Windows 10: Update and Upgrade Windows 10 using PowerShell

How to: Update and Upgrade Windows 10 using PowerShell


Information Since its birth in November 2006 PowerShell has evolved to be the chosen tool of network administrators and advanced users alike. Originally a native Windows tool it has since August 2016 been an open source project, spreading its wings to other operating systems, too, starting with Linux.

According to Wikipedia "PowerShell is a task automation and configuration management framework from Microsoft, consisting of a command-line shell and associated scripting language built on the .NET Framework".

PowerShell is often falsely thought to be a Command Prompt replacement users reading wrong changes in late Windows 10 versions where PowerShell by default replaced Command Prompt in WIN + X menu; however, both have their own purpose and areas of expertise, both are and will remain integral parts of Windows 10.

PowerShell should not be feared, it can make administrative and maintenance tasks of a private user even with just a single PC a piece of cake with its logical cmdlets (pronounced command let) and a relatively easy to learn scripting language.

The cmdlet syntax is VERB-NOUN, always answering the question Do what? Add some parameters and you have a powerful command, like for instance Hide-WUUpdate -KBArticleID "KB1234567" as used later in this tutorial. Easy to understand: Hide (do not show / install) an update with knowledge base ID 1234567.

This tutorial will show how to take command of Windows Update using PowerShell. Tutorial will cover the basics, feel free to post in this thread if you have any questions.




Contents [/i] Click links to jump to any part

[table][tr][td]Part One:[/td] [td]Install Windows Update Module for PowerShell[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Part Two:[/td] [td]Add support for additional Microsoft Products[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Part Three:[/td] [td]Check, Install or Hide Windows Updates[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Part Four:[/td] [td]Check Update History, Uninstall an Update[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Part Five:[/td] [td]Get Help[/td] [/tr] [/table]




Part One [/i] Install PowerShell Windows Update Module
1.1) Download PSWindowsUpdate.zip from Microsoft TechNet:

Download

1.2) Right click the downloaded file, select Extract all:




1.3) Extract ZIP archive to C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules




1.4) Select Do this for all current items, click Continue:




1.5) Open an elevated (admin) PowerShell, change script execution policy from default Restricted to Unrestricted with following cmdlet:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope CurrentUser

Accept with Y. When done, import PSWindowsUpdate module with cmdlet:

Import-Module PSWindowsUpdate

Allow PSWindowsUpdate by selecting R (Run). This will be asked twice, separately for two PSWindowsUpdate scripts.




1.6) You can get a list of each available PSWindowsUpdate cmdlet with

Get-Command -Module PSWindowsUpdate







Part Two [/i] Add support for additional Microsoft Products
2.1) In Settings App > Update & Security > Windows Update > Advanced Options you can select to get updates to other Microsoft products when updating Windows. To add the same functionality to PSWindowsUpdate run the following cmdlet:

Add-WUServiceManager -ServiceID 7971f918-a847-4430-9279-4a52d1efe18d




Accept with Y. Notice that the ServiceID is constant string, exactly as shown above

This step is completely optional; if you do not Windows Update updating other products than Windows, simply skip it.




Part Three [/i] Check, Install or Hide Windows Updates
3.1) To list all Windows and other Microsoft updates, enter the following cmdlet:

Get-WUInstall -MicrosoftUpdate -ListOnly




In this case there were only updates for Windows available.

3.2) To check available updates and feature upgrades for Windows only (not for additional Microsoft products) enter cmdlet:

Get-WUInstall -ListOnly



(Screenshot shows cmdlets for steps 3.2 to 3.6)

3.3) To hide an update you do not want to install you can filter with either full or partial title of an update, or its KB ID

3.4) Hide update Microsoft Silverlight (KB4013867) using partial title Microsoft:

Hide-WUUpdate -Title "Microsoft*" -Confirm:$False

This hides all updates where word Microsoft appears anywhere in update title. In my example case now the Silverlight update was the only one.

3.5) Hide the same update using KB ID instead of title:

Hide-WUUpdate -KBArticleID "KB4013867" -Confirm:$False

3.6) Same filters, title or KB ID can be used to unhide an update adding parameter -HideStatus:$False

Hide-WUUpdate -Title "Microsoft*" -HideStatus:$False -Confirm:$False

-- OR --

Hide-WUUpdate -KBArticleID "KB4013867" -HideStatus:$False -Confirm:$False

3.7) To install all available, not hidden updates rejecting or accepting each installation manually, use this cmdlet:

Get-WUInstall

To also install additional Microsoft product updates:

Get-WUInstall -MicrosoftUpdate

3.8) You need to manually accept (Y) or reject (N) each update. When done, if a restart is required you will be asked to accept (Y) or postpone (N) it:




3.9) You can always check if restart is pending and required with

Get-WURebootStatus




3.10) To automatically accept all updates to be installed add parameter -AcceptAll. To automatically accept a restart if required you can also add -AutoReboot:

Get-WUInstall -MicrosoftUpdate -AcceptAll -AutoReboot






Warning When using -AutoReboot switch, avoid working with sensitive, important documents while PSWindowsUpdate is updating Windows.

AutoReboot does not give any warning; when updates / upgrades have been initialized Windows will restart without warning causing loss of all unsaved data.

3.11) Feature upgrades like for instance Windows Insider builds are shown and can be hidden or unhidden exactly as any other update. Notice that for reasons unknown to me feature upgrade sizes are shown wrong, for instance Build 16170 upgrade is under 3 GB download, not almost 150 GB as PSWindowsUpdate shows:






Note Notice that when installing a build upgrade with PSWindowsUpdate, restart does not yet finalize upgrade. When you have restarted from PowerShell after PSWindowsUpdate has downloaded and installed build upgrade, it is in fact only initialized, not installed.

You must restart once more from Start > Power > Update and restart




Part Four [/i] Check Update History, Uninstall an Update
4.1) To check your update history use following cmdlet:

Get-WUHistory

4.2) Uninstall an update using either its title or KB ID as shown in steps 3.4 & 3.5:

Get-WUUninstall -KBArticleID "KB4013867" -Confirm:$False

-- OR --

Get-WUUninstall -Title "Microsoft Silverlight*" -Confirm:$False







Part Five [/i] Get Help
5.1) To get help, correct command syntax and examples about usage of a cmdlet, normal PowerShell help is available.

For instance to get help with Hide-WUUpdate cmdlet enter the following cmdlet:

Get-Help Hide-WUUpdate

Notice that when Get-Help is run first time it needs to be updated (cmdlet Update-Help run). Accept it with Y, this is one time only process not required with further use of Get-Help cmdlet:




That's it geeks! Please post all your concerns, questions and issues with PSWindowsUpdate in this thread.

Kari



Related Tutorials

• How to Check for and Install Windows Updates in Windows 10
• Download and Install Windows Update from Microsoft Update Catalog
• How to Hide or Show Windows Updates in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Give Updates for Other Microsoft Products in Windows 10
• How to View Windows Update History in Windows 10

:)

 

Windows 10 Mail

Try re-registering the app.

Open Start, type: powershell

Right click PowerShell

Click Run as administrator

Type the following command then hit Enter, exit PowerShell then restart, then try updating through the Store again.

Get-AppXPackage | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”}

If the problem persists, I recommend performing a repair upgrade.

Download the Windows 10 1703 ISO:

http://windowsiso.net/windows-10-iso/windows-10...

then

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/wiki...

 

Windows 10 start menu tiles not working

Do this:

Make sure Windows 10 is fully updated.

Check the Store for the latest updates for your apps.

Reinstall all Windows Store apps:

Open Start, type: powershell

Right click PowerShell

Click Run as administrator

Type the following command then hit Enter, exit PowerShell then restart, then try updating through the Store again.

Get-AppXPackage | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”}

Restart then check again.

If that does not work, perform a repair upgrade:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/wiki...

 

One observation I have is that I have had to disable driver updates using gpedit.msc (Pro N) as the latest broadcom wifi drives was causing BSODs, but when I run get-wuinstall, it still lists the driver and I have to decline it each time.

Is there a way around this?

 

Have you hidden it with Hide-WUUpdate?

 

I just love the simplicity of PSWindowsUpdate! Fresh clean install of version 1703, run the updates, get coffee and come back to updated Windows 10.
​

 

I will try that.

 

See steps 3.3 through 3.6 for how to hide an update. It should work.

 

Thanks