About blacklisted updates and excluding them at install time

[axelcostaspena]

Good evening.

First of all, I'd like to intruduce my typical usage of WOU so my questions are better understood.

I use to use WOU in two flavours depending on two different scenarios:
one, in order to get a just installed PC to get the security and stability updates ASAP with no internet connection needed and guarantee it's suitable for use it for production tasks.
other, in order to get a just installed PC to get all the possible updates from disk so I am able to immediately leave the computer to the person who will use it, with automatic updates enabled and zero configuration, while I've avoided it to waste the most internet bandwidth possible.

In order to accomplish first scenario, I have always some copies of WOU at hand, with the updates already downloadedusing WOU default configuration.

But in order to accomplish second scenario, I would need to add to download all blacklisted updates which aren't included by default by WOU but then Windows Update tries to download. But I am not sure exactly how to remove all blacklisted updates from exclusions, because in the excluded folder there are lots of txts, some are for IOS building and other tasks, and there are some updates which should remain excluded because they are superseded updates.

How to identify just those updates which have been blacklisted because of having been considered unneeded? How to remove just them from the exclusions lists?

And then, if I achieve that, will I need to keep two separate WOU repos (one for scenario one, and other for scenario two), or is there any way to use exclusions lists also at install time? Would it be easy to choose wether to exclude blacklisted updates at install time?

Lots of thanks to the expert people at this forum. I hope one day I have time to dive into this project and even contribute to it, I love it.

[aker]

Welcome axelcostaspena,
to answer your questions, I'll explain parts of how wsusou works, to answer your questions.

1) ExcludeLists
wsusou's ExcludeLists just exclude updates, which have been replaced by others (such as updates, which have been superseded by Service Packs), get installed by static routines (e.g. Service Packs or the Internet Explorer is installed seperately, but has a KB-number, which would confuse users if listed as not found update) or aren't installable by wsusou (e.g. MRT). So it is not required/recommended to remove entries from the built-in ExcludeList, it would just waste space.

2) "missing" updates
There are updates, WU will download and install (if available), wsusou won't detect. These are non security-relevant updates. wsusou uses the catalog file wsusscn2.cab, which only lists security-relevant updates. As MS does not provide a catalog containing all updates, it is impossible to determine them all.
For a more detailed explanation: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=172
The user "Cababs" created a list containing optional/non security-relevant updates. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4182

3) multiple repos
It's easy to use two or more repos: Just extract another copy of wsusou into a different folder.
But do not start a download run for both at the same time. Be sure, that just one instance is running at the same time.

I hope, this answered all/the most of your questions.

[axelcostaspena]

Wow, okay.

So, if I understood okay: no matter what I do with exclude lists, after downloading updates, then installing Windows and Office on a PC, running WOU, afterwards Windows Update will always try to download the same amount of updates (those which aren't on the cab file).

Is that right?

[boco]

Yes, since MS does not provide a complete catalog file (with all updates). The wsusscn2.cab is only for bringing a system up to date security-wise, so it's safe to go online and download the rest of 'em. It's the same big companies use for their WSUS servers (hence the name).

[axelcostaspena]

Cool, thank you!