NAME

Win32::WindowsUpdate - Access to Windows Update functions

DESCRIPTION

Provides the ability to see installed and available (not installed) Windows Updates as well as install them. It provides other features, such as the ability to disable/enable automatic reboot of the computer when users are logged on. Read the list of methods below to see the available features.

If a feature is missing, request it! File a "wishlist" bug on the CPAN bug tracker or shoot me an email (dusty#megagram#com).

If you test this, please let me know your results. It's not ready for production use, but any testing is greatly appreciated. It should work, but I haven't tested on enough systems to promise this.

EXAMPLE

use Win32::WindowsUpdate;
my $wu = Win32::WindowsUpdate->new;

die "Reboot first...\n" if $wu->rebootRequired;

$wu->setAutoRebootWhileLoggedOn(0); # don't auto reboot

my @updates;
foreach my $update ($wu->updates)
{
  next unless ($update->{Title} =~ m/Security Update.*Windows XP/i); # filter for something
  push(@updates, $update); # push it into the updates list
}

sleep 1 while ($wu->installerBusy); # if Windows Installer is busy
die "Reboot first...\n" if $wu->rebootRequired; # if whatever WI finished doing requires reboot
$wu->install(@updates); # install your selected updates
print "Installed updates want you to reboot...\n" if $wu->rebootRequired;

# .. or to blindly install all updates:

use Win32::WindowsUpdate;
my $wu = Win32::WindowsUpdate->new;
$wu->install($wu->updates);

METHODS

new

my $wu = Win32::WindowsUpdate->new;
my $wu = Win32::WindowsUpdate->new({online => 0});

Creates the WindowsUpdate object.

online: Defaults to 1. Check online for updates.

updates

my $updates = $wu->updates;
# .. or ..
my @updates = $wu->updates;

my $updatesHidden = $wu->updates({IsHidden => 1});

Returns a list of updates available for download and install.

IsInstalled: Returns installed (if true) or not installed (if false) updates. Defaults to 0.
IsHidden: Returns hidden (if true) or not hidden (if false) updates. Defaults to 0.

installed

my $installed = $wu->installed;
# .. or ..
my @installed = $wu->installed;

Returns a list of installed updates.

install

my @updates;
foreach my $update ($wu->updates)
{
  printf("Available Update: %s %s\n", $update->{UpdateId}, $update->{Title});
  next unless ($update->{Title} =~ m/Security Update.*Windows XP/i);
  printf("Want to install: %s\n", $update->{Title});

  push(@updates, $update->{UpdateId});
  # .. or .. (both ways will work)
  push(@updates, $update);
}
$wu->install(@updates);

# .. or ..

$wu->install($wu->updates); # if you want to install all updates

Install specified updates. Provide an array of either update (directly from $wu->updates) or updateId. See example above for usage.

rebootRequired

my $needToReboot = $wu->rebootRequired();

Returns bool. True if reboot is required, false otherwise.

This doesn't necessarily mean any installs will fail, but there is something pending a reboot. Your install might fail, though. Keep this in mind.

You should check this before and after you run install. If it's true before you install, you may want to reboot before you install. If it's true after you install, you'll want to reboot sometime.

installerBusy

my $installerIsBusy = $wu->installerBusy();

Returns bool. True if Windows Installer is busy, false otherwise.

If the installer is busy, you probably won't have any success at running install. You could just sit in a loop waiting for it to no longer be busy, but you'd want to check rebootRequired immediately before you run install to be sure you won't want to reboot first.

setAutomaticUpdates

Set the Automatic Updates setting.

disable (or 1): Disable Automatic Updates altogether. Any updates will need to performed manually (using this module, via Windows Updates, or your other methods)
notifyonly (or 2): Notify of new updates, but don't download or install them.
notifydownload (or 3): Download new updates automatically, but don't install them. The user will be notified that updates are pending and will have the ability to choose which updates to install.
automatic (or 4): Download and install updates automatically. The user will only be notified that they need to reboot after updates are completed (if reboot is needed). Windows might automatically reboot itself after some period of time to "be helpful".

setAutoRebootWhileLoggedOn

$wu->setAutoRebootWhileLoggedOn(1); # enable (auto reboot, Windows default behavior)
$wu->setAutoRebootWhileLoggedOn(0); # disable (no auto reboot)

Enable or disable the automatic reboot "feature". If there is a pending reboot, it won't take effect until after the reboot. Will still nag for a reboot, but the reboot won't be automatic after a period of time. If the logged on user doesn't have reboot privilege, the nag will still appear, but it won't do anything except nag. Without this setting, Windows will reboot automatically after the nag screen has been ignored for five minutes... and for non-admins, they can't prevent the reboot. This option (if set to 0) will prevent this behavior. Defaults to 0 if you don't specify a value.

See also http://blogs.msdn.com/tim_rains/archive/2004/11/15/257877.aspx

setRebootNag (noop)

NOOP. Incomplete as I find a reasonable way to do this, preferably without requiring a reboot. Needs to reliably support Win2k and newer, including Pro, Home, and Server versions. Ideas or patches? Let me know.

See also http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000294.html

TODO

Provide ability to install specific updates.
Provide ability to hide and unhide specific updates.
Provide ability to uninstall updates (maybe?).
Provide ability to do background install with ability to check on status.
Provide ability to only download updates, not install them.
Provide ability to disable/enable "Please reboot..." nag messages after update install. (see setRebootNag above)
Determine other necessary features. (email me with your requests: dusty#megagram#com or use the CPAN bug tracker)

BUGS/WISHLIST

REPORT BUGS! Report any bugs to the CPAN bug tracker or email me dusty#megagram#com.

To wishlist something, use the CPAN bug tracker (set as wishlist) or email me. I'd be happy to implement useful functionality in this module on request. I'd also be happy to accept patches.

COPYRIGHT/LICENSE

Perl Artistic License

Read it at http://dev.perl.org/licenses/artistic.html. This is the license we prefer.

GNU General Public License (GPL) Version 2

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program.  If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/

See the full license at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

GNU General Public License (GPL) Version 3

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program.  If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/