Windows Server 2016 Update settings

 

Hi, guys, I noticed that server 2016 doesn’t have options to schedule updates and restart but I found that it can be done by 3 scenarios I will share it with you all 

First, I found the following useful policy and website 

Configure Group Policy Settings for Automatic Updates
this link is very useful in describing every policy what it can do 

Second

Go to CMD and run the 

Sconfig

Choose option 5 

Third method 

Registry keys

n Windows Server 2016 there are no GUI options available to change the update behavior.
In this blog I was outline the different ways to change the Windows Server 2016 Update settings.

Windows Server 2016 Update settings

Windows always looks at registry keys located in the following hive:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU

Typically there is a key named ‘AUOptions’ with a value in the range 2-5, and have the following meaning:

– 2 = Notify before download.
– 3 = Automatically download and notify of installation.
– 4 = Automatically download and schedule installation. Only valid if values exist for ScheduledInstallDay and ScheduledInstallTime.
– 5 = Automatic Updates is required and users can configure it.

But if there is a ‘NoAutoUpdate’ key with the value of ‘1’, no updates will be processed by Windows.

PowerShell

You can change the registry key with the help of Powershell directly:

Set-ItemProperty -Path HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU -Name AUOptions -Value 3

 

Windows Server 2016 Update settings