Windows Updater Open

This is an alternative to the Windows Updates software provided in all copies of Windows and the Windows Server Update Service.

With Windows Updates you must download and install each update separately on each machine, which isn't too bad if you have one or two computers at home, but if you are in a business environment constantly updating machines (say in a computer refurbishment company) then it suddenly adds extra time and a lot of internet bandwidth to do.

With WSUS you can cut out the downloading by pre-downloading all the updates to the server, but there comes a new problem in that you have to tell each computer to look for the WSUS server which is fine in a business where the same machines will be used and connected repeatedly, but again for places like computer refurbishers this becomes a pain to have to do each time.

Windows Updater Open gets past all this by using custom-built server and client software. The client software uses the Windows Update API to scan for the updates before passing the details to the server. The server then scans a database (SQL Server or MySQL) of currently downloaded updates to find matches, downloads any its missing, then sends the files back to the client which then proceeds to install the updates.

This gets around the issue of reconfiguring Windows Updates as they run completely separately, and whats more the lack of Windows XP Home compatibility in WSUS is also removed. All that is required for the client software to run is that the .NET 4 framework is pre-installed (there will be a launcher program to scan for and install it).

Project Roadmap

Completed

Client scan for updates to install.
Client send update info to server.
Client scan for installed updates.
Client get hardware specs.
Client retrieve updates from server.
Client install updates.
Client show required and installed updates in UI.

Server retrieve update list from clients.
Server scan database (only MySQL tested so far).
Server download new updates.
Server send updates to client.
Server update UI to show connected and disconnected computers.
Server show log and errors in UI.

To be completed

Create launcher program to install .NET 4 if necessary before launching client.
Enable management of updates in client.
Show info of selected update(s) in client.
Show list of downloaded updates in server.
Enable filtering of various lists in server (partially implemented).
Linux version of server software.
Server send messages to client(s).
Completely thread-safe operations in client and server (partially implemented).
Output server logs to file automatically (partially implemented).
Auto-install service packs.
Check for program updates.
Test server ability to handle multiple connections at once.

Known bugs

Doesn't work on Vista.
Server reports inaccurate update numbers after first connection.
Server will either send updates found in database or download new ones, not download missing and send all needed.