New-Object -com 'Microsoft.Update.AutoUpdate' doesn't return object PS remoting

PowerShell Help
1

I’m trying to configure Windows Update Setting on a remote computer using:

$WUSettings = (New-Object -com 'Microsoft.Update.AutoUpdate').Settings
$WUSettings.NotificationLevel = 3 # Download Updates but let me choose whether to install them
$WUSettings.save()

which works just fine when logged in locally to the computer. For example, I can view the settings by:

(New-Object -com 'Microsoft.Update.AutoUpdate').Settings

and I get:

NotificationLevel         : 3
ReadOnly                  : False
Required                  : False
ScheduledInstallationDay  : 0
ScheduledInstallationTime : 3
IncludeRecommendedUpdates : False
NonAdministratorsElevated : True
FeaturedUpdatesEnabled    : False

The problem is the same exact code does not work when in a remote PowerShell session. Both source and target computers are Windows 2012 R2 server with PS 4 running.

When I try to run the same commands in a PS remote session I get:

[10.121.111.68]: PS C:\Users\Administrator\Documents> New-Object -com 'Microsoft.Update.AutoUpdate' -Verbose

Settings                             ServiceEnabled                            Results                                                        
--------                             --------------                             -------                                                        
                                                                                System.__ComObject

Nothing under ‘Settings’. Subsequently $WUSettings.save() fails since $WUSettings is now a null object and does not have the save() method.
I validated that the PS remote session is running under the local administrator account and is elevated:

[10.121.111.68]: PS C:\Users\Administrator\Documents>  $identity = [Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent()
 $principal = New-Object Security.Principal.WindowsPrincipal $identity
 $principal.IsInRole([Security.Principal.WindowsBuiltinRole]::Administrator)
True
[10.121.111.68]: PS C:\Users\Administrator\Documents>

Any ideas?

2

I’m suspect that it (IAutomaticUpdatesSettings), just as IUpdateInstaller, can’t be instantiated remotely

with IUpdateInstaller I solve it through task scheduler

3

Max - your suspicion is correct. You can’t instantiate The Update COM objects through a emoting session. The CIM classes introduced in Windows 10/2016 do work remotely but the COM objects on older versions of Windows don’t