Some of the switches below are used with older versions of wuaclt.exe and may not work any more.

These switches for “wuauclt.exe” are good for troubleshooting WSUS client problems and Windows Updates. Some of the switches below are used with older versions of wuaclt.exe and may not work any more. Check your “windowsupdate.log” file in the “C:\Windows” to check the output of a command if any output exists.

The following feartures/switches are needed.

1. /? – list parameters and usage

/? – describes usage of wuauclt.exe

The /? switch should be supported and give details of wuauclt usage. If client options are in error, this summary is displayed following an explanation of why the error occured. ALL command line tools should support this option.

2. Verbose mode console logging, with multiple levels

/v – verbose mode
/vv – very verbose mode

Both switches cause wuauclt to output normal log information to the command line (STDIO). /v provides basic information, while /vv logs greater detail. /vv is what is logged in normal logs. While wuauclt can log to a log file, it’s more work for the admin when troubleshooting, The admin has to run the command, then navigate over to another folder, find the log, the navigate to the end of it, to find out where the run began. This is harder than it needs to be, and the /v, /vv options could just pipe log entries to stdio.

3. List client configuration

/configlist – lists WUAUCLT configuration.

This option lists all configuration items current by the client, and includes the client version number, AU policy/registry settings and provide details of all AU clients files, version numbers, file dates, etc.

This helps admins (and MS) to ensure that the right client versions are loaded.

4. Install the correct AU client by force

/installAUclient
/installAUclientFromMicrosoft

This option causes the system to contact either the confiugred WSUS server, or Microsoft’s WU server, and to reinstall forefully the latest version of the AU client.

This enables admins (and MS) to ensure that the latest client versions are loaded, and enables download from Microsoft for roaming systems.

5. Make /DetectNow a little less silent

/DetectNow – forces a client AU detection and logs details

The /detectnow option should log to stdio what it is doing. This includes what WU server is it contacting, how many updates are on the WU server, and how many are needed by the client, etc, and any information being sent back the server. This is really no change, just requesing some level of output to stdio. This makes troubleshooting quicker.

6. Clear Log File

/clearlogfile – clears the client update log file
/clearandsaveogfile – saves the current client update log file to a named file, then clears the update log.

Currently, the client log appears to be non deletableand just grows. This is a potential DOS vector. Also, for troubleshooting, it’s helpful to be able to clear the log (possibly saving it first for later detailed exam).

7. Download Updates Now

/downloadnow – initiates an immiate downoad of any requried update using BITS
/downloanowfast – initiates an initiates an immiate downoad of any requried update using HTTP.

This option forces the AU client to start downloading of any outstanding updates. the secton version downloads using HTTP, and is therefore much faster in elapsed time and is mainly used for troubleshooting isues (or possibly to speed up larger updates). Often, expecially for laptops that have been ‘abroad’ for awhile, you want to just get all the approved updates NOW, and not wait for the next detection time.

8. Stop Downloading AU Updates

/stopdownload – stops any AU updates being downloaded (either using HTTP, or BITS).

This option stops the downloading of any AU updates either queued, or in progress. Just as you can invoke a download, you need to be able to stop it.

9. Test WSUS Server Connecttion

/TestWSUSServer – checks connection with configured WU Server

This option attempts to coonect to the WSUS server configured, and checks that a connection can be made, and that communcations between AU client and WSUS server is working. This would be useful for example, to diagnose network communications failures, or an internal firewall that might be accientally blocking some traffic between client and server.

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