Servicing Stacks
Last updated
Last updated
Before you jump in and start updating your Operating Systems offline, you need to understand why Servicing Stacks are important.
You can google or bing this question and find many different answers, but there are many different answers depending on who or why you ask. But for the purpose of my audience, the question probably relates to applying a Windows Update Package (Cumulative Update) to a Windows Image (Offline). So now the simple answer.
The Servicing Stack tells the Operating System (Online or Offline) how to process a Windows Update (Package)
Think of it as two people that speaking different languages. Neither person will understand each other, unless they speak the same language. In other words, an Operating System doesn't understand how to apply the Update Package properly because they are speaking different languages.
Servicing Stacks updates are released as a Critical Update, but can be included in Cumulative Updates
Yes, but you probably didn't notice. You need to look at the Windows 10 Update History
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4099479
Look at the How to get this update section of any Cumulative Update and you will probably see a mention of the SSU
In the case of Windows 10 1607 the June 12, 2018—KB4284880 (OS Build 14393.2312) release has some different verbiage
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4284880
Keep in mind this page is static, so you will have to check for updates monthly before updating your Windows Images
For starters, SSU = Servicing Stack Update
In this example, I will use OSMedia and run the following in PowerShell ISE
This allows me to make an unmodified copy of Windows 10 1607 (2016-11) from my OSMedia Library and to mount the Windows Image. The installed Windows Packages are displayed.
From the screenshot above, I can see the Windows Update Packages that are installed, nothing new
KB3194623 - Compatibility update for upgrading to and recovering Windows 10 Version 1607: October 27, 2016
KB3199986 - Servicing stack update for Windows 10 Version 1607 and Windows Server 2016: October 27, 2016
KB3202790 - MS16-141: Security update for Adobe Flash Player: November 8, 2016
KB3200970 - November 8, 2016 — KB3200970 (OS Build 14393.447)
The next step is to try to install the 2018-06 Cumulative Update using the following PowerShell commands
The first thing that seems out of place is that the update happened quick. If you are processing the updates in a script, and not babysitting the process, you will miss the fact that something doesn't seem right.
So what happened? According to the Log (53 KB) the Cumulative Update was looking for a Parent Package KB4132216, which if you check the Current Downloads above, you will see this KB is a Servicing Stack update. Because the Parent Package was not installed on the system, this Update is not applicable and was not installed. Since this Update is not applicable to this system, there is no error, no failure, which is what should happen if an Update is not applicable.
So instead of using PowerShell Add-WindowsPackage, I will try to use DISM instead. From the image below, it seems that everything worked fine, although it took less than a minute to run, but I did get a 100%, and the operation completed successfully. When checking the Log, same result as PowerShell, the Cumulative Update did not install.
After installing KB4132216 Servicing Stack Update for Windows 10 1607, the Add-Package log is a nice 62MB! When reviewing the log, I see that the Parent Package is checked first. Since the Parent Package (SSU) KB4132216 is installed first, the Cumulative Update is now installed properly.
It is possible to determine the Parent Package Servicing Stack. Expanding the Cumulative Update MSU in 7zip will result in a directory of a few CAB files. The largest file can then be extracted again in 7zip. The update.mum will detail the Parent KB that is required for the update to be installed.
Since my Windows 10 1607 build was from 2016-11, I could have applied every Cumulative Update that has been released, in order. This would have kept me from having issues with the Servicing Stack, as the necessary one would have always been installed in the previous Cumulative Update, but this would take a considerable amount of time just to test, and the resulting size of the WIM may be more than we would consider pushing out.
Apply the Servicing Stack first, otherwise your Cumulative Update may look like it installed, but it more than likely did not
Verify the Cumulative Update installed by using Get-WindowsPackage
Verify the Cumulative Update installed by reviewing the DISM Log
I am working on adding Servicing Stacks to OSMedia in a future release . . .
