How to manage Windows Updates remotely which is installed on your PC or server? Of course, you can open “Control Panel-> Add / Remove Programs” or the Update History element in Windows operating systems and view the list of installed update release, however, using the graphical interface, you cannot either automatically download this list or search for it. In this case, you need to resort to using the command line.
WMIC stands for Windows Management Instrumentation Command. The WMIC (Windows Management Instrumentation Command) command is used to get information about hardware and system, manage processes and their components, and change settings using the capabilities of Windows Management Instrumentation (Windows Management Instrumentation or WMI).
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is a set of software tools that allows you to manage your system using scripts running under Windows Script Host (or earlier Windows Scripting Host) or at the command line using the WMIC.EXE utility. Windows Script Host or abbreviated as WSH is a component of Microsoft Windows designed to run scripts in the scripting languages JScript and VBScript. WSH scripts are usually used in cases where you need to perform a set of any actions that require writing relatively complex source code, but often in everyday administrative practice, it is more convenient to use the WMIC command line features.
WMIC qfe list will give you the list of all installed Windows and software updates applied to that computer.
2. How to manage Windows Updates remotely which is installed
on your PC or server? Of course, you can open “Control Panel-
> Add / Remove Programs” or the Update History element in
Windows operating systems and view the list of installed
update release, however, using the graphical interface, you
cannot either automatically download this list or search for it.
In this case, you need to resort to using the command line.
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3. WMIC stands for Windows Management Instrumentation
Command. The WMIC (Windows Management
Instrumentation Command) command is used to get
information about hardware and system, manage processes
and their components, and change settings using the
capabilities of Windows Management Instrumentation
(Windows Management Instrumentation or WMI).
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4. Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is a set of software
tools that allows you to manage your system using scripts running
under Windows Script Host (or earlier Windows Scripting Host) or at
the command line using the WMIC.EXE utility. Windows Script Host or
abbreviated as WSH is a component of Microsoft Windows designed to
run scripts in the scripting languages JScript and VBScript. WSH scripts
are usually used in cases where you need to perform a set of any
actions that require writing relatively complex source code, but often
in everyday administrative practice, it is more convenient to use the
WMIC command line features.
WMIC qfe list will give you the list of all installed Windows and
software updates applied to that computer. action1.com
5. 1. Open a Command Prompt and Type Command
Right-click on the Start button (or the key combination WIN + X)
and select Command Prompt (Administrator) in the menu that
opens. Using the following command you can manage Windows
Updates remotely and display a detailed list of all updates
installed on this Windows system:wmic qfe list
Example of output in the cli:
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Manually:
6. 1. Open a Command Prompt and Type Command
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=9876543 COMPUTER
Security Update
KB9876543 COMPUTERAdmin123 6/8/2015
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=8765432 COMPUTER
Security Update
KB8765432 COMPUTERAdmin123 8/17/2016
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=7654321 COMPUTER
Security Update
KB7654321 COMPUTERAdmin123 8/17/2016
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Manually:
7. wmic qfe list is a Microsoft tool/utility and one that many of our
plugins look at the output of to determine if the host has the
desired KB updates or not. It is possible for an update to show
as installed in the 'View Installed Updates' section and Not
show up in the qfe list. That is usually an indication that the
update process did not finish correctly or fully.
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Manually:
9. 2. If You'd like to Create a Text File with the Output
To get a windows update list in text form, you can simply
redirect the output of this command to a text file, and then
open it in your favorite text editor:wmic qfe list > updatelist.txt
&& updatelist.txt
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Manually:
10. 2. If You'd like to Create a Text File with the Output
A text file named updatelist.txt will be created in the C:
Windows System32 directory. If you need to know whether a
specific Windows update is installed on this system (for
example, KB2544521), you can use the find command,
redirecting the output to it:
wmic qfe list | find "KB2544521"
As you can see, update KB2544521 is already installed.
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Manually:
12. 3. Also as an Alternative to the Previous Command, You Can
Run It in Full Mode
An alternative of the command would be to run it in full
mode:wmic qfe list full
*you can also write that to a text file the same way as the last
command with > filename.txt
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Manually:
13. 4. Another Way to View Installed Updates in Windows Is to Use the
Systeminfo Utility
This command, unlike the previous one, will display only a list of KB
numbers (in addition to the system information). In this case, you can
also redirect the output of this command to a text file:systeminfo >
sysinfo.txt && sysinfo.txt
However, be careful, all these commands display only installed updates
and hotfixes for Windows OS itself, information about updates of any
other Microsoft products (such as UAG, Office, TMG, SQL or Exchange) is
missing here. To view the installed updates for these products, you need
to type in the start menu: “View Installed Updates”, after which a
standard window will open, accessible from the control panel. action1.com
Manually:
14. 4. Another Way to View Installed Updates in Windows Is to
Use the Systeminfo Utility
To search for a specific update, you can type the KB and update
number in the search window (in the upper right corner), but
the search is not very correct, so it is sometimes easier to find
the necessary update by simply viewing the list.
Also, when installing updates, you should not forget that they
require a system reboot.
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Manually:
16. Other Relevant HOWTOs:
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