Troubleshooting WSUS 3.0 SP2 on Windows Server

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Troubleshooting WSUS 3.0 SP2 on Windows Server – In the post we will see steps to troubleshoot WSUS 3.0 SP2 related issues. We will see the most common issues related to WSUS 3.0 SP2 and their resolution. In the previous posts we have seenInstallation, Configuration, Managing the WSUS 3.0 SP2. Before we start troubleshooting WSUS issues, lets take a look at some of the log files created by WSUS server.

WSUS Log Files -WSUS setup creates the following four log files that can help you diagnose problems with setup. These log files are located in the %temp% folder of the user who installed the WSUS software.

• WSUSSetup.log: The status of each of the component installations that are performed during WSUS setup is logged to this file. You can check this log to see whether any component installation failed. If you see a failure, check the corresponding log to see what went wrong during the installation of that component.

• WSUSSetupMsi_timestamp.log: This log file is generated by MSI for WSUS component setup. Before it invokes custom or standard actions, Windows Installer logs that information to this file. The return values from the custom actions are also logged in this file.

• WSUSCa_timestamp.log: This log file is used by custom actions. Errors that occurred while executing any custom actions in WSUS component or BITS setup are logged in this file.

• WSUSWyukonSetup_timestamp.log: This is the log file for Windows Internal Database setup. All Windows Internal Database installation and uninstallation information is logged in this file.

Apart from these log files, there are 2 more log files that are really important. These log files are located inWSUSInstallationdrive\LogFiles\.

Change.log – When any change or modification is done to the WSUS server, the changes are logged in this file. It also provides information about the WSUS server database information that has changed.

SoftwareDistribution.log – Provides information about the software updates that are synchronized from the configured update source to the WSUS server database.

Important Note – Microsoft has released an update KB2734608 for WSUS 3.0 SP2. This update lets servers that are running Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) 3.0 SP2 provide updates to computers that are running Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012. The update can be downloaded from here.

This update fixes the following issues:

• Installation of update 2720211 may fail if Service Pack 2 was previously uninstalled and then reinstalled.
• After you install update 2720211, health monitoring may fail if the WSUS server is configured to use SSL.

 Common issues related to WSUS 3.0 Sp2 and troubleshooting :

1) WSUS Client Computers are not installing Updates – If the WSUS client computers are not installing updates, then check the DCOM configuration. On the client machine, click on Start, Run, type “dcomcnfg” (without quotes), Component Serviceswindow will appear. In the left pane under Console Root, expand Component Services, expand Compoters, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties. Click the Default Properties tab. Make sure that EnableDistributed COM on this computer is selected and Default Impersonation Level is set to Identify.

2) Client Computers Not reporting to WSUS Server :- If you have configured client computers for a particular WSUS server, but they have not reported over a period of days, use the following procedures to isolate and repair the problem

First check the connectivity between the client computer and WSUS server. You can use the ping utility to check connectivity.

Contact the WSUS HTTP server by providing the servername:port number. open the Internet Explorer and typehttp://wsusservername:portnumber. You must see the IIS version on the page.

Verify the existence of the self-update tree. In an Internet Explorer address bar, type:http://WSUSServerName/selfupdate/wuident.cab. If the WSUS server is functioning properly, you should see a File Download window that asks you whether to open or save the file. If you don’t see any download windows then refer to this Microsoft Article here.

Troubleshoot the Automatic Update client – On the client computer, run the command prompt as administrator, type the following registry query – reg query HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate

WUServer    REG_SZ  http://WSUSServerName

WUStatusServer      REG_SZ  http://WSUSServerName

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU

If you don’t find the above output or if the query returns the error, “The system was unable to find the specified registry key or value,” Automatic Update has not been configured on this computer.

Resetting the Automatic Update client :- You can try resetting the automatic update client on the client machine. Open the command prompt on the client machine, type the command – wuauclt.exe /resetauthorization /detectnow. Wait for 10 minutes for detection cycle to complete.

Issues related to BITS – Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) is the service that is used by WSUS to download updates from Microsoft Update to the main WSUS server, and from WSUS servers to their client computers. BITS also supports the transfer of files between peer computers in a domain.

To check whether BITS is running, on the WSUS machine open the command prompt and type the command SC QUERY BITS(can be in lowercase also). We see in the output that BITS is running.

If the BITS Service is not running, then the output should look like this. Note that the STATE is STOPPED.

You can start or stop the BITS using the commands “SC START BITS” or “SC STOP BITS“.