Get better control over Windows Updates with Get WSUS Content .NET

Martin Brinkmann
Dec 4, 2021
Updated • Dec 7, 2021
Windows Updates
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10

Get WSUS Content .NET (site is only in German) is a free program for Windows that helps administrators gain more control over the updating process. It enables you to search for Windows updates, driver updates and other product updates that Microsoft provides for various client and server versions of Windows, to download these to the local system, and to install the downloaded update packages without requiring an Internet connection or using the Windows Update interface.

get wsus content

Get WSUS Content .Net uses the Microsoft Update Agent for its functionality. The application is quite powerful, as it is not limited to downloading updates for the installed operating system, installed products or devices of the local system; it can also be used to scan devices in the network to download updates for these devices.

One caveat of Get WSUS Content .NET is that it can't be used to download updates for products or operating systems that are not accessible locally or over the network.

GET WSUS Content .NET can be run as a portable program or it can be installed. You can switch the interface language -- the default is English -- on the first start of the program.

An option to include updates for old versions of Windows, Windows 2000, Windows Server 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, can be checked on the first run wizard. There is also an option to set a path to the components for these older versions of Windows and to enable the use of a proxy server.

The next screen of the initial configuration lists the supported operating systems. Some or all products may be selected for use. All major client and server versions of Windows, including Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022, but also older systems such as Windows 7, Windows Server 2019 or Windows 10 are supported.

Usage afterwards is not complicated, once you grasp the main concept. The left sidebar displays available options, divided into Windows Update Agent and WSUS entry points. WSUS is for systems with WSUS access, Windows Update Agent for systems without.

The Windows Update Agent section is divided into "update search", "update archive", "create update package", integrate updates", "information system", and "more tools" options.

Update Search includes options to exclude updates, download them, hide them or unhide them. The exclude updates option scans the computer or network devices for installed updates and excluded updates; installed updates can be moved to the exclusions listing or vice versa. Administrators may want to exclude updates that are causing issues on a device, or they may block updates from being installed that include undesirable features such as additional Telemetry collecting.

Relevant updates for a device, network computer or remote computer may be downloaded using the download updates option. The program scans the system for installed updates and retrieves all available updates using the Windows Update Agent. Scanning may take a while depending on the task at hand.

A PDF help file which explains all functionality in detail in German is included in the program archive.

The program includes a number of extra features and options, from restarting the update service to performing clean-ups or creating repots for local or network computers.

Closing Words

Get WSUS Content .NET is a useful tool for Windows system administrators who manage one or multiple systems running Windows. The functionality that it offers is impressive. One downside to using the program is that the scanning takes a long time to complete, that was the case on the test systems I ran it on at least.

WSUS Offline Update may be an alternative, even though it has not been updated since 2020.

Now You: how do you manage Windows Updates?

Summary
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3.5 based on 3 votes
Software Name
Get WSUS Content .NET
Operating System
Windows
Software Category
Administration
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Comments

  1. Peter Schirmer said on October 9, 2022 at 9:35 am
    Reply

    The new version 2.9.1.0. is available. It can be directly downloaded here: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AhaRVE1uEzdVgQkcXUjkKS9q0XcU?e=9rQAO6

    Changes:
    – NEW: Compatibility with Windows 11 Update 2022 / Windows Server 2022 Update 2022
    – NEW: Mass rejection of updates according to specific search criteria (WSUS)
    – NEW: Paths when extracting from WSUS server now contain the selected products / product groups / computer names (WSUS)
    – NEW: Update information from WSUS server has been extended with additional information

  2. Peter said on December 13, 2021 at 9:38 pm
    Reply

    You can download Get WSUS Content .NET directly from MajorGeeks:

    https://m.majorgeeks.com/files/details/get_wsus_content_net.html

  3. DirCompUser said on December 5, 2021 at 3:41 pm
    Reply

    Can’t see the download link; the landing page link is just to forums. v.2.9.0.0 isn’t on MajorGeeks and other mirrors yet.

  4. Peter said on December 5, 2021 at 7:41 am
    Reply

    Two comments to the article:

    1.) The handbook is in English available, go to “Help”. “Readme” opens a brief instruction of all functions. “Manual” opens the full english handbook including explanations to every single task and option.

    2.) Since release release 2.9 hybrid search is new. It combines online- and offline search. For the offline search the wsussn2.cab is downloaded (approx. 1,2 GB) and then the computer is scanned agains this file. This mode offers all updates, since Microsoft decided to put some into wsussn2.cab and make them not available in the online search. This mode can be selected via “Settings”, “Windows Update Agent”, “Online”.

    Changelog for version 2.9:
    – New: Support of Windows 10 21H1, Windows 11, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019 and Windows Server 2022
    – New: Setup.exe calls GWC.exe for setup
    – New: Inclusion of help in task tree
    – New: Create and manage favorites
    – New: Detection and selection of Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022 and Windows 11
    – New: Refresh detected products
    – New: Proportional adjustment of window height with a scaling factor
    – New: Hybrid search (online and then offline search) for all areas (search, download, cleanup, report)
    – New: Hybrid mode is now default and will be set automatically via update
    – New: WSUS: Determine entries by products (e.g. Windows 8 and Windows 8.1) and product groups (e.g. Windows and Visual Studio)
    – New: Complete manual in English language
    – Change: Setup has been extended by another step due to selection scaling (instead of two now three)
    – Change: When installing on server systems, the packages are no longer created in the Temp directoryd but under Appdata
    – Change: Disable automatic offline search when Windows 10 is detected
    – Change: Note text offline search adapted to whole Windows 10 (and no longer exclusively to Windows 10 1709)
    – Change: WSUS: Check if numeric or alphanumeric value was entered (KBNumber or UpdateID)

  5. Q said on December 5, 2021 at 1:04 am
    Reply

    It is important to mention that Get WSUS Content .NET depends on Microsoft .NET Framework.

  6. ULBoom said on December 4, 2021 at 8:20 pm
    Reply

    The update catalog, nothing between the update and the OS.

  7. clas said on December 4, 2021 at 4:21 pm
    Reply

    thanks martin, i used the site for several updates i was missing in a new install of win7Pro….worked perfectly. cant believe how smooth and quick and correct win7Pro is …forgotten how easy it was. seeing this article and having just used the site once again puts ghacks at top of my list….thanks.

  8. Anonymous said on December 4, 2021 at 3:44 pm
    Reply

    English site. Also Virus Total shows several file in zip as malicious.

  9. Tony Hod said on December 4, 2021 at 2:44 pm
    Reply

    Is there an English version of the site?

  10. EJ said on December 4, 2021 at 2:39 pm
    Reply

    Martin,

    There is a fork of WSUS Offline Update: https://gitlab.com/wsusoffline/wsusoffline, which is still active.
    Last update is of 21.10.2021: https://gitlab.com/wsusoffline/wsusoffline/-/releases

    Also see the message on the wsusoffline.net forum: https://forums.wsusoffline.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=10194

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