I need to block certain updates on AutoPatcher. The program currently doesn't offer a good solution for this: not only it doesn't have a search feature, but the updates marked to not show again keep re-appearing. Can I do what I want with a script? And if so, how would that script look like?
There are a few developers over on the AutoPatcher forums that would probably be better able to answer this question. Given the recent state of Windows Update and with all of the trust that MS has lost, I think that your idea is fantastic and important at this point in time. It would be interesting to see if the developers over at AutoPatcher forums can assist with some sort of scripting or module for AutoPatcher to specifically avoid certain specified updates or even suggested updates relating to telemetry, etc. If such a thing is possible for AutoPatcher, I assume that the developers would likely request that someone is in charge of maintaining that particular module. They often have a certain user/developer for each of their update lists that is maintained per platform. I am pretty confident that there would be users willing to work together as a community to maintain such additional script/module. I think that your idea is brilliant.
@WildByDesign I created a thread on their forums before doing so here, but notice that new/recent threads have not been allowed since February. I don't we'll get a response any time soon.
I think I found a way, though it's not easy. Well, it's easier than manually searching for the updates with no Search function. I'll test this now and report back.
That would be interesting. I just used autopatcher to update a Qubes Windows 7 VM. It was quite tedious because the normal reboots weren't working and it didn't quite get all the updates the VM needed right. Still, it worked a lot better than Windows Update and I now have a folder with every update needed for a fresh install of Windows 7 service pack 1. Autopatcher did give the option to choose updates and I just installed the critical ones and not the recommended ones. For this VM, less is better and I followed the recommendations to disable automatic updates for good seamless mode performance. Not that I wouldn't have done that anyway because Windows Update was getting nowhere and hanging the whole VM up with excessive CPU use.
@MisterB I too disabled WU completely. It's useless now (been useless since the release of W10). I did learn something today after tinkering with AutoPatcher a bit (and waiting nearly 10 hours just to update my W7). At first I though of using AnswerFiles to tell which updates to install. But after messing with AutoPatcher I noticed we can create a file called "blacklist". This file is created after we select updates and mark "Don't show this item again" (depends on your language). My file looked like this after the first big update: Code: KB3075249_SEVEN_X64 KB3083710_SEVEN_X64 KB3065987_V2_SEVEN_X64 KB3068708_SEVEN_X64 KB3021917_SEVEN_X64 KB2994023_SEVEN_X64 KB2970228_SEVEN_X64 KB2726535_SEVEN_X64 KB2660075_SEVEN_X64 KB3080149_SEVEN_X64 KB3050265_SEVEN_X64 This file has no extension, which is a bit weird. But at least it (kinda) works. You guys can try to create it manually, but if that doesn't work I can provide my own file. From now on it will look like this: Code: KB3075249_SEVEN_X64 KB3083710_SEVEN_X64 KB3065987_V2_SEVEN_X64 KB3068708_SEVEN_X64 KB3021917_SEVEN_X64 KB2994023_SEVEN_X64 KB2970228_SEVEN_X64 KB2726535_SEVEN_X64 KB2660075_SEVEN_X64 KB3080149_SEVEN_X64 KB3050265_SEVEN_X64 KB2952664_SEVEN_X64 KB2990214_SEVEN_X64 KB3022345_SEVEN_X64 KB3035583_SEVEN_X64 KB3012973_SEVEN_X64 KB2976978_SEVEN_X64 KB2876229_SEVEN_X64 KB2592687_SEVEN_X64 KB3068707_SEVEN_X64 KB2977759_SEVEN_X64 KB3044374_SEVEN_X64 KB2902907_SEVEN_X64 KB2976987_SEVEN_X64 KB3075853_SEVEN_X64 KB3022345_SEVEN_X64 KB3081452_SEVEN_X64 KB3083711_SEVEN_X64 KB3112336_SEVEN_X64 KB3112343_SEVEN_X64 Note: AutoPatcher may not prevent these updates from showing again (because it's a bit buggy), but at least they're not automatically selected and so you can (more) easily work with them. In my system, after modifying the blacklist file, all blacklisted updates were black ; there were new security updates automatically marked to install, but none of them were in the blacklist file. Note: Some KB's are not related to Microsoft's spying. All updates I disabled can be found on the following list: Code: KB2952664 - getting ready for W10 KB2990214 - Update that enables you to upgrade from Windows 7 to a later version of Windows KB3021917 KB3022345 - telemetry KB3035583 - GWX - upgrade to W10 KB3068708 - telemetry KB3075249 - Update that adds telemetry points to consent.exe in Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 KB3080149 - Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry KB3012973 - nags about W10 KB2976978 - Compatibility update for Windows 8.1 and Windows 8 KB2876229 - skype KB2970228 - russian thingie KB2592687 - Remote Desktop KB2660075 - time and date to Samoa KB3050265 - Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry KB2726535 - adds South Sudan KB2994023 - spyware? KB3068707 - telemetry KB2977759 - W10 Diagnostics Compatibility Telemetry KB3044374 - nags about W10 KB2902907 - Compatibility update for upgrading KB2976987 - Compatibility update for upgrading KB3065987 - Compatibility update for upgrading KB3075853 - Compatibility update for upgrading KB3022345 - Compatibility update for upgrading KB3081452 - Ensures smooth experience for updateing OS to future versions KB3083710 - Client Update for W7 and for server 2008 KB3083711 - Similar to 3083710 but for 8.1 and server 2012 KB3112336 - All about Windows 10 KB3112343 - All about Windows 10
Well, thank you, that is not that difficult to do. Just a bit of text editing and the list of updates to avoid is not that big. I did like having a separate folder for the recommended updates but Autopatcther hung up on 3 that wouldn't install and wouldn't proceed to the recommended updates so I just manually installed IE 11 and left it at that. I made the mistake of installing the Qubes Windows Tools before installing updates which disabled a lot of Windows tasks and services and made the updates so troublesome.
@amarildojr Excellent findings. Thank you for sharing. This will be quite valuable and easy to do as well.
You're both welcome If you find better ways to prevent updates from showing up on the list, please let me know. I tried simply removing them from the modules folder, but they would download again whenever I checked for updates. That happens because AutoPatcher fetches the list from here, and then this list fetches updates from here. We could simply edit that list and remove the updates manually, but that would be too much work IMO. A script to remove the updates from the list and then update the list to Github or something should be ideal.
It looks as though you have just received a detailed answer to your question over at the AutoPatcher forums. Hopefully some of that info will be beneficial.
@amarildojr My apologies, I should have posted the link as well. Link: http://www.autopatcher.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&p=4669&sid=343c79ee86db24df2c2e743f5295bc62#p4669 It seems to be quite a detailed answer with several different methods.
@WildByDesign Thank you for the link Unfortunately for the person who took time to answer, I'm not using Windows anymore. I'm back to Linux and decided to stay. However, I still think that answer will be very useful for people who are looking for the same principle as I was once looking for. Cheers.
@amarildojr You're welcome. I wish you the best of luck. I used to be an avid openSUSE user (maybe it was just SUSE at the time) nearly 10 years ago and enjoyed Linux for a few good years. Cheers!
