Windows Server 2016 Update Options

Question

Hi,

We have one particular system of severs that is managed by administrators that are not part of our main infrastructure and as such, does not want to "Hassle" with WSUS for the server 2016's he's managing. We are aware if we do nothing the servers will auto update and auto restart at random and will.

What he ideally wants is the same functionality that's been in place for Server 2008 R2 and Server 2012 R2 for manual updating, with the ability to hide / deny undesired updates. Is this possible with Server 2016? I have not noticed an option on Server 2016 to hide / deny an update once you press "Check online for updates"

Everything I seem to reference online is how to set automatic updates with the 5 typical options for WSUS (I assume). Are there other things you can do besides use WSUS or let the server have an update mind of its own?

Maybe I'm just not realizing the available options in the GPO and what they do.

Thanks for your guidance.

Answer 1

Hi MikeMurphy-5799,

Thanks for your posting on Q&A.

In my opinion, there is no need to hide/deny the updates if the default update source is WSUS. Just approving the needed updates and installing on the clients is OK.

Starting with Windows 10, it's hard to install updates manually in Control Panel. This feature which hide/deny the undesired updates no longer applies in Windows 10. But the Show or hide updates tool may help. Here is a link to download this tool for your reference:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4026726/windows-10-hide-updates-or-driver-updates

Please don't forget to MARK the answer if the above solutions are helpful.

Regards,
Rita