My company has approximately 15 servers each running Windows Server 2003 that serve a variety of functions. I want to find a way to manage updates and patches for all of the servers from a central point, where all are downloaded only once and deployment is handled according to our schedule. However, given the nature of these servers, updates cannot automatically reboot the machines at any time, even in the middle of the night, unless we are aware of it in advance. I have looked at the Windows SUS for deployment, but it seems like while it gives you control over the selection of updates and the time when they are deployed, updates are still going to be installed automatically and those that require a reboot will cause it to happen, though it looks as though you can delay the reboot for a preset period of time. What I would really prefer is not to have updates auto-deployed at all. I would like to have our update server check for and download updates on a regular basis, but then for us to manually log into it periodically, choose the updates we want deployed, and push them out to the other machines on the network at the time of our choosing. Is there a way I am missing to have SUS do things in this manner? Or is there another tool, either built-in to Server 2003 or available separately, to accomplish what I want? Thanks in advance for all assistance! - Tom

Yes, you need to get the new WSUS 3.0.exe. It will let you choose and test updates before deployment to your machines. As far as stopping the updates from rebooting the system,you configure a gpo to stop the force restart after update. * Click Start, Run and enter the command gpedit.msc * Select Local Computer Policy, Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Windows Update * Double-click Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations * Change the value to 1440 * Close the Group Policy Editor * Click Start, Run and enter the command gpupdate /force