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Gnukkel

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Windows updates 100% CPU

I run 40 something servers and i configured windows update to download but not install through GPO.
The problem is that the check seems to occur during working hours whereby on several servers the cpu rockets to 100% and memory goes up as well.
When i stop the service the server returns to almost no cpu usage and when i start it again cpu and memory go through the roof again.
I'm using an internal wsus server.

Is there a way to have the check run only at night?

Do you know another solution to get a grip on this problem.

Cheers
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Amitabh Singh
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or you can use schedule task  to execute\Run "wuauclt.exe /detectnow /reportnow" at night
Scheduling the task is a good idea for a number of reasons, but it does not solve the actual problem.

I recommend controlling the processor affinity for this task.  This will limit the task's ability to overload the entire system, providing you have multiple cores and/or processors.

You can read about Processor affinity here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Processor_affinity

For example, this will limit "calc.exe" to only core/processor #1:
cmd.exe /c start "Process Monitor" /affinity 1 "%windir%\system32\calc.exe"

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Gnukkel

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Thanks Amitabh you put me on the right track. We use Nagios and i forced the check at night.
I'm having this exact same issue on my 2008 R2 servers. Unfortunately the processor affinity won't work on all of mine, as they only have a single proc. It would be ideal for Microsoft to resolve the Windows Update issue so we can move on to more important things. But right now, this is a thorn in my side. Does anyone else have any resolution on this issue?