powershell windows update

This has always bugged me. Linux, for all its faults has commands to check for updates. Even OS X has its own thing. But powershell is a very mature product and doesn’t have this basic functionality. I know there is a third party module, which is half broken.
Another basic command that is missing is du. Yes, you can pipe a bunch of commands together, but this isn’t the same thing.
Also let’s not forget the lack of built in command line editing.

Is there a question, or are you just venting?

Windows updates are still problematic, sure. Your issue about du is kind of backwards though. UNIX didn’t always have a ‘du’ command. Someone wrote it, it was awesome, it got included in the base install. Check out: http://poshcode.org/721 for an example of what’s possible with powershell when you think about it that way.

Also, install vim if you want command line editing.

“Windows updates are still problematic, sure.”
They are, but this is a separate issue. I am talking about a command line tool to do updates. Just like you have softwareupdate in OS X or can check them with sconfig.cmd.

“UNIX didn’t always have a ‘du’ command. Someone wrote it, it was awesome, it got included in the base install. Check out: http://poshcode.org/721 for an example of what’s possible with powershell when you think about it that way.”
It was included in Version 1 AT&T UNIX. That’s beside the point. The original Unix didn’t even have more, grep or echo. I was quite aware of numerous chained commands that could have the same functionality as du. actually there’s even a du.exe from sysinternals.
Unless powershell purports to be some super-minimalist environment, basic things like du and checking for windows updates should be built in cmdlets.

“Also, install vim if you want command line editing.”
I don’t follow, because I don’t know much about vim. We are talking about doing things like yank/kill while you are typing the command. AFAIK, you can’t just bust out vim in the middle of typing the command. I had something like this in mind. GitHub - PowerShell/PSReadLine: A bash inspired readline implementation for PowerShell

Regardless, Windows Updates are painful to handle right now. WSUS is pretty useless and when you have 200+ (eventually looking at over 400) servers which each run a 24hr control room that CANNOT be taken offline without notice… A script is really the only option.

And in addition to providing no innate support for updates, they’ve actually blocked use of the COM updater objects when working remotely. Guess they aren’t so confident in the security of PowerShell after all.

Do MS still take suggestions from this site? Windows Updates need to be your next project! For such a large part of an OS that relies on constantly patching security flaws there is a disappointing lack of management options.

Microsoft does not take suggestions from this site, no. We’re an independent group of volunteers here to help answer questions about PowerShell. Suggestions to Microsoft are best accomplished through Connect.Microsoft.com.

Because this is a Q&A forum, I’m going to close this thread for now, as I haven’t seen a question yet. If you’d just like to have a discussion, this is probably not the best venue for it. You’re welcome to author an article for us, stating your viewpoint and allowing reader comments! Contact Webmaster@ if you’d like to do so.