WSUS Server on Windows 2008 R2 stopped updating clients

Damian Gardner
Damian Gardner used Ask the Experts™
on
Our WSUS server just suddenly stopped updating clients over the last week or two.  We also had Microsoft fix some active directory problems on our network in the same time frame, but not sure if this affected it.  the symptom is the clients do not receive any new updates, in spite of hundreds of updates waiting on the server.
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Sr. Systems Administrator
Commented:
do the clients show in the wsus console as reporting in?
any errors when you run windows update on a client?
Damian GardnerIT Admin

Author

Commented:
hello Seth - yes, actually most clients are checking in on the "Status Report" column. I see 9/1 for most of them, including mine.  My own machine needs 65 updates, yet its not popping up offering to install them.  And on my own client, when "Check for updates", it checks for a minute, then comes back saying its up to date.  No errors.

thanks
Seth SimmonsSr. Systems Administrator

Commented:
how the gpo configured?  notify to download?  notify to install?
what time is it supposed to check?  is it a certain day or every day?
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Damian GardnerIT Admin

Author

Commented:
Here's the GPO setting:

Windows Components/Windows Updatehide
Policy Setting Comment
Allow Automatic Updates immediate installation Enabled  
Automatic Updates detection frequency Enabled  
Check for updates at the following
interval (hours):  1
 
Policy Setting Comment
Specify intranet Microsoft update service location Enabled  
Set the intranet update service for detecting updates: http://lacoad1 
Set the intranet statistics server: http://lacoad1 
(example: http://IntranetUpd01)
Damian GardnerIT Admin

Author

Commented:
I found another GPO object with other update settings that are being applied as well:

Windows Components/Windows Updatehide
Policy Setting Comment
Allow Automatic Updates immediate installation Enabled  
Automatic Updates detection frequency Enabled  
Check for updates at the following
interval (hours):  1
 
Policy Setting Comment
Configure Automatic Updates Enabled  
Configure automatic updating: 4 - Auto download and schedule the install
The following settings are only required
and applicable if 4 is selected.
Scheduled install day:  0 - Every day
Scheduled install time: 12:00
 
Policy Setting Comment
No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates installations Enabled  
Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations Enabled  
Wait the following period before
prompting again with a scheduled
restart (minutes):  60
 
Policy Setting Comment
Specify intranet Microsoft update service location Enabled  
Set the intranet update service for detecting updates: http://lacoad1 
Set the intranet statistics server: http://lacoad1 
(example: http://IntranetUpd01)
 
Policy Setting Comment
Turn on recommended updates via Automatic Updates Enabled
Seth SimmonsSr. Systems Administrator

Commented:
ok...do those settings appear on a client if you do gpresult /h report.html ?

you said there are hundreds of updates waiting on the server...when was the last time updates were installed?

and if it started happening the last week or two, what changed?  what was the AD issue?
Damian GardnerIT Admin

Author

Commented:
The hundreds of updates was because I had not told the server what to do with them yet - it had been a few weeks since I last checked.  they had built up to about 400 "waiting".  Once I approved most of them for the various client and serve groups, that's when I saw the problem arise, where after waiting for 2 days, no machines had taken any of the new updates.  Not sure when it happened, but it is sometime in the last month.  2 weeks ago, we had Microsoft clean up our AD, because there were old, orphaned entries in the registry on both AD servers.  they also found a NIC card bindery order issue that they said could possibly cause the AD machine to "freeze up", which is what we were experiencing.  those were the main 2 things they did.  Where do I find the "report.html" after it creates it?

thanks
Damian GardnerIT Admin

Author

Commented:
I found the report file - it looks like they do show up:

Windows Components/Windows Update




Policy

Setting

Winning GPO

Allow Automatic Updates immediate installation Enabled Notebook Users
Automatic Updates detection frequency Enabled Notebook Users

Check for updates at the following
interval (hours):  1
 

Policy

Setting

Winning GPO

Configure Automatic Updates Enabled Notebook Users

Configure automatic updating: 4 - Auto download and schedule the install
The following settings are only required
and applicable if 4 is selected.
Scheduled install day:  0 - Every day
Scheduled install time: 12:00
 

Policy

Setting

Winning GPO

No auto-restart with logged on users for scheduled automatic updates installations Enabled Notebook Users
Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations Enabled Notebook Users

Wait the following period before
prompting again with a scheduled
restart (minutes):  60
 

Policy

Setting

Winning GPO

Specify intranet Microsoft update service location Enabled Notebook Users

Set the intranet update service for detecting updates: http://lacoad1 
Set the intranet statistics server: http://lacoad1 
(example: http://IntranetUpd01)
 

Policy

Setting

Winning GPO

Turn on recommended updates via Automatic Updates Enabled Notebook Users
Damian GardnerIT Admin

Author

Commented:
Anything more Seth?  Anybody else have any ideas?  

thanks
Damian GardnerIT Admin

Author

Commented:
Didn't find the solution, but need to close the case.  thanks for the effort.

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