Resource Explorer displays the Extended Software Updates node after the inventory tool runs on an SMS client computer and the hardware inventory cycle reports the status of the custom updates. The following procedure enables you to see the software updates required on the computer by using Resource Explorer.

To obtain software updates details by using Resource Explorer

1. In the SMS Administrator console, expand Collections and then click the collection that contains computers for which the software updates details are required. In the right pane, you can see all the computers in this collection.

2. Right-click the computer, point to All Tasks, and click Start Resource Explorer to open the Resource Explorer window.

3. Expand Hardware and click Extended Software Updates. The details of all the software updates for the SMS client computer are displayed.

The Setup wizard installs reports that allow you to examine the status of custom updates on the client computers. Setup installs the following new reports in the Software Update category. The data for these reports comes only from clients that have returned hardware inventory after running the inventory tool. The reports are listed in the suggested viewing order.

• List of computers that have not scanned with latest synchronized catalog
  
  
• Compliance by Bulletin ID and QNumber
  
  
• All computers with a specific update advertisement state
  
  

Run the report named List of computers that have not scanned with latest synchronized catalog to determine which clients have not returned inventory results based on your current version of the catalog.

After verifying that clients have scanned using your latest catalog, run the report named Compliance by Bulletin ID and QNumber to see the compliance status of computers in a collection. Running this report prior to running the Distribute Software Updates Wizard helps you determine how many computers are vulnerable for a given update, how many have been updated independently from SMS, and how many still need to be updated. This report will combine the results of updates detected with the Inventory Tool for Custom Updates and older SMS security inventory tools (such as MBSA). This is useful for when you are upgrading your SMS clients to use the Inventory Tool for Custom Updates and are in a migration phrase in which more than one security inventory tool is used in your environment. Although it is not recommended that you run older security inventory tools together with the Inventory Tool for Custom Updates on the same computer, if this happens and more than one inventory tool detects the same update, you will see only the results from the new Inventory Tool for Custom Updates for that update.

To make it easier to find information from the different inventory tools SMS now supports, all existing Software Update reports have a new filter named Type in which you can select Custom Update for the Inventory Tool for Custom Updates. You will also see the type listed in some reports, such as the report named Software Updates for a specific computer that can help you identify when computers are running multiple security inventory tools that could now be consolidated with just the Inventory Tool for Custom Updates.

After you have created an advertisement to distribute updates using the Distribute Software Updates Wizard, you can run the report named All computers with a specific update advertisement state. This allows you to check the distribution status of the package and its installation state on the client (such as Failed, Postponed, Reboot pending, Retrying, Success).

Run Compliance by Bulletin ID and QNumber again to verify the updated compliance, or run the report named Compliance by product, which groups updates into categories such as Windows XP family. You should check for compliance with these reports after clients have rerun the inventory tool with a newly synchronized catalog and reported back their hardware inventory.

You can also use the SMS status system to view the status of advertised programs, including software updates. Because status messages apply to individual events, it can be difficult to assess the software distribution status of many computers at once. However, some administrators might want to use the SMS status system to monitor small-scale software update deployments.

To view software updates status for a computer using SMS reports

1. In the SMS Administrator console, navigate to the Reports node:

     Systems Management Server

     └ Site Database <sitecode - sitename>

       └ Reporting

         └ Reports

2. In the details pane, click the Software updates for a specific computer report, click the Action menu item, point to All Tasks, point to Run, and click the name of the server.

3. In the Computer Name box, type the name of the client computer or select from the Values dialog box, and then click Display to view the resulting report.

4. After reviewing the available and installed updates for the client computer, close the SMS Reports window and then close the View SMS Reports window.

5. In the details pane, click Compliance by Bulletin ID and QNumber, and on the Action menu, point to All Tasks, point to Run, and click server name.

6. Click Values to the right of the CollectionID box, and then click Custom Updates Tool.

7. Click Values to the right of the Bulletin-ID box, and then click the update title you want to view.

8. Click Values to the right of the QNumber box, and then click the update title you want to view.

9. In the View SMS Reports window, click Display to view the resulting report. It will display the number of computers updated by SMS or independently for the update, the total number of computers that are in compliance and the total number of computers that don’t need the update, and the number of computers that are out of compliance.

10. After reviewing the information, close the SMS Report window and then close the View SMS Reports window.

To view software updates status information using status messages

1. In the SMS Administrator console, navigate to the software updates advertisement under the Advertisement Status node:

     Systems Management Server

     └ Site Database <sitecode - sitename>

       └ System Status

         └ Advertisement Status

           └ <Software Update Advertisement>

2. In the details pane, click the site you want to view status for, click the Action menu item, point to Show Messages, and click All.

   Using the SMS Status Message Viewer for <sitecode> <sitename>, the following status messages are typically displayed for an advertisement:

   • 10002 (advertisement received)
     
     
   • 10005 (program started)
     
     
   • 10009 (program completed by MIF)
     
     
   • 11270 (reboot is required)
     
     
   • 11266 (the Software Updates Installation Agent completed the installation and suppressed the required reboot)
     
     
   • 11267 (the Software Updates Installation Agent completed the installation and suppressed the required reboot for servers)
     
     
   • 11268 (the Software Updates Installation Agent completed the installation and no restart was required)
     
     
   • 11255 (the Software Updates Installation Agent returned the results of 1 authorized, 1 attempted, and 0 failed)
     
     

3. Close the SMS Status Message Viewer for <sitecode> <sitename>.

Other Resources

Using the Inventory Tool for Custom Updates