Fisher wrote:There may be other/better solutions, but that's what I know and it was pretty good back on the day.
dism.exe combined with
Microsoft Update Catalog to download the KBs. Both are official Microsoft tools/things, thus no third-party reliance. This is how I've maintained my own Windows 7 installation for several years now (for XP, I used the third-party tool
nLite, which was wonderful -- the W7+ compatible nLite is completely awful). I have a single script I maintain (not taken from the Internet),
slipstream.bat, that applies all the updates in a particular order (the order does matter). This also includes adding several drivers (good examples are USB 3.0 drivers, AHCI/SATA drivers, chipset INFs/drivers, and NIC drivers).
This methodology "might" work for Windows 10 (
documentation implies it), but the fact remains Microsoft really doesn't give a sh** what anyone thinks any more, end-users or businesses:
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https://www.computerworld.com/article/3 ... ating.html
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https://www.computerworld.com/article/3 ... ponds.html
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https://www.askwoody.com/2018/patch-lady-my-response/
If you care about this sort of thing, i.e. aren't sure whether or not to apply a KB,
askwoody.com (and his Twitter account
@woodyleonhard) is the best there is. In general, my patching methodology involves waiting up to 1-2 months before actually applying KBs due to Microsoft's recent-ish track record of adding telemetry or outright breaking things. It just so happens that's the same model that Woody tends to advocate.
I can't believe I'm saying this (esp. because I've met the guy twice -- did not particularly impress me, while Gates was actually super nice and highly technical), but I actually pine for the days of Steve Ballmer running the place. There was at least, under his rule (and Gates' rule), a semblance of understanding that for businesses alone, sane/proper updating and stable updates were important. With Nadella, I believe the motto is "we'll do whatever we want, you're our guinea pigs", even to businesses. It's the wild west with Nadella.
Anyway...
Apparently my double-entendre joke ("So Linux is the best version of Windows? 'k") flew over the heads of everyone. It was tongue-in-cheek, meaning it was half truth, half jest: I guess I'm the only one
aware of this (this is not for desktop, but it's their proposed OS for IoT-esque devices, and almost certainly going to be used in upcoming XBox products). Scared yet?
But really, the problem with Windows isn't the kernel (that seems to be getting better all the time), it's everything else that makes up Windows on the software side that makes it a Sad Panda. The part that's hard for all of us to stomach is that it doesn't have to be this way -- and we know that from 25 years of historical experience with Windows versions.
ReactOS has historically been a complete joke, but in the past year or two, has *massively* undergone positive changes and is becoming an actual, real contender. I follow it on occasion -- and don't tell anyone, but I secretly have my fingers crossed that it continues down this avenue because it just might be what I end up running someday.