Apply Updates on Windows Nano Server 2016
In my previous post, List Updates on Windows Nano Server 2016, I talked about reporting the updates which are installed or missing from your Nano Servers. With that information in hand, you can now move to the more powerful aspect of actually patching them.
In my environment, I don’t want my hosts going out to Microsoft Update on their own, nor do I want to run an entire WSUS server just for a couple of Nano Servers so I patch them manually and this manual patching effort is something which will possibly resonate with others so I thought I would share it.
As it stands, the script requires you to fetch the updates yourself. I am going to work on something using Invoke-WebRequest in PowerShell to automate that step too, but that’s a small price to pay given the minimal number of updates Nano Server requires. Use the Microsoft Update Catalog at https://catalog.update.microsoft.com to obtain any updates you need. Something that was pointed out by Thomas Maurer in his Nano Server updates post at http://www.thomasmaurer.ch/2016/10/how-to-install-updates-on-nano-server/, there is an update for your Nano Servers which is not actually listed and this is the Servicing Stack Update for Windows 10 Version 1607, KB3176939 which you can download from http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/Search.aspx?q=KB3176936. This update is designed to be installed first and it improves the reliability and stability of the servicing stack in Windows which is used by the update process.