Some SBS 2003 R2 Servers Are Not Synching Vista Updates in WSUS

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[Today's tip comes to us from Damian Leibaschoff]

Please note that this is an ongoing issue that is under investigation.

UPDATE: This issue is fixed in WSUS 3.0. More information on WSUS 3.0 here.

If you have installed SBS 2003 R2 back when Vista was still in beta (before November of 2006), and you are using the Update Services provided by R2 (The Green Check of Health), you might not be getting all the updates that would be expected.

To make sure you are getting all your updates for your SBS R2 domain joined Vista machines, please follow these steps:

  1. Open the native WSUS Administration console from Start -> All Programs-Administrative Tools -> Microsoft Windows Server Update Services
  2. Once it opens, click on the Options link (Upper right)
  3. After that, click on the Synchronization Options link:
  4. Once it opens, click on the Change button under the Products, right under the Products and Classifications section.
  5. Once the product list opens, find the three entries for Windows Vista and uncheck them, click OK after doing that.
  6. Now we have to click on the Change button one more time, the same one we just clicked, and once again we need to find the 3 Vista products, this time we need to put the check back in there. One more thing before clicking OK, go to the top of the product list, and put a check on the Microsoft checkbox, that needs to be checked. After putting the 4 checkboxes, go ahead and click OK.
  7. One more step needed, on the left hand side, go ahead and press the SAVE SETTINGS button, and once the settings are save, press the SYNCHRONIZE NOW button (or you can wait for the nightly scheduled synch to happen).

You should start getting all the Vista updates for your clients down through your R2 server after it all gets synched up.

As we said before, this issue is under investigation and we will keep everyone updated on our findings and potential long term solutions.

UPDATE: This issue is fixed in WSUS 3.0. More information on WSUS 3.0 here.