Use > Server patching > Patch management for Windows > Patch installation > Setting Windows patch installation order

Setting Windows patch installation order

The Windows Patch Installation Order setting in the Remediate job window enables you to control patch installation sequence in a given Windows Patch Policy remediation job. Selecting this option prevents the collision of Windows patch data derived from disparate sources.

Best Practice Tip: This setting is strongly recommended for Windows Patch Policy remediation jobs.

SA Windows Patching installs patches from two different sources, Microsoft Offline Catalog (wsusscn2.cab) and HPELN Microsoft Patch Supplement. Some newer patches from the offline catalog have incorporated or enhanced the fixes that were previously defined in the patch supplement, which rendered the supplement patches obsolete. Consequently, patch data can be corrupted if you install the patch supplement patches before the wsusscn2.cab patches.

To set the Windows patch installation order:

  1. When running a Windows Patch Policy remediation job, select the Windows Patch Installation Order setting in the Options view.

  2. When you run the remediation job, all the Microsoft Offline Catalog patches (wsusscn2.cab) will be deployed first, and the HPELN Patch Supplement patches will be excluded until the job no longer contains any Microsoft Offline Catalog patches.

    When this option is not selected, the default order is by KB #, which can cause problems if you are installing patches from both sources: Windows Offline Catalog (wsusscn2.cab) and HPELN Microsoft Patch Supplement.

  3. You will need to run the remediation job multiple times in order to deploy all the patches and achieve full compliance.

    If you use this option, you must run multiple remediation jobs to make a server fully compliant.

  4. The status of each patch installation is provided in the Preview or Job Status view of the Remediate window.

    To view additional details about a specific item, select the row in the table to display details in the bottom pane.

If the policy has patches from both sources, wsusscn2.cab and the HPELN supplement, then the job will not install the HPELN patches. The following message should be displayed:

This patch is not a Windows Offline Catalog patch. The Windows Patch Ordering option was enabled for this job, so only Windows Offline Catalog patches will be considered.