Archive for December 2013

Script to see if a KB update has been installed on a computer

Often, when I am working on a workstation or server, I need to see if a particular KB update has already been applied (installed). Case in point: KB 2862330 was released in October as part of a set of USB/Kernel updates. Immediately there were reports of BSODs with Windows 7 and Windows 2008R2 systems.

Early investigation of this issue found that the BSOD could be avoided in most cases if KB 2533552 was installed prior to installing 2862330.

So, I found myself looking for a simple, easy way to determine if a KB update has been installed on a particular workstation. Gandlaf50 from the Spiceworks’ community forum posted a VB script solution. The script will ask you which computer to check, meaning you could run this from your workstation, and check another computer in your network.

  1. Download the script file to your computer
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  2. Rename it from findkb.v_b_s to findkb.vbs
  3. Double click to run the script.
  4. Enter the KB number you wish to check (enter just the number)
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  5. Enter the name of the computer to be checked
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  6. A message box will display informing you if the KB is installed or not.
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Voila!

Windows Update running forever on XP and 2003

There are plenty of reports of both Windows XP and Windows 2003 server systems stalling when running windows update (WU/MU). In some cases, they say that if you wait several hours, or perhaps overnight, the situation will resolve itself.

The long delay is (apparently) due to an IE detection process.

So, what does one do?

The suggestion is to download and manually install the December 10, 2013 Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (MS13-097 / KB2898785). By installing it manually, you remove that detection from the workstation.

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