Software Updates Fail and "Reboot is required" Reported in Patchinstall.log

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While reviewing some of the calls we've been getting I came across this issue which seems to be popping up every so often.  The cause and the resolution are pretty straight forward but I thought I'd pass it along just in case you happen to run into it.

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When distributing software updates to clients using SMS, you noticed that it failed on some clients. Also, on some clients, you see that the applied patches show up as applicable in the compliance report.

On the client side Patchinstall.log file, you may see messages which are similar to the followings:

"FAILSAFE TIMEOUT: UpdateID"

or

"Reboot is required by at least one software update            UpdatesInstallMgr          x/x/2007 4:38:07 PM    1848 (0x0738)"

Cause
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A previously deployed software update is waiting on a reboot to complete installation, thus the PatchInstaller cannot deploy the current software updates.

Resolution
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Reboot the client computers reporting the problem.

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Hopefully if you happen to see this in your environment at least now you have confirmation on the resolution.

- J.C. Hornbeck