Handy WSUS Commands: Windows Server Update Services Commands, WAUACLT, PowerShell and USOClient

Working with Windows Update Automatic Update (WSUS) is not a relatively easy task, for ease of troubleshooting and fixing updates errors, there is a need to know a bunch of useful commands such as the WAUACLT, PowerShell, and USOClient. Please see How to disable Ads in Windows 11, How to apply Windows Updates with PowerShell, How to configure Windows server update services, and How to install WSUS on Windows Server 2022.

For more documentation on WSUS, take a look at the following hyperlinks. WSUS clients appear then disappear in the console, how to Start, Stop and Restart Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) via PowerShell and CMD,

Windows Update Automatic Update (WSUS) Client – WUAUCLT

This refers to the Windows Update Automatic Update Client.  This command has been replaced in the most recent versions of Windows OS with the USOclient. Note: (WUAUCLT tool still works very well to date on Windows 2016. I tested and they worked great.

Please find below a list of commands that can be used alongside WUACLT and their explanations below. The first three (3) are probably the most used commands of WUAUCLT.

WUAUCLT /detectnow: Detect and download updates that are available

WUAUCLT /ReportNow: Tell the client to report its status back to the WSUS server

WUAUCLT /UpdateNow  : Install updates now

WUAUCLT /ShowSettingsDialog :  Show Windows Update settings dialog

WUAUCLT /ShowWindowsUpdate: Shows the windows update dialog box or web page

WUAUCLT /ResetAuthorization : when an update check occurs a cookie is stored that prevents a new update or check for 1 hour. So, you should use this to delete this cookie

WUAUCLT /ResetEulas : Resets the accepted EULA

WUAUCLT /SelfUpdateManaged : Scan for windows updates using WSUS

WUAUCLT / SelfUpdateUnmanaged : Triggers a windows update scan using the windows update website

WUAUCLT /ShowOptions : Open the windows update settings window

WUAUCLT /ShowFeaturedOptInDialog : Show Opt-In dialog for featured updates

WUAUCLT /DemoUI : Show the icons for windows update

WUAUCLT / ShowFeaturedUpdates : Open windows update dialog and shows the featured updates

Please see Windows 2016 Servers do not show up on the WSUS console. Also, see applying Updates Deployed by WSUS to Workstations using AWS RunCommand.

PowerPoint: Administering Windows Update Via PowerShell

Powershell will give you the most flexibility in installing windows updates. The other methods are fine for simply downloading and installing all updates.

However, with the PowerShell cmdlets, you can do things like get a list of updates, search for updates with a specific word in them, then only install those updates(WSUS Command Line Tips).

First Phase 1: Install the module from the gallery by running

Install-module PSWindowsUpdate

For links to some documentation on WSUS by myself on where some of these commands have been used previously, take a look at the following hyperlinks.

Important Areas to Master on WSUS, Configuring WSUS Email Notification to Work With Office365, Configuring WSUS Email Notification to Work With Office365 – IIS SMTP Relay Server and how to configure SSL between WSUS servers (Upstream and Downstream Servers).

Step 2: Import the windows update module

Import-Module PSWindowsUpdate

Step 3: Install the Microsoft Update service.

Note: This can also be done via the command

Add-WUServiceManager -ServiceID 7971f918-a847-4430-9279-4a52d1efe18

Step 4: To get a list of the available cmdlets in the PSWindowsUpdate module with the following command:

Get-command -module PSWindowsUpdate

Examples of how to use this tool

1: Download and install updates from Microsoft Update, then reboot:

Get-WUInstall –MicrosoftUpdate –AcceptAll –AutoReboot

2: Check if a reboot is required

Get-wurebootstatus

3:  To view available Updates from the Microsoft catalog

Get-WUInstall-MicrosoftUpdate – ListOnly

USOClient: Administering Windows Update Via USOClient

USO stands for Update Session Orchestrator. The usoclient.exe file or the Windows 10 Update Orchestrator is in the System32 folder. This tool was introduced in Windows 10 and Server 2016, and it replaces the deprecated WUACLT tool.

Furthermore, Ensure to run these commands with the Admin rights (elevated command prompt)

usoclient.exe StartScan
usoclient.exe StartDownload
usoclient.exe StartInstall
usoclient.exe RefreshSettings
usoclient.exe ResumeUpdate
usoclient.exe ScanInstallWait
usoclient.exe StartInteractiveScan
usoclient.exe RestartDevice

I hope you found this blog poston how to use WSUS Commands: WAUACLT and PowerShell and USOClient helpful. Please let me know in the comment session if you have any questions.