WSUS 2.0 How to get rid of unneeded updates? "Bill Glidden" <billyg1943[ at ]hotmail.com> 10/18/2008 4:36:56 AM I have a freshly installed SBS 2003 R2 server with WSUS 2 installed as part of the R2 technologies. This server replaced a server in a network which was also running WSUS and everything was up to date on server and workstations. There are a total of 22,816 updates and supposedly 21,243 have been approved. When I run a report on "unneeded" updates I get a list of 21,235 updates. Many of them seem to be drivers. I have turned off download of drivers, run wsusutil (deleteunnededrevisions) and wsusdebugtool (purgeunneededfiles) but these updates are still there. How can I sort this out please?

Re: WSUS 2.0 How to get rid of unneeded updates? "Lawrence Garvin" <lawrence[ at ]nospam> 10/18/2008 3:27:29 PM "Bill Glidden" <billyg1943[ at ]hotmail.com> wrote in message news:Octq9sNMJHA.1160[ at ]TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl... [Quoted Text] >I have a freshly installed SBS 2003 R2 server with WSUS 2 installed as part > of the R2 technologies. This server replaced a server in a network which > was > also running WSUS and everything was up to date on server and > workstations. > > There are a total of 22,816 updates and supposedly 21,243 have been > approved. When I run a report on "unneeded" updates I get a list of > 21,235 > updates. Many of them seem to be drivers. > > I have turned off download of drivers, run wsusutil > (deleteunnededrevisions) > and wsusdebugtool (purgeunneededfiles) but these updates are still there. > > How can I sort this out please? In WSUS v2, unfortunately, you cannot, as there are no provisions in WSUS v2 to remove metadata from the database. "Deleteunneededrevisions" only removes the metadata for expired revisions. "Purgeunneededfiles" only removes files for declined updates -- but as the updates were never approved, there are no files to be removed. All you can do is mark them as Declined, in order to hide them from your normal displays. The other alternative is to uninstall the R2 technologies including the database, and reinstall, being careful not to select "Drivers" after creating the new database. You might also want to consider upgrading the WSUS v2 installation to WSUS v3. -- Lawrence Garvin, M.S., MCITP(x2), MCTS(x5), MCP(x7), MCBMSP Principal/CTO, Onsite Technology Solutions, Houston, Texas Microsoft MVP - Software Distribution (2005-2009) MS WSUS Website: http://www.microsoft.com/wsus My Websites: http://www.onsitechsolutions.com; http://wsusinfo.onsitechsolutions.com My MVP Profile: http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Lawrence.Garvin

Re: WSUS 2.0 How to get rid of unneeded updates? "Bill Glidden" <billyg1943[ at ]hotmail.com> 10/18/2008 10:43:27 PM Thanks Lawrence. Uninstall it is then. I was already considering upgrading to WSUS 3.0 SP1. Much improved from earlier version. Cheers,\ Bill "Lawrence Garvin" <lawrence[ at ]nospam> wrote in message news:eI6BKYTMJHA.2760[ at ]TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl... [Quoted Text] > "Bill Glidden" <billyg1943[ at ]hotmail.com> wrote in message > news:Octq9sNMJHA.1160[ at ]TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl... >>I have a freshly installed SBS 2003 R2 server with WSUS 2 installed as >>part >> of the R2 technologies. This server replaced a server in a network which >> was >> also running WSUS and everything was up to date on server and >> workstations. >> >> There are a total of 22,816 updates and supposedly 21,243 have been >> approved. When I run a report on "unneeded" updates I get a list of >> 21,235 >> updates. Many of them seem to be drivers. >> >> I have turned off download of drivers, run wsusutil >> (deleteunnededrevisions) >> and wsusdebugtool (purgeunneededfiles) but these updates are still there. >> >> How can I sort this out please? > > In WSUS v2, unfortunately, you cannot, as there are no provisions in WSUS > v2 to remove metadata from the database. > > "Deleteunneededrevisions" only removes the metadata for expired revisions. > "Purgeunneededfiles" only removes files for declined updates -- but as the > updates were never approved, there are no files to be removed. > > All you can do is mark them as Declined, in order to hide them from your > normal displays. > > The other alternative is to uninstall the R2 technologies including the > database, and reinstall, being careful not to select "Drivers" after > creating the new database. > > You might also want to consider upgrading the WSUS v2 installation to WSUS > v3. > > -- > Lawrence Garvin, M.S., MCITP(x2), MCTS(x5), MCP(x7), MCBMSP > Principal/CTO, Onsite Technology Solutions, Houston, Texas > Microsoft MVP - Software Distribution (2005-2009) > > MS WSUS Website: http://www.microsoft.com/wsus > My Websites: http://www.onsitechsolutions.com; > http://wsusinfo.onsitechsolutions.com > My MVP Profile: http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Lawrence.Garvin >