What is WUD's Purpose?

[Gantlett]

First of all, as many people have already said here - WUD is a beautiful application!

Thanks a lot for making it!

But what is the purpose of it exactly?

Don't get me wrong - I'm deep into nLite, RyanVM and even started investigating Microsoft's own WSUS (which seems like a pretty good app on its own).

In Unattended:

Using nLite with dozens of KBxxxxxx files in order to create a fully updated WinXP installation CD never goes right because the order of the installation is critical. So WUD is not useful in this scenario. The solution is using nLite together with RyanVM's update packages.

If Win2000 is the desired OS, RyanVM won't help here because its packages are intended for XP only. HFSLIP is the solution in this case.

In WSUS:

WSUS is a component that already downloads all the appropriate MS update packages and automatically distributes them across the network. So I don't understand how WUD helps here too.

So in both cases, as far as my understanding and knowledge go, WUD is no help.

Two purposes I can think of are:

1. Bypassing M$'s WGA validation for certain updates.

2. Providing developers a direct and easy link for M$ Updates.

Thanks,

Erez.

[jcarle]

WUD works at it's best side-by-side with nLite or HFSLIP.

There is no "order of updates" in nLite since it uses a direct integration method. Meaning, none of the updates are installed in the traditional manner, the source files of the XP installation are replaced with the ones found within the updates.

HFSLIP still requires you to collect the actual patch files yourself, another place where WUD is useful.

WUD was not meant to replace RyanVM, which by the way, does a phenomal job. Unforunately, RyanVM only releases update packs for Windows XP x86 English, so anyone using another language of XP or any other OS that WUD supports can't use RyanVM.

WSUS is only useful in corporate or small business environments. A home user will not use WSUS.

WUD's purpose is NOT to bypass WGA. Many large updates, such as Service Pack 2, Windows Media Player 11 and Internet Explorer 7 all have WGA checks built into them which WUD does not modify.

I had thought of perhaps integrating a auto-update client into WUD, in a style similar to AutoPatcherXP, however, I don't quite have enough information to be able to get a proper client setup.

[nuhi]

Just one correction, the order does matter, just sort them by a build date like the help says.

Because of the reg entries. If you integrate lets say IE6 hotfix but integrated IE7 before that it will overwrite some of the registry entries because it's added after the newer.

For files it detects and prompts if the new one is actually older.

jcarle, what's the problem with silently running the updates after they have been downloaded if the user chooses so?

[jcarle]

Just one correction, the order does matter, just sort them by a build date like the help says.

Because of the reg entries. If you integrate lets say IE6 hotfix but integrated IE7 before that it will overwrite some of the registry entries because it's added after the newer.

For files it detects and prompts if the new one is actually older.

jcarle, what's the problem with silently running the updates after they have been downloaded if the user chooses so?

Sorry, my bad. I didn't think it mattered with nLite. Guess I know different now.

The only reason I haven't added automatic installation of the updates is because I don't have the information on the command-line switches for each update and/or how to verify if it is already installed and/or the required order of installation. Mostly, I lack the time to do the research to find this out. If you'd like to give me a hand with that nuhi, I'd love the help. Just send me a PM if you're interested.