WSUS Issues

No sooner did I write the relatively positive blog post about a few remaining irritations on our network, than I discovered a big problem: Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) was not updating the PCs on the network. From reviewing application event logs on SBS, I discovered that the problem started when I installed WSUS 3.0 (following the instructions for installation on SBS 2003 R2!). I was getting errors due to about half a dozen web services associated with WSUS not functioning.

I spent a good many hours on this yesterday trying to diagnose the problem, without success. I even tried uninstalling WSUS 3.0 and reinstalling SBS R2 to bring back WSUS 2.0. Even that now failed to function.

Finally I discovered the solution. Not surprisingly it was related to IIS. The sole consolation here is that I was able to effect and test the fix remotely from my office during a spare moment– kind of cool. SBS still wasn’t happy with WSUS 2.0 despite applying all of the MS suggested workarounds: reinstalling R2 and changing certain WSUS settings. So I gave up on getting WSUS integrated with SBS and pushed ahead.

This evening I reinstalled WSUS 3.0 and discovered that the directory securities had been reset again, necessitating enabling Windows Integrated Authentication in all the WSUS directories again. Finally WSUS 3.0 was working, albeit not as part of the SBS management console.

In order to get WSUS 3.0 working under SBS, it appears I would have another irritating series of installs and uninstalls if I were to try to get WSUS 3.0 to work from the SBS Management console. This is my second long bout of problems with WSUS (the prior bout related to a group policy setting that affected WMI security!). Given this history, I’ve decided that continuing to access WSUS natively probably makes more sense for me than trying to integrate WSUS 3.0 back into SBS– to get some rather nebulous advantages.