Active Directory/Documentation/Configuring the Windows Update GPO Setting

The settings can be found under Computer Configuration -> Policies -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Update.

1. Right-click on Configure Automatic Updates and select Properties.
2. Change the status of this property: Not Configured, Enabled, or Disabled.
3. Under Configure automatic updating: select one of the three available options (click on the Explain tab or see below for descriptions of these options).
4. Configure Scheduled install day: and Scheduled install time: if applicable. If no schedule is specified, all installations will occur every day at 3:00 AM.
5. Click on the OK button.

Descriptions of a few of the Automatic Updating options

• Option 1, which cannot be selected, is to keep Configure Automatic Updates to Disabled or Not Configured. In this first case, any updates that are available on the Windows Update Web site must be downloaded and installed manually by going to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com. If the status is set to Not Configured, use of Automatic Updates is not specified at the Group Policy level. However, an administrator can still configure Automatic Updates through the Control Panel.
• Option 2 - Notify for download and notify for install will notify before downloading any updates and notify again before installing them. When Windows finds updates that apply to the computer, an icon appears in the status area with a message that updates are ready to be downloaded. Clicking the icon or message provides the option to select the specific updates to download. Windows then downloads the selected updates in the background. When the download is complete, the icon appears in the status area again, with notification that the updates are ready to be installed. Clicking the icon or message provides the option to select which updates to install.
• Option 3 - Auto download and notify for install (Default) will download the updates automatically and notify when they are ready to be installed. Windows finds updates that apply to your computer and downloads these updates in the background (the user is not notified or interrupted during the process). When the download is complete, the icon appears in the status area, with notification that the updates are ready to be installed. Clicking the icon or message provides the option to select which updates to install.
• Option 4 – Auto download and schedule the install will automatically download updates and install them on the schedule specified below the list box. Specify the schedule using the options in the Group Policy Setting. If no schedule is specified, the default schedule for all installations will be every day at 3:00 AM. If any of the updates require a restart to complete the installation, Windows will restart the computer automatically (if a user is logged on to the computer when Windows is ready to restart, the user will be notified and given the option to delay the restart).

Configuring the Intranet Windows Update Service Location

The settings can be found under Computer Configuration -> Policies -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Update.

NOTE: Domained computers receive this settings from central policy -- if you set this locally, then we change the server centrally, your computer will not see the new setting.

1. Right-click on Specify intranet Microsoft update service location and select Properties.
2. Select Enabled.
3. Fill in both fields with the address of the Central WSUS: https://wt-wsus-00.wolftech.ad.ncsu.edu.
4. Click on the OK button.

Once a workstation is configured to use the Central WSUS system, it will check with the server at a random interval once over a 24 hour period unless you specify a different interval. If there are new updates to download, the workstation will download them at that moment. If the workstation is configured to automatically install the downloaded updates at a specific time then the new updates will be installed according to the configured schedule.