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#10
Last edited by Brink; 06 May 2017 at 10:14. Reason: added quote
I've routinely used a metered connection since the original 10240 release. Far from clearing the update history it actually gets two entries for each update - the first a failure when it discovers it can't download over the metered connection, the second a success when you let it download.
Update history starts with a clean slate if you do an in-place upgrade, even if it's to the same edition you had before. It will also be empty after you do a System Image Restore, though they will all still be listed in 'uninstall updates'.
Just noticed that "View installed update history" in "Settings" is showing a bunch of updates for Office 2002 were successfully installed and the updateds don't even exist. One of them is SP3 and that is wrong because I have SP3 and will not install it because of a bug that will not allow ActiveX controls to be put on a worksheet so I have the update hidden with Windows "Show or hide updates" utilities.
Now I just got a notice to install an update for Office 2010 that I don't even have installed.
See Belarc Advisor Definitions?
Various Office 2010 updates are reported as missing and are not listed under Installed Updates. However, a manual installation of any missing update fails since Windows reports it is already installed. The missing updates seem to be installed but are missing from the Installed Updates list. Can this list be reset with the correct information?
Hello Steve,
You could reset Windows Update, but it will clear its history instead of restoring it.
Does running thewmic qfe list
command for hotfixes in an elevated command prompt list any of them?
That command only lists 4 MS Windows updates which do appear in the Installed Updates List. I do have 92 updates listed in Installed Updates for Office 2010. These don't include those Office 2010 updates reported as missing by Belarc Advisor yet they are clearly installed. Perhaps using Wise Disk Cleaner has screwed up something?
Following a reset to the Windows Update in my system, I ended up with an empty Windows Update History.
Using Option One of the tutorial, I get an empty Settings “View update history” screen.
Using Option Two, it only shows updates that can be uninstalled and of course no update history of the Windows Apps (UWP) and no Windows Defender history.
There are a couple of things, that must be clarified regarding Windows Update history.
- Update history is cleared after installation of a Feature Update.
- Windows keeps the history in its own database files, located in %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore
- Every Windows Update creates an event, which is stored in the Event logs of the system.
Having those in mind, I tried to retrieve the history from the Event logs of the system, since the Windows update history kept in %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore was wiped out as a result of the forced reset.
So I created a Custom view, based on the idea/suggestion of @Cliff S
WindowsUpdateCustomView.zip
This custom View can be opened in Event Viewer, to see all installed updates.
The difference with this new Custom View (as opposed to the one proposed by Cliff) is that it is a lot more compact, as it uses a different event log and shows only the succeeded installations of the updates, including the Windows store Apps.
Taking it a step further, based on that custom view, I created a PowerShell script to produce a list of all created updates, sorted by KB number in one screen, so you don’t have to go looking for updates one by one, as it’s done in the Event Viewer.
Get-InstalledUpdates.ps1
- Download and Save the script file to your desktop.
- To unblock the file, Right click on the script file, and click on Properties. In the General tab, check the Unblock box at the bottom, and click on OK.
- Open PowerShell as Administrator
- Type the command:
Code:Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process- To get a list of all installed updates, type the command:
Code:.\Get-InstalledUpdates.ps1- If you want to save the output for future use, type the command:
That command will create a txt file on your Desktop with all the installed updates.Code:.\Get-InstalledUpdates.ps1 | Out-File .\InstalledUpdates.txt
The script has one prerequisite. That your “System” events log has not been cleared, since the last Feature Update. If it is, then both the Custom view and the PowerShell script will show the updates installed from the last event log cleanup!
To make it more versatile, except from the Event logs, the script also looks in the Windows Update database files and presents the list of updates, either from the Event logs or from the Windows Update database, whichever contains the more detailed data .
It’s worth noting that the time in the Windows Update history is kept in UTC, whereas the time in the Windows Event logs is kept in your PC's local time, as shown in the following screenshot.
That’s it!
HTH someone.
Last edited by ddelo; 21 Nov 2018 at 06:31.
Dear Brink
Thanks yet again for a lucid and helpful explanation.
I have a problem in that different sources show different updates. it kicked off from trying to do a system
restore (which is either one of the buggiest features in the whole of Windows or somebody in MS doesn't love me), and while I couldn't make the restore work, it looked as if the problem (e-mail agent messing up) might stem from a Windows update of 28 April. So I looked for it in Windows Updates. And sometimes it wasn't there. Different source showed different updates. As below:
1. System Restore
- which shows an update on 28April.
2. Control Panel
3. Settings (part
4. Command prompt table (cf. your tutorial on deleting updates)
AS you can (perhaps) see, 2,3 and 4 show different groups of updates, and only no.3, the Settings one, shows an update on 28April. BUT - when I go in Settings to Uninstall Updates, it transfers me to the picture shown in no. 2 from Control Panel.with no update on 28April...
I am fairly new to W10, having clung to 7 until 6 weeks ago. I expected it to be problematic from all I had read. But I did not expect this. Any views on how to get a consistent and comprehensive list of installed updates?
(I am also posting in the Tutorial Uninstall Updates in W10 to ask how to delete this 28April update which comes under Driver Updates in Settings).
Many thanks for your time and trouble, ardj