The software updates feature in Configuration Manager 2007 provides the ability to identify whether the software updates that are scanned for are installed or required on client computers. There are several ways to determine what software updates need to be installed. The reports in the Software Updates - A. Compliance category provide the best interface for finding the software updates that are required on client computers. You can also use the Software Updates home page, the Update Repository console tree node, or Web reports. Use the following procedures as a guide to help you identify when software updates are required on clients in the Configuration Manager hierarchy.

Software Updates Reports

Compliance information can be retrieved by running reports within the Software Updates - A. Compliance category. The reports provide useful information about the compliance of software updates. Use the following procedure to display a list of software updates with associated compliance state.

To use Web reports to identify required software updates

  1. In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to System Center Configuration Manager / Site Database / Computer Management / Reporting / Reports.

  2. A list of all the reports will be displayed in the results pane. Right-click Compliance 5 - Updates by vendor/month/year, and then click Run. Specify the Collection ID, Vendor, and Year. To filter the list of updates, also specify Update Class, Product, and Month. Click Display.

    The software updates that meet the criteria are displayed. Many columns present information about each software update. The Required column identifies the number of client computers that require a software update. The report also lists the software updates that have been deployed by listing an asterisk (*) in the Approved column. For more information about the software update, you can click the Information URL link to open a Web site with specific information about the selected software update. The Web site provides information about the issue that the software update resolves.

  3. Click the drill-down link in the first column for any software update to open the Compliance 7 - Specific software update states report that displays a count of computers in each compliance state.

Software Updates Home Page

The Software Updates home page allows you to find software updates for a specific vendor, during a specific month and year, and for a specific update classification. The following procedure provides the steps to determine what software updates are required using the Software Updates home page.

To use the Software Updates home page to identify software updates for deployment

  1. In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to System Center Configuration Manager / Site Database / Computer Management / Software Updates.

  2. The software updates are displayed in the Software Update Compliance Status Summary pane based on the article ID of the update. By default, the software updates from the month when software updates were last synchronized will be displayed. You can modify the criteria and then click Go to update the display. You can determine what software updates are required on client computers, and how many computers need the updates, by reviewing the Required column. Highlight multiple software updates to display the overall compliance level in a graph. The software updates displayed in the results pane can be downloaded, added to an update list, or deployed by selecting the associated action.

    For more information about the software update, you can click the article ID for the software update to open a Web site with specific information about the selected software update. The Web site provides information about the vulnerability if the software update is not installed, the maximum severity rating, recommendations, affected software, affected components, and so forth. For more information, see Software Updates Home Page.

Update Repository

The Update Repository node in the Configuration Manager 2007 console tree organizes software updates by update classification and then by product. You can browse for software updates by classification, vendor, or product, or you can create a search folder to find the updates that should be deployed. The following procedure provides the steps to find software updates in the Updates Repository console tree node.

To use the Updates Repository node to display software updates

  1. In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to System Center Configuration Manager / Site Database / Computer Management / Software Updates / Update Repository.

  2. Expand the desired classification. All software updates are displayed for the classification by clicking All Updates, you can expand a vendor node and get all updates for the vendor within the classification, or you can click a product node to get the updates within the classification for a specific product by a vendor.

    The software updates are displayed by article ID. You can determine what software updates are required on client computers, and how many computers need the updates, by reviewing the Required column. Click any column header to sort the data. For example, click the Required column header to sort by the software updates that are required by the most client computers. The software updates displayed in the results pane can be downloaded, added to an update list, or deployed by selecting the associated action. For more information, see Update Repository Home Page.

Software Updates Search Folders

You can create search folders that specify a set of criteria to help you find software updates that are required on client computers. For example, you could create a search folder that displays only required software updates that were released in the previous month. Using search folders is part of the recommended software updates workflow. For example, you can create a search folder with specific criteria to display a set of software updates, add the set of updates to an update list, use software updates reports to display compliance information for the update list, and create a deployment using the update list. For more information, see How to Configure Search Folders for Software Updates.

The following procedure provides the steps to use search folders to find the software updates that are required on client computers.

To use the search folders to display software updates

  1. In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to System Center Configuration Manager / Site Database / Computer Management / Software Updates / Update Repository / Search Folders.

  2. Right-click Search Folders, and then click New Search Folder.

  3. Specify one or more object properties for the search criteria.

  4. Specify the search criteria for the object property by clicking the underlined property in the Step 2: Edit the property's search criteria window.

  5. Click Search all folders under this feature.

  6. Specify the name of the search folder, and then click OK.

  7. Expand the Search Folders console tree node, and then click the search folder that you just created.

    The software updates are displayed by article ID based on the criteria that was specified for the search folder. You can determine what software updates are required on client computers, and how many computers need the updates, by reviewing the Required column. Click any column header to sort the data. For example, click the Required column header to sort by the software updates that are required by the most client computers. The software updates displayed in the results pane can be downloaded, added to an update list, or deployed by selecting the associated action. For more information, see Update Repository Home Page.

Software Updates Supersedence

Supersedence is when a new software update contains the same fixes that were in a previously released software update. It is recommended that the software update that supersedes another update be deployed to avoid installing outdated software updates on client computers. Superseded software updates are identified in the Configuration Manager console by an icon that contains a yellow arrow. You can highlight a software update in the Configuration Manager console and click the Supersedence Information tab to display updates that the highlighted update supersedes and the updates that supersede the highlighted update. For more information, see "Software Updates Supersedence" in About Software Updates Metadata.

See Also