Remotely view installed updates exactly as in Programs and Features

PowerShell Help
1

Hello All,

I am struck finding a way to list the installed updates remotely in the same ways as that of Programs and Features. Can someone please guide me which commands can be used ?

2

What exactly do you mean with:

What have you tried so far? Get-Hotfix lists the installed Windows updates from remote computers as well.

3

I just went through scripting this. Not 100% like Programs and features/View installed updates, but pretty close. Here is the function I wrote for that. Perhaps the guru’s on this site can suggest improvements. This might at least get you started.

Function Get-PatchList {
<#

	This function will grab the patches from the registry in an attempt to report the same information as "View Installed Updates"
	from Control Panel/Programs and Features.

#>

	param(
		[String] $hostToCheck
	)

	$aryUpdates = @()

	$PatchRegPath = 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\*\Products\*\Patches\*'

	# Figure out remote or local and connect to the registry accordingly

	if(!($hostToCheck -Match $ENV:ComputerName)) {
		try {
			$Updates = Invoke-Command -ComputerName $hostToCheck -ScriptBlock {Get-ItemProperty -Path $Using:PatchRegPath}
		}
		catch {
			Return $_.Exception.Message
		}
	}
	else {
		try {
			$Updates = Get-ItemProperty -Path $PatchRegPath
		}
		catch {
			Return $_.Exception.Message
		}
	}

	$Updates | foreach-Object {
   		$UpdateInfo = [PSCustomObject][Ordered] @{
   			'Patch/Update Name' = $_.DisplayName
   			'Install Date'		= $_.Installed.SubString(0,4)+'-'+$_.Installed.SubString(4,2)+'-'+$_.Installed.SubString(6,2)
   			'Uninstallable'    	= $_.Uninstallable
   		}
   		$aryUpdates += $UpdateInfo
	}

	$aryUpdates = $aryUpdates | Sort-Object -Property 'Patch/Update Name' -Unique | Sort-Object -Property 'Install Date' -Descending

	Return $aryUpdates
}