whether each tweak is to installed or not?

From http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=410121
Q: Does AutoPatcher install anything without my permission?
A: Absolutely not! AutoPatcher does nothing secretly. The user has total
control over the installation.

--
Robin Walker [MVP Networking]

It took a while, but I downloaded and tested...it *does* ask which ones you
want to install. I'll give it a try and make sure that what I need is what
I'm getting. This means that I could have done a better job investigating
before posting... Thanks for the gentle redirection!

Mark

"Robin Walker [MVP]" wrote:

> Mark Racicot <mark-no-spam-please!-> wrote:
>
> > As far as I can see, the FULL version of AutoPatcher includes
> > non-MS-addons. They have "Lite" versions with fewer addons, but in
> > order to use the lite versions, one must download the last Full
> > version (from April) first before downloading the May-June-July Lite
> > patches... So as I said, for my personal machine, that's OK...but for
> > my customers, I need a way to install ONLY MS-released patches and
> > updates.
>
> Have you tried the Full version? Does it offer user dialogs to select
> whether each tweak is to installed or not?
>
> From http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=410121
> Q: Does AutoPatcher install anything without my permission?
> A: Absolutely not! AutoPatcher does nothing secretly. The user has total
> control over the installation.
>
> --
> Robin Walker [MVP Networking]
>
>
>
>