Windows Update PowerShell Module

Composed out of a straightforward command module and a scripting language built on top of Microsoft's .NET framework, Windows PowerShell is a very powerful task automation and configuration management tool aimed at some of the more advanced users out there.

If you're Powershell aficionado, you might be interested in trying out the so-called Windows Update PowerShell Module. Also found under the moniker of PSWindowsUpdate, this is a module that consists out of a collection of scripts capable of running commands for checking, downloading, installing to and even removing updates from your computer.

First and foremost, you should know that it's designed to work with all Windows version ranging from 2000, all the way up to Windows 10, including various version of Windows Server like 2003, 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, and 2012 R2.

Even though we're aware of the fact that you probably know you way around PowerShell, we're still going to list all the necessary steps required to install and get the most out of this module.

To begin with, download the archive and extract it to one of the following locations: "%USERPROFILE%\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules" or "%WINDIR%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules". It's also worth pointing out that, in order to run the commands, Windows PowerShell 2.0 is required.

Before you can jump right into managing your computer's Windows Update service via PowerShell, there's one more thing you need to attend to. Hit Start, access the Run command and type "gpedit.msc". From the pop-up window, go to Administrative Templates, select All Settings, and scroll down until you locate "Turn on Script Execution". Double click to edit, check "Enabled" and select the "Allow all scripts" option from the Execution Policy section.

Now, you can finally run Windows PowerShell with full administrative rights, use the "cd" command to change the current PSWindowsUpdate directory, and import the module by running "Import-Module PSWindowsUpdate" command.

Of course, subsequently, you can run any of the desired functions, as follows: Add-WUOfflineSync, Add-WUServiceManager, Get-WUHistory, Get-WUInstall, Get-WUInstallerStatus, Get-WUList, Hide-WUUpdate, Invoke-WUInstall, Get-WURebootStatus, Get-WUServiceManager, Get-WUUninstall, Remove-WUOfflineSync, Remove-WUServiceManager, and Update-WUModule.

We'll end the tutorial by explaining how to uninstall the module. Basically, you'll have to run the opposite of the first command, namely "Remove-Module PSWindowsUpdate", and only then you should erase the files which have been previously extracted to their specified locations.

Windows Update PowerShell Module is a nifty package that can significantly speed up the whole process of managing your computer's Windows Update service tasks, if your skills allow it, that is.