How to open WSUS console?

Question

I've just found out I've inherited a pair of WSUS servers - I don't know much about them. The person who looked after them was made redundant so there's no one to ask.

I have some non-prod servers that should be patched by these WSUS servers - there is a GPO to push out the settings and it's applied to the servers.

The servers that should be patched say they are up to date but they are not.

I've logged onto the servers with an account in local Administrators. It looks like someone has done an in-place upgrade from Server 2012 to Server 2019.

When I try to open the Windows Server Update Services console I get a window titled 'Complete WSUS Installation' which says 'The locally hosted WSUS Server requires additional steps in order to complete the installation. WSUS post-installation process can run those steps for you. Would you like to run it now?'

There is an empty check-box with 'Store updates locally' and a greyed-out box called 'Content directory path'. I have two options: Run and Close.

If I click Close, it says 'You will not be able to connect to the locally hosted WSUS server if you skip this step. Do you really want to close it?'

The server has an additional drive, D, which has a single folder WSUS containing two more folders: UpdateServicesPackages and WsusContent. UpdateServicesPackages is empty. WsusContent contaais 256 folders 0A to FF and a file: anonymousCheckFile.txt.

The WSUS folder occupies just over 41 GB.

What do I do?

If I were tasked with a clean build, I would just go and read the manuals but they're rarely helpful in situations like this. It feels like this might be a red herring but I don't have the experience to know. Can anyone help?

Answer 1

Complete the required steps as indicated from my guide under (Caveats with WSUS:)

https://www.ajtek.ca/wsus/another-successful-in-place-upgrade-why-not-change-how-you-think/

After reading that, perform the post install tasks from step 4 of the installation.

https://www.ajtek.ca/wsus/how-to-remove-wsus-completely-and-reinstall-it/

Specify the D:\WSUS

"C:\Program Files\Update Services\Tools\wsusutil.exe" postinstall CONTENT_DIR=D:\WSUS

That should get you working. Then I'd recommend reviewing your setup and see if it's appropriate.

Some other great reading - I'd recommend reading through all 8 parts as they teach you the best and easiest way to get your setup working efficiently.

https://www.ajtek.ca/wsus/how-to-setup-manage-and-maintain-wsus-part-1-choosing-your-server-os/