Download link to MSU or EXE hotfix

[sifgab]

Hi,

I need to get the download link to the msu-files/exe from MS and what it seems wsus offline uses the direct download links and not the WUA API for download.
How can I get the direct URL to the file? I found the static but that must be what the folder said static files. The updates needed is compared to WSUS and then downloaded by the program.
I can not use WSUSOffline on the computer I have at the moment so I would like to somehow download a specific msu like you do from batch script. I have all information I need like KBarticleID etc.
Though your program is excellent I, in this case cannot use it due to security reasons and would like to get a list of already defined updates using your way of finding the download url.

Hope I make sense and can have someone's assistance.

[Dalai]

WSUS Offline gets the download links dynamically by processing the XML files which are stored inside the Windows Update catalog wsusoffline\client\wsus\wsusscn2.cab. However, since it downloads mostly CAB files, I'm not sure whether or not URLs to MSUs are in there, too.

The only way I see to get links to MSUs would be to check the Microsoft catalog, which is tedious to search for more than just a couple of updates of course.

Regards
Dalai

[sifgab]

The MSU file's urls are located in the package.xml. First you need to look for the PayloadFileID by using your updateID.
Then you can use the PayLoadFileId to search further down in the file in second section for the URL since <FileLocation id> is equal to the PayloadFileID.

I have found though that the latest Windows Security patch does not exist in the PayLoadFile. So Im struggling to go all the way.
You can though use the WUA API to get the downloadUrl where some are EXEs and some are CABs. the cabs can also be installed
but don't know yet if they will do the trick of updating Windows.

Unpack the cabage and use XML.viewer to browse the structure and you'll see what I mean!

[sifgab]

Dalai: The static download links, what are they? Who updates them and why are they not included in the wsusscn2.cab?

//Sifgab

[Dalai]

Well, it's in the word "static": they're static, not dynamically determined from the catalog. These links include patches that are required for every system or are prerequisites (like the scan prerequisite updates for Win7/8.1), something like Visual C++, Silverlight and so on, or it's just non-security updates, e.g. KB2852386 (Disk Cleanup) or KB982018 (Advanced Format). Speaking of non-security updates: the catalog itself contains ONLY security updates, nothing else. So, to be able to get and install all updates that make sense or are necessary, some of them must be defined statically.

Regards
Dalai

[sifgab]

Ok. Thank you... I guess that is something one needs to know then. Try to keep up with MS releases of IE, WUA etc. Great program btw. It is the only one I guess on the market doing this in a simple and most efficient way!
Thanks for that!!