Microsoft Investigates Recent Windows Update Push Issues
We were recently reporting that with the June 2009 Patch Tuesday, some updates were pushed to Windows users regardless of the fact that they had selected the option to be informed about available updates and thus had to approve any and all updates before being downloaded and installed. It seems that the issue has not gone unnoticed by the Redmond-based software developer and the Windows Update Product Team in particular.
“There have been some recent questions about how users are notified about updates and comments that sometimes customers aren’t being notified that updates are available when they shut down their computer. We are investigating the reports and trying to clarify with the community exactly what people are experiencing. Please call Microsoft Support if updates are installed when you shut down your computer and the shutdown button did not inform you that updates would be installed,” explained the Microsoft Update Product Team.
The update options for Windows XP and Windows Vista are similar, with a few differences to the wording. For XP you have the following options:
1. Automatic - automatically download recommended updates for my computer and install them.
2. Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them.
3. Notify me but don’t automatically download or install them.
4. Turn off Automatic Updates.
And for Vista you have the following:
1. Install updates automatically
2. Download updates but let me choose whether to install them.
3. Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them.
4. Never check for updates.
The problem spawned when users that made sure to select option 2 or 3 found their Windows OS installed updates without prompting them first – this happened when the user turned off or restarted the PC. At the time it was believed that the June Patch Tuesday, because it contained a very large number of fixes, had somehow overwhelmed Microsoft’s download servers and this server overload caused some downloads to be incomplete. This scenario has not been confirmed by the Windows Update and Product Team, meaning that for the time being we will continue to be in the dark why this forced-install behavior occurred.
“There have been some recent questions about how users are notified about updates and comments that sometimes customers aren’t being notified that updates are available when they shut down their computer. We are investigating the reports and trying to clarify with the community exactly what people are experiencing. Please call Microsoft Support if updates are installed when you shut down your computer and the shutdown button did not inform you that updates would be installed,” explained the Microsoft Update Product Team.
The update options for Windows XP and Windows Vista are similar, with a few differences to the wording. For XP you have the following options:
1. Automatic - automatically download recommended updates for my computer and install them.
2. Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them.
3. Notify me but don’t automatically download or install them.
4. Turn off Automatic Updates.
And for Vista you have the following:
1. Install updates automatically
2. Download updates but let me choose whether to install them.
3. Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them.
4. Never check for updates.
The problem spawned when users that made sure to select option 2 or 3 found their Windows OS installed updates without prompting them first – this happened when the user turned off or restarted the PC. At the time it was believed that the June Patch Tuesday, because it contained a very large number of fixes, had somehow overwhelmed Microsoft’s download servers and this server overload caused some downloads to be incomplete. This scenario has not been confirmed by the Windows Update and Product Team, meaning that for the time being we will continue to be in the dark why this forced-install behavior occurred.
