How to Manually Download and Install Windows Updates
Posted on January 21, 2008
Filed Under How To, Windows | 10 Comments
Recently I was faced with a situation where I had an automatic update that wouldn’t install. To try and troubleshoot this issue, I needed a way to download the update so I could install it manually. Since Microsoft doesn’t offer such an option, I had to look elsewhere for help. Luckily, there is a program that was created to do just this.
Windows Update Downloader can manually download any update for Windows Vista, XP, 2003, 2000, Office 2003, and even Exchange 2003. It’s also great to use in conjunction with a Windows Vista Unattended Installation CD and Windows XP Unattended Installation CD so the updates are installed with the OS. Just follow these steps to get started.
Step 1: Download Windows Update Downloader and install it.
Step 2: Download the Update List for the product you wish to download updates for and double click it to automatically import it.
Step 3: Open Windows Update Downloader and select the updates you wish to download. You can change the location in which the updates are downloaded by clicking “Change” next to Download Folder. Click the “Show Options” button and select “Product as subfolder” to separate the downloaded updates into subfolders based on the product name. This makes them much easier to sort through if you are downloading updates for multiple products.
Step 4: Click “Download” to start downloading updates.
Step 5: Once the updates have finished, you can navigate to your download folder to retrieve your updates.
You are now ready to install the updates with a simple double click. If you have any experience with downloading Windows Updates manually, please feel free to share.
Other Posts You Might Like:
- How to Create a Windows Vista Unattended Installation CD
- How to Create a Windows XP Unattended Installation CD
- How to Create a Windows Offline Update CD
- How to Find and Change a Windows Vista, XP, and 2003 Product Key
- Practice Installing Windows Using a Simulator
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10 Responses to “How to Manually Download and Install Windows Updates”
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So, is this an Autopatcher clone?
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Actually Autopatcher is more like Offline Update which I wrote about here. http://www.emergingtechs.com/posts/how-create-windows-offline-update-cd
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Casey:
I am unfamiliar with the “.ashx” extension on the downloaded file. What is the procedure to install this file type?
Thanx!
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Hi R. W. Ragan,
The website that contains the Windows Update Downloader has a .aspx extension because it was coded in ASP.NET. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASP.NET If you are unable to view this site then your browser must not support ASP.NET. I would recommend downloading the latest version of Firefox or Internet Explorer. Hope this helps
-Casey
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i have a virus that disables my update, and i need this program, but i have Windows Vista Service pack 1 32x Bit, so do i choose 86x or 64x?
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on this lets say you started with windows xp sp1 then you upgrade to sp2 then to sp3 and you missed a few updates for sp1 & sp2 here and there. would you have to download both od the Windows XP Service Pack 2 & Windows XP Service Pack 3 Update Lists (ULs) or just the latest 1?
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Casey Reply:
June 17th, 2009 at 5:51 am
You should be able to get away with just installing Service Pack 3 plus any updates that were released after that.
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Thanks a lot for this guide.
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i have a question
i have a Xp sp2 32-bit, will it work if i use the 64-bit list?
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Thank you so much! i have been fighting with Microsoft for months over my updates not working. Everything on the net tells me to run them manually but i never figured out how until I came across this site. Thanks again!
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