Jump to content

Download Updates From Microsoft’s Update Catalog Without IE


vissha

Recommended Posts

Download Updates From Microsoft’s Update Catalog Without IE

 

The following guide provides you with information on how to download updates from Microsoft's Update Catalog service without using Internet Explorer.

 

Microsoft made several changes to updates and how updates are delivered when it released windows 10.

 

The company started to publish cumulative updates for Windows 10 for instance, and announced recently that it would do so for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 as well.

 

This did not sit well with many of our readers, and so did not the change from releasing all important patches via Windows Update or Microsoft Download Center, to making some available exclusively on the Microsoft Update Catalog.

 

Apart from making it more confusing and time consuming for users of Windows to get all updates, it meant that users have to use Internet Explorer to access the site as it uses ActiveX technology that only IE supports.

 

Microsoft promised to update the Update Catalog website technology to remove the limitation and make it accessible to all browsers. As it stands however, it is IE or access denied.

 

microsoft-update-catalog.jpg

 

Woody over at Infoworld reports that there is a way to grab the downloads using any browser right now. This method works, and means that you won't have to wait until Microsoft updates the site itself to use if it you don't want to, can't or prefer not to use Internet Explorer.

 

It all comes down to using the site's RSS feed to grab the download links of the updates. The basic RSS feed URL is http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/Rss.aspx?q and all you need to do is add the KB number at the end.

 

If you wanted to grab KB3187022, a patch that is coincidentally only available on Microsoft's Update Catalog and not Windows Update, you'd use the following URL:

 

http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/Rss.aspx?q=KB3187022

 

This loads an RSS feed for that KB article. All that is left to do is pick the right result from  the list of options.

 

microsoft-update-catalog-links.jpg

 

Look at the title tag first, as it lists the supported operating system. You may search the feed with a tap on F3; enter the operating system, e.g. Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 to jump to the first result.

 

Locate the link tag afterwards and copy & paste it to open the download page. There you may click on the "download now" button to start the download right away, or access information about the update before you do so.

 

download-windows-updates.jpg

 

Download now displays one or multiple download links. This depends whether the patch is an "all languages" patch, or available individually for supported languages.

 

download-update-microsoft-update-catalog

 

Another interesting option in regards to the RSS feed is that you may use it to search for specific releases.

 

Use the pattern http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/Rss.aspx?q = and append any search term afterwards, e.g. http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/Rss.aspx?q=windows+10

 

Separate new strings with +, e.g windows+7.

 

This displays all matches , again with titles that you may go through and download links.

 

Source

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Replies 2
  • Views 1.3k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Microsoft says it'll fix the Update Catalog's dependency on ActiveX someday, but you can bypass IE right now if you know the trick

Many patches don't go through the usual Windows Update channels. As I explained earlier today, even the patch that fixes Microsoft's botched security update KB 3177725 is only available in the Windows Update Catalog.

 

That fix, KB 3187022, has been available for at least a week, but it isn't being distributed through Windows Update. The official Windows Update page lists it as "Deployment: Catalog," which means you can only get it by going to the Microsoft Update Catalog, downloading, and manually installing it.

 

If you go to the KB article and click on the link to download the patch, you get the helpful note shown here that "you must be running Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or later." That's because the site relies on a long-discredited and rapidly fading technology Microsoft-proprietary technology known as ActiveX.

update catalog

 

Microsoft has told us, as recently as this May, that it's going to fix the Update Catalog real soon now. Microsoft senior product manager Nathan Mercer said in a May 17 blog post:

 

Within the next few months Windows updates will no longer be available from the Microsoft Download Center.  Security bulletins will continue to link directly to the updates, but will point to the packages on the Microsoft Update Catalog instead of the Microsoft Download Center. Customers that use tools linking to the Microsoft Download Center should follow the links provided in the Security Bulletins or search directly on the Microsoft Update Catalog.

 

For those who aren't familiar with the Microsoft Update Catalog website, note that it still requires using Internet Explorer at this point because of an ActiveX control used.  Later this summer, we will be updating the site to eliminate the ActiveX control in order to support other browsers.

Poster abbodi86 on AskWoody filled me in on a secret to get at the patches without using Internet Explorer (or the execrable Catalog interface). It short-circuits the ActiveX front end by looking at the RSS feed for KB articles.

 

If you use any browser to search for:

http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/Rss.aspx?q=KBxxxxxxx

filling in the desired KB number for "xxxxxxx," your browser returns a list of KB articles that contain that KB number. Clicking on the first (most recent) entry in the list generally takes you to the download site for the KB patch that you seek. At the top of the resulting page, click Download Now, and the installable MSU file gets downloaded to your browser's download folder.

 

Abbodi86 further advises that you can change the query string, using "+" instead of spaces, and look for KB articles in the RSS feed that match any string you like. In his example:

http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/Rss.aspx?q=10+for+x64

 

You see a list of all KB articles that include "10," "for," and "64" -- which includes both updates and cumulative updates for various 64-bit Windows 10 versions.

 

Slick. Go ahead and take your time, Microsoft.

 

Source: How to check the Microsoft Update Catalog with any browser (InfoWorld - Woody Leonhard)

 

InfoWorld - Woody on Windows

 

AskWoody.com - Woody Leonhard's no-bull news, tips and help for Windows and Office

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...