Saving previously downloaded windows updates.

Hi there. Long time no postee.

I know you can go to Microsoft Update Catalog and download windows updates. However, you have to sort through many different updates in different languages at times. What I want to do is copy the updates that would normally get downloaded to a PC (critical updates) when you set up a PC to Automatically download updates.

In the past, I have installed fresh copies of XP then install the service pack I want the PC at. Then I dutifully and immediately do a custom/automatic windows update. After all the updates are installed, I then would copy them from c:\windows\software distribution\downloads. The only issue with this is that these updates are extracted from the KB or SP .exe file.

My question is: Is there a way to get the unextracted .exe files for these updates off the PC or do I have to just use the windows update log and download them myself?

If I am mistaken on any of the above or if using downloaded updates is somehow wrong, please inform me of my wrongdoing. I can take it.

Thanks in advance.

 

That's exactly what I do when I work on multiple computers with the same hardware/model.
That doesn't work well when you copy the image to computers with different hardware. Driver issues boot up, possible boot problems, etc.

Come on, is it that hard or did I already answer my own question ...

 

Hi LostUser,

SP2 has all the updates (including ones you don't want) from SP1 and SP3 has all the SP2 updates. ( but you knew that, right )

And, since I'm reading your post wrong, why not click on "Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them" in Automatic Updates? Save them to the Desktop and then you can choose which ones to install.

p.s. To quote, it's QUOTE then /QUOTE, all caps with the [] brackets around both QUOTEs. Works on other forums, too.

 

Actually, it is not necessary to key the "codes" or tags in all caps, lower case works too. Check out this link for the many tags that enhance posting on bulletin boards using vBulletin software: http://www.windowsbbs.com/misc.php?do=bbcode

 

Hi scout321x (or is it Doug?),

Thanks for the link! What I've seen here is that it's all in caps

By golly, you're right — lowercase works too. And, I know I shouldn't be going off the original post, but, I noticed that some posters have a word in color and it's a link to another site.
(practice) Windows BBS

OK, I think I've got it now. Thank you.

 

I was wondering, why you mentioned the capitalized quotes? Did I do something wrong where the tags showed up?

Anyway, does anyone have an answer to finding the saved updates that have been automatically downloaded onto a local PC as the KB######.exe file rather than the KB file uncompressed?

 

Hi LostUser,

When I first read your post (using SeaMonkey) the quote(s) weren't as they appear now. You had "quote ", but the quote wasn't in a separate box like it is now: That's why I mentioned it.

Anyway, back to your question: In Windows Explorer, when you click on the Windows folder, the first listing you'll see is "$hf_mig$" and when you click on that you'll see a list of everything. Click on a KB and you'll see 3 sub folders. Click on the Update folder and the .exe will be there. Is that what you mean?

I take it that saving the updates to the Desktop wasn't what you were looking for?