Test of Various ConfigMgr 07 Software Updates Settings

A. Display notification allowed and reboots not suppressed (NOTE: UTC is being used) * 1. I Created an update list called Windows XP Updates added a couple updates to the list and created a deployment package called Windows XP Updates 2. I then created template called Std Patch Installs the following settings are used:

3. I drug the Windows XP Updates update list onto newly created deployment template, accepted license terms and went through the Deploy Software Updates Wizard selecting the Windows XP Updates deployment. 4. Set the available time to the current time and the deadline for 1 hour from now.

5. Within 10 minutes after the deployment wizard is completed the client is presented with the following:

6. I clicked the balloon notification and I see this dialog box:

7. I selected install and then I see this message:

8. A couple minutes later the same balloon was still there but I noticed the little arrow turned red so I clicked the balloon and I was presented the following dialog which is interesting because I do not have reboots postponed. I decided to click the X on the screen and see if it would again notify me that I needed to reboot or possibly automatically reboot my system. I waited 15 minutes and the red arrow never changed. I was never prompted to reboot again and the system did not automatically reboot. I did find this in updatesdeployment.log , No other installations in pipeline. No reboot required.

9. Upon a manual reboot I was presented with no further dialog boxes.

B. Suppress display notifications (NOTE: UTC is being used) * 1. Created a new update list called Suppress Display with the corresponding new deployment package called Windows XP Updates Suppress Display 2. Created a new deployment template called Suppress Display and selected the option to suppress display notifications on clients

3. I did not select to suppress reboots nor did I select to allow restarts outside maintenance windows. I have no maintenance windows set at this time.

4. I drug the Suppress Display update list onto the Suppress Display deployment template, accepted license terms and went through the Deploy Software Updates Wizard selecting the Windows XP Updates Suppress Display deployment.

5. Set the available time to the current time and the deadline for 1 hour from now.

6. I noticed no notifications on the client machine what-so-ever. I waited until the patch deadline and still didnt see any notifications so I rebooted then I checked the report Enforcement states for a particular deployment which shows my machine is compliant. Not sure why this happened since the patch I added showed that it was required by 1 machine and this client is my only machine. ( I later determined that this odd behavior was caused by using UTC.) 7. Next I added 1 patch into the Suppress display update list making sure that the patch was required by my client. I then added it to the Suppress Display deployment package and set the deadline for 15 minutes from the current time. (note: my computer client agent polling interval is set to 5 minutes)

8. Shortly before the deadline I get a message on the client that a reboot is being forced. There is no way to postpone. I seem to have gotten a 30 minute countdown. The updates must have installed prior to the deadline, I wasnt watching to see the exact time the message was displayed. (again this happened prior to the deadline due to UTC)

C. Suppress display notifications and suppress reboots. (NOTE: UTC is being used)* 1. Created a new update list called Suppress Display and Reboot with the corresponding new deployment package called Suppress Display and Reboot 2. Created a new deployment template called Suppress Display and Reboot and selected the option to suppress display notifications on clients

3. I drug the Suppress Display and Reboot update list onto the Suppress Display and Reboot deployment template, accepted license terms and went through the Deploy Software Updates Wizard selecting the Suppress Display and Reboot deployment. 4. Set the available time to the current time and the deadline for 20 min from current time.

5. At 11:10 I notice the little red arrow in the system tray indicating that patches had installed and a reboot is required. Clicking the red arrow brought up the second screen shot here. Again this is interesting to me because the deadline was set for 11:20 so the updates are indeed installing prior to the deadline. ( this happened prior to the deadline due to UTC)

D. I Corrected issue where I had selected to use UTC rather than local time on all three deployment templates. The rerun previous tests

1. I selected 1 critical XP update that was required by my client and I drug it to the update list and created a new list called Suppress Display and Reboot Local template which has been updated to use local time. Went through the wizard creating a new deployment package called Suppress Display and Reboot Local 2. Next I drug my new update list over to the existing Suppress Display and reboot template and created a new deployment with the available time set to the current time and the deadline set to 30 minutes in the future. 3. I immediately go over to the client machine and watch for any notifications. After a couple minutes I have seen no notifications so manually run Software Updates Deployment Evaluation Cycle from the control panel. 4. I then check the reports Evaluation states for a deployment and find that evaluation has succeeded. I then check the Enforcement state for a deployment report and I find that the status is Downloaded Update(s)

5. Following that I go back to my client and I do indeed find the green arrow icon in the system tray.

6. A few minutes after the deadline my green arrow turned to a red arrow. No notification was ever shown to the user other than the little green arrow and there is no automated reboot. I think this is exactly what was expected to happen.

E. Suppress display notifications (local time rather than UTC)* 1. Created a new update list called Suppress Display Only with the corresponding new deployment package called Windows XP Updates Suppress Display and added 1 critical XP update. 2. Added the new list to the deployment template called Suppress Display which now has local time selected rather than UTC . 3. At the client computer selected Machine Policy Retrieval action as well as Software Updates Deployment Evaluation cycle. 4. Shortly thereafter I notice the green arrow icon in the system tray. I am however not presented with the balloon notifications. This is the same behavior as scenario 3. 5. Just after the deadline I was presented with the System Reboot Required dialog box with a 30 minute countdown.

F. Suppress reboot but do not suppress notifications (Using local time) * 1. Created a new update list called Suppress Reboot Only with the corresponding new deployment package called Suppress reboot only and added 1 critical XP update. 2. Created a new deployment template called Suppress Reboot Only and selected the option to suppress reboot on workstations but did select option to suppress display notifications on clients. 3. Drug the Suppress Reboot Only list to the Suppress Reboot Only template set available time to current time and deadline for 15 minutes later. 4. At the client computer selected Machine Policy Retrieval action as well as Software Updates Deployment Evaluation cycle. 5. A few minutes later I see the balloon message telling me that updates are available.

6. Rather than wait the 9 minutes I went ahead and clicked the balloon and hit the install button.

7. I am immediately present with a balloon that tells me the updates are installing

8. Shortly afterwards I see that the green arrow has turned red. I never click the previous balloon so it is still the same. A few seconds later the balloon disappears and I am left with nothing but the red arrow. I think this is all the end user will see, I let the machine sit past the deadline and nothing else happened.

9. Upon arriving at work the next day and looking at the client I see this:

* At no time during these tests did I have maintenance windows defined and Hide all deployments from end users is never selected on the client agent properties. ** Using UTC was actually accidental. Since it is the default I left the results here so others will not make the same mistake. I determined that using UTC caused some of the strange behavior in my tests.