Offline update of Windows?

Question

What options, if any, exist for offline update of Microsoft Windows?

If a solution exists please list your experience using it.

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Background:

If for any reason a computer does not have a connection to the Internet or the connection is too slow to download several hundreds of megabytes every so often some kind of offline Windows Update is required.

In a multi-computer environment a lot of bandwidth (and thus in some cases money) and/or time could also be saved if it is possible to update in an offline manner.

Solution 1

Use WSUS Offline Update.

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Solution 2

I have been using WSUS for the last two years at home and in many enterprise environments. This is the simplest and easiest way to do this.

For most of the base operating systems and products the installers for Service Packs are provided as separate downloads or as slipstreamed installation discs.

Another alternative is using IPCop with the Advanced Proxy and Update Accelerator add-ons -- no longer available.

Solution 3

Microsoft offers their Service Packs in standalone "administrator installer" formats (along with, as Lance mentioned, some of their hotfixes and patches). Download once, deploy via your preferred medium.

Solution 4

Autopatcher can download updates once and apply them to multiple computers offline

In short, AutoPatcher combines the advantage of both Windows Update (presentation and description of updates and automated installation), and the special administrative updates (portability and installation without the need of an Internet connection).

Solution 5

If you want something that will automatically grab updates from an Internet connected PC, try Windows Updates Downloader. It will grab all of the updates your system needs, so you can just take them to the PC and launch the installers.

With the simple interface that Windows Updates Downloader provides, you can quickly and efficiently download all of the Windows Updates for your version of Windows in your language.

You can then either install the updates, slipstream them to an existing Windows source, use them for network installations or on computer who are not connected to the internet. You can even collect them to store them for achival purposes.

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Comments

[TJJ]

Windows 10 distributes updates between local computers. So only one would need to be updated.

[BinaryMisfit]

FYI: I use both these solutions at home and I have cut my download bill down by at least a 1/2 of what it was. I also run a mixed environment of Windows Vista/7/2008 - MacOSX and Linux.

[Tamara Wijsman]

So, do I understand this correctly: The download traffic of Windows Update is also cached by the Update Accelerator? Thus Windows Update causes the same kind of traffic like downloading in a browser?

[BinaryMisfit]

@TomWij Correct.

[Sopalajo de Arrierez]

Can the downloaded files be used for installation on another computer (assuming the same operating system and platform)? Or it is needed to perform again the full download on that second computer?

[bgmCoder]

This is an excellent solution.

[Scott Chamberlain]

@SopalajodeArrierez it can be copied to another computer, see the bottom two boxes of the screenshot, it lets you burn the updates to CD/DVD or copy them to a USB stick.

[Jamie Hanrahan]

But then I have a couple of hundred installers to run.