Registry key to connect Windows 2008 to WSUS

I wanted to share here the settings that will allow you to configure your new Windows 2008 R2 servers to use your custom Microsoft Software Update Services (WSUS) instead of the external Microsoft Windows Update Internet site.

There are actually two registry keys that are used when specifying a WSUS server.

Both of these keys are located under: 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\.

The first registry key is 'WUServer'. This registry key holds a string value which should be entered as the WSUS server URL (example: http://wsusserver).

The second registry key that you will have to add is also a string value named 'WUStatusServer'. This will tell your Windows 2008 box that it must report its status to your WSUS server.

The WUStatusServer key usually holds the exact same value as the WUServer key (example: http://wsusserver) because one WSUS server permorms both functions: updating an monitoring.

Adding these keys manually to one host at the time could be quite long and frustrating, so, if you are not willing to use a Group Policy (GPO), just copy the following registry file to a text file, rename it to wsus_windows_2008_config.reg, copy it to the server you want to link to your WSUS server and double click on it. This will have the two keys added to the registry of your server.

Once you have done this, restart your Windows 2008 server and then, once it comes up again, run 'wuauclt /detectnow'. Windows Update should then automatically start and check for updates.

Here's the content of wsus_windows_2008_config.reg:

1. Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00  
2.   
3. [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate]  
4. "WUServer"="http://wsusserver"  
5. "WUStatusServer"="http://wsusserver"  
6. "TargetGroupEnabled"=dword:00000001  
7. "TargetGroup"="Win_2008_Servers"  
8.   
9. [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU]  
10. "NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers"=dword:00000001  
11. "NoAutoUpdate"=dword:00000000  
12. "AUOptions"=dword:00000003  
13. "ScheduledInstallDay"=dword:00000000  
14. "ScheduledInstallTime"=dword:00000003  
15. "RescheduleWaitTimeEnabled"=dword:00000001  
16. "RescheduleWaitTime"=dword:00000002  
17. "UseWUServer"=dword:00000001  

I hope this will help you.