Windows Updates Downloader

Here's a cool Windows utility that could end up as my software pick this week. Looks very interesting, especially for your slipstreaming mavens out there:

One of the great things about creating unattended Windows installations is that you can integrate all of the latest updates into the installation and avoid spending hours waiting for the updates to download and install themselves after a fresh installation. As time goes on since the last service pack was released, the list of Windows updates tends to grow to be quite lengthy.

Creating an unattended Windows installation solved the installation portion of the problem but all of the updates needed to be manually downloaded before they could be integrated into the installation source. With the quantity of updates quickly approaching triple digits, it was clear something was needed to speed things up. This is where WUD comes along.

WUD allows you to download all of the current Windows Updates using a simple interface. All of the updates are contained in Update Lists (ULs) which allows you to choose which updates you want for which version of Windows. Once WUD has complete it's downloads, you simply integrate them into your Windows source using one of the many popular tools such as nLite.

As time goes on the Windows Updates Downloader continues to evolve. ULs are available for software other then Windows and automatic installation of updates is available on supported versions of Windows. WUD aims to help power users, tweakers and system administrators speed up their unattended installs, network deployments and automatic updates.

A rambling description, but the tool looks excellent.

Thanks Alex.

Discuss this Article 4

Ocean
on Jul 22, 2008
>>my software pick this week<< Where are the others? I've missed this. By far my favorite thing about the blogosphere is all the cool little tips and tools that come out that you'd never otherwise hear about.
subzerohitman721
on Jul 22, 2008
Ocean, On Thurrott's Windows Weekly podcast, he gives a software pick of the week. My Comments: Great idea, who ever thought of this just made life a bit eaiser. Congrats.
Flenser
on Jul 22, 2008
Ocean, Windows Update Downloader and Paul's pick from last week were both featured first on Lifehacker. http://lifehacker.com/tag/featured-windows-download/index.xml
jeffhex
on Jul 22, 2008
I think I remember Steve Gibson talking on the Security Now Podcast about a similar solutions that did not involve slipstreaming: Offline Update by Heise Security: http://www.heise.de/ct/projekte/offlineupdate/download_uk.shtml This software can build an ISO image of a CD or DVD with all of the current Windows updates ready to install, and automate the install process for you.

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