| Create DVD with all Windows & Office Updates | Viewing Page 1 -- Go To |
Create DVD with all Windows & Office Updates
Do you install a lot of Windows operating systems? If you do, then you might have already created a modified Windows disc with nLite or vLite to install as many of the latest Windows Updates as possible on installation. However, what about computers you repair? Have you ever had to sit and wait through WIndows Update downloading hundreds of megabytes of updates, and then taking its time to install them? If this is common for you, as was once for me, then the Offline Update Utility is for you. This guide shows how to use the Offline Update utility to download all the updates from Microsoft for Windows Operating Systems (2000 -> Server 2008) and conveniently all the updates for Microsoft Office (2000, XP, 2003, 2007). When you insert this disc into a computer, it will give you a list of what updates need to be installed, and then the program can do the installing too.| Follow the Guide Author on Twitter: jamesdela@twitter |
Introduction & Requirements
 | Software you must download and install |
 | Offline Update Utility |
| Required: You must download the Offline Update utility. Get the latest version. Click on the version number in the left column to download. Download! | |
 | ImgBurn |
| Required: Once Offline Update Utility is finished with ISO creation, you can use ImgBurn to burn it. It is also completely free. Download! |
You might also want to install WinRAR to handle the ZIP file you download containing the Offline Update utility, although Windows XP and up open ZIP files as normal folders, however the example in this guide is shown open in WinRAR. Run the installer for ImgBurn on your computer before continuing also.
Download Offline Update Utility
Download the Offline Update Utility and then open it. It is a ZIP file, so if you have WinRAR installed as suggested, you will see something like the image above. It contains a folder called "ctupdate". You need to drag this folder out and place it somewhere on your hard drive to extract the program from the ZIP file.
If you have not got WinRAR installed, when you open the download it will open as any normal folder. Therefore, move the "ctupdate" folder in the same way as you would move any folder - just drag and drop it to where you want. You can place it in the C: if you wish, or put it on the Desktop, it really doesn't matter.
Offline Update Utility - First Run
Ok, so there is a lot of detail to absorb when you first look at it. In reality however, it simply could not be any more straightforward than it actually is. As you can see, you have the option to get updates for Windows 2000, Windows XP (or 64-bit edition), Windows Server 2003 (or 64-bit edition), Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. As you can see you can also select what language you would like your updates to appear in.
Let's now enter our settings.
Select Operating System Updates
So above I use Windows XP as an example. I am creating a disc for a 32-bit Windows XP installation, so I have chosen that. The language I want my updates in is English. Selecting more than one language will result in more than one ISO, which means for each language you will have to burn a separate disc.
For Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, you don't have to select a language because the updates are multilingual, the only thing you will have to choose is whether you want the normal "Global (multilingual updates)" or "x64 Global (multilingual updates)" - so for with Vista or Server 2008, you only have to choose between 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the operating system. The vast majority of computers have 32-bit operating systems installed on them.
Look now at the Options that are available for additional updates. Exclude Service Packs, if set, will exclude full service packs from the disc. Service packs are generally very large (316MB for Windows XP SP3) and so if you include the service packs it will inflate the size of the ISO. If the size is more than 700MB, you will need a DVD instead of a regular CD - usually not a problem these days. The whole process will generally take longer if you choose to include the service packs, but I do not recommend excluding them as it defeats the purpose in many ways.
Include .NET Framework 3.5 SP1, if selected, will do exactly as it says. It can't hurt to include on the disc in my opinion, but this is up to you. Clean up download directories, if selected, will delete the raw download files after ISO creation (or USB creation). Verify downloaded updates, if selected, will verify each download is OK before it finishes and creates an ISO.
Now for the Create ISO Image settings. You have two choices: "per selected product and language" or "per selected language, 'x86-/x64-cross-product'". This is pretty straight forward. My advice depends on what operating system you are creating the disc for. If Windows XP, then choose the first option. If for Windows Vista, or Server 2008, you might benefit from the second option if you want to select both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of updates to download - note that this bloat the downloading and the size of the resulting ISO file, so, as suggested on the program, you will need a blank DVD to burn, as opposed to a CD.
Notice you also have the option to load all of this onto a USB stick. You should probably use a 2GB or larger stick if that is what you intend to do, but this guide is about creating a disc. Another thing to note is that you can change Proxy settings if you need to, or WSUS, which both will take a URL.
Select Office Suite Updates
If you also want to include updates for installations of Microsoft Office, you can do that here too. In the example above, I have chosen Office 2003. Simply select what language you would like to get the updates in and that is it, there are no additional settings for Office Updates.
Update Downloads & Verification
Depending on what settings you have chosen, this process might take a long time to complete, since you are downloading all of the updates for the Windows Operating System, or Microsoft Office Suite. Then, if you selected to Verify, that will also add on more time. So don't sit around and wait for this to finish. Your Internet Access speed will also determine a lot about how long this process will take.
ISO Creation
ISO creation will commence when all the downloads have finished and been verified (if you selected that option). The ISO will be created and saved into the "ISO" folder inside the "ctupdate" folder. It will be named either by product or language - or both - my filename for example is "wsusoffline-wxp-enu.iso", and it is 991MB in size. A second ISO for Microsoft Office 2003, is named "wsusoffline-o2k3-enu.iso" and is 491MB in size. When you have your ISO(s), it is now time to burn. Fire up ImgBurn and head to Page 2.
Burn Disc - Move to Page 2On the next page, we take a look at using ImgBurn to burn the ISO that was created by the Offline Update utility. If the ISO is over 700MB in size, then you will need a blank DVD. If under, you can get away with a blank CD. We also look at using the disc once the process is completedPage 2 - Burn ISO to DVD with ImgBurn, Use Disc |
| Create DVD with all Windows & Office Updates | Viewing Page 1 -- Go To |
Written by: James Delahunty
