WINDOWS OFFLINE UPDATE TUTORIAL

[DSTM]

FAST UPDATES AFTER WINDOWS CLEAN INSTALL! – STAGE ONE

Computer technicians all over the world are often asked to carry out a clean/new install of an older windows operating system. For most of us the install its self is completed in under an hour, but downloading and installing the updates can take hours and hours. However, for the benefit of those who don’t know, there is a totally free piece of software that will enable you to get all the updates installed in under an hour.

 

 

 

Here’s how:

 

 

1. Go to http://www.wsusoffline.net/

 

2. Click on the pale blue box to go to the download area. Or click on the Download tab at the top of the page.

3. After clicking “Download area” you’ll have the option of downloading the most recent version of the software. Only Donate if you want to.

 

4. Extract the software from its zipped container and place that folder on your desktop.

 

The whole idea of this software is that it is portable and can be used to install the Windows Operating System updates not only very quickly, but also without having an internet connection.

 

To achieve this you will of course need external media to carry both the software and the updates themselves. This can be an external Drive, a CD/DVD, or what I consider to be the best option, a Flash Stick/Thumb Drive. Depending on what you want to download on to your chosen media will affect the storage space needed.

Example:

If a 64 version of Windows 7 is chosen you are going to need a minimum of 3GB of space. 4GB to be on the safe side.

 

 

For the purpose of this tutorial it will be assumed that your chosen media will be a Flash Stick.

Preparation

5. To prepare for using the WSUS software I would advise that you have Windows Explorer set to show all known file extensions.

 

Go… Windows Explorer/Tools/Folder Options/View/Uncheck “Hide extensions for

known file types”.

 

Plug your Flash Stick into a USB port on the same internet connected computer that the WSUS software has been downloaded to, and make a note of the drive letter.

 

Note: The software will clean/format the flash stick before placing the files onto it.

 

 

6. Go to the folder you extracted to your desktop at step 4 and open it.

 

 

Right click on “UpdateGenerator.exe” and select “Run as Administrator” from the drop down menu.

 

Be aware that you will see 3 files named “Update Generator”. Be sure to choose the “UpdateGenerator.exe” file. It’s the Application file that you need to select.

 

This is the reason that extensions for known file types should not be hidden.

 

As you can see from the image below I have chosen a 64 bit version of Windows 7 as the operating system that I need the updates for.

 

I’ve check marked all of the options that are available to me to be included in my download.

 

I’m using the USB medium (my flash stick) to copy the updates to which is F:\ drive.

 

Note: Your drive letter may be different.

 

And I have check marked/ticked “Clean up target directory”

 

Note: Cleaning the target directory will remove any existing files from the flash stick.

7. After making the desired selections click “Start”

 

Note: Depending on how many selections have been made it may take some time to download the updates to your Flash Stick.

 

8. After clicking “Start”, a command prompt will open and the download from Microsoft will start.

 

9. After the update download has finished, close the Cmd Prompt window.

 

10. You can now remove your flash stick from the computer.

 

STAGE TWO

INSTALLING THE UPDATES

 

Now you have all the updates for your chosen operating system on the flash drive you can plug the drive into any computer and install them. An internet connection is not required on the recipient computer. This can be repeated on as many computers as you wish.

 

1. Plug your loaded flash stick into a computer that has just undergone a clean install of the same operating system as chosen at step 6/7 in the first half of this tutorial.

 

2. Open the directory and right click on “UpdateInstaller.exe” and select “Run as administrator”.

 

3. Checkmark the same boxes as shown in the image below.

 

 

 

Note: Extra selections can and will be made later on.

 

 

 

4. Click “Start” in the bottom left corner of the window. Now be patient for a while during the installation of the updates.

 

5. The recipient computer will reboot maybe 2 or 3 times during the installation. On completion repeat steps 1 and 2.

 

6. The items/boxes you checkmark this time round can be totally down to your own choice. Having said that, many applications will not run properly without “.NET Framework”.

7. Click “Start” to run this last stage of the update process.

 

Although in stage one of this tutorial only a 64bit version of Windows 7 was chosen, the WSUS software allows us to choose and install the updates for multiple operating systems on the same external media/drive.

 

There are also other options, such as two or three versions of Microsoft office, etc, etc. However, my advice would be to run the software on multiple flash drives. A different drive for each operating system or version of Office.

The drives are cheap to buy, and this way offers a little insurance against a large single drive becoming corrupt or defective.

 

In this tutorial Windows 7 64bit was used as an example. But do please remember that the software can be used for updating any Windows operating system that is still supported by Microsoft.

 

2.8GB of storage was used for Windows 7 in this tutorial, but I would advise a drive of at least 4GB in size.

Don’t wait until you are forced to do a new install of Windows. Grab yourself a new flash stick and carry out “Stage One” of the tutorial. If you’re running a repair shop do this for as many operating systems as you feel you need.

Using "WSUS Offline Update", you can update any computer running Microsoft Windows and Office safely, quickly and without an Internet connection.

 

 

I hope this tutorial will be of some help to you in the future. Thank you for taking the time to read it through.

 

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