Mcrip is down

[EB1000]

Update catalog is not working anymore.. Can someone confrim?

 

Thx

 

 

[Legolash2o]

Confirmed, issue is with McRip server

[graybags]

Hmm...  So if the server is down, is there an alternative to getting all the updates in one place?

 

I read up on KUC, but that seems sooooo complicated, when all I want to do is download the updates for a fresh Win 7 SP1 install.

 

How are you all doing it?

 

The only way I can see is doing a clean install, then checking WU and manually downloading them all, then putting them in a folder for future use.

[ricktendo]

Actually KUC is more intuitive, you can select to update only the components you want to update, leaving out the ISS stuff you don't use.

Just learn to use it on a live system first, then try mounting your image and scanning it second

[nealix]

Does anyone have any information on the situation with the servers?

Is Mcrip on vacation,  Is it temporary, or is Mcrip offline for good?

 

I am just learning to use wintoolkit today for the first time.

 

What I did previously,  is I learned and used KUC, and made a working integrated

w7 x64 sp1 plus IE10 DVD.

 

Next, I was learning wintoolkit so I could integrate add-ons and silent installers.

So I took my above win 7 image (with updates, made with KUC), and opened it

into wintoolkit.   I am watching wintoolkit integrate the add-ons, and now I see it

is looking at, and building a list of ALL the updates  that are already in my image

(which is 436 of them since SP1).

 

I guess I will find out in approx 1 hour if this works ok.   If it does,  until Mcrip is back,

perhaps you can first "update" your SP1 fresh image using KUC, and then open

that folder (wim) in WinToolKit for add-ons, silent installers, tweaks, etc?

 

I will post back if the above "two stage" method resulted in a working ISO for me.

 

Neal

 

[ricktendo]

Use KUC to scan for and get the updates, its smarter

KUC can also scan mounted offline images and it knows what updates are safe to integrate and which are not

[nealix]

Ricktendo:

 

Yes, OK.  But a question on that...     KUC appears to have scanned and updated a single WIM on

a Windows 7 SP1 DVD.   Those DVDs, as you know, contain indexes 1-4 for home, pro, ultimate, etc.

So, it at least "seems" that I would have to mount each WIM index  (mount and scan and repeat the

scan and update cycle) for each of the 4 WIMs, which is a ton of work.

 

But from my first use of wintoolkit today, it at least seems, by watching the status bar, that it would

automatically apply the list of windows updates to each of the 4 WIM (indexes) automatically,

*IF*  I had the list of updates to point wintoolkit at.

 

So getting creative with thinking;   is there some way, from a single image completed with KUC,

(such as index 4, windows 7 ultimate), to copy the updates from the installed VM, and then use

that folder to feed to WinToolKit, so WTK can automatically update all 4 WIMs?

If so, it would save TONS of time.

 

Just looking for the most efficient way, time wise.

 

Neal

[nealix]

Reporting back success on the two-step process from Post #5 above.

 

Summary:

 

A.  Obtained fresh w7 SP1 ISO image.  Copied to folder.

 

B.  Ran KUC (offline, to the folder above) through about 9 cycles (scans) to get

     all updates installed to that offline image. 

 

C.  Tested image in VM.

 

D.  Ran wintoolkit on the folder for the above KUC updated image;

       + added add-ons.

       + added silent installers.

 

E.  Tested OK in VirtualBox VM.   Only 5 updates presented in the freshly installed VM,

      and those are mostly the "Can Not Integrate Offline" updates, and then August

      Windows Malicious Software Removal tool.    So the process is good, but a lot more

      work with Mcrips servers offline.

 

 

The question from Post #7 remains;     The above process with KUC only patches one

WIM Index at a time, such as index #4 for Windows 7 Ultimate.  It is very time intensive

even for that one WIM.    So Post 7 asks if there is a way to extract those updates

from the installed windows image in the VM, and feed them to WinToolKit, where

all 4 indexes (WIMs) will get the updates applied in one run.

 

Cheers,

 

Neal

[jfcarbel]

nealix, thanks for the details.  I read about KUC but did not realize I could just point it to an Win7 ISO file and have it perform the updates on it while not effecting my current Windows 7 install.

 

Is KUC method any better then using WUD?  It looks like a steven4554 provides updates on a ULZ list that WUD can use to download all updates local from MS repo.  It looks like he keeps it updated and removes decommisioned or conflicting KBs.

 

His latest is from 8/15/2013 over on msfn forum.   I wonder how his compares with KBs that KUC comes up with.

 

Current post SP1 count for his ULZ list for my Windows 7 Pro x64 is 62 security, 66 non-security (includes an rvkroots.exe), 14 .net 35 updates, and 1 WMP12 update.

 

I will see if I can post a spoiler directory listing of them all here later.

[ricktendo]

Does not matter what SKU you scan you will get the same update list from KUC, also all updates can install into ALL SKU's thanks to Windows Anytime Upgrage...see because you can upgrade your Starter to Ultimate the files/updates for components (for lets say Media Center) need to be present in the winsxs folder

If you want to save time you can integrate all updates into the lesser SKU (Starter for example) and convert it to the next higher SKU, then to the next and so on. Because ALL images at one point were Starter (you can look in all your images you will find a Starter.xml in \Windows folder)

I suggested this feature for WinTK but it has not been implemented

[bphlpt]

I wish that KUC, McRip, WUD, and any other similar tools could "standardize" on a local folder structure where they all downloaded their updates.  That way, no matter which method or tool you choose to get your updates, or if one is down for a while for whatever reason, integration tools like Win Toolkit, or even homemade scripts, could all continue to function correctly to do the actual integration.  I would think that would also help McRip, KUC, et al by taking some of the pressure off to all make timely updates and provide a backup for their users when they need to take a break.  Just a thought.

 

Cheers and Regards

[nealix]

Jfcarbel:

 

Sorry for the vague sentence.  You are correct.   With KUC,  you do first need to build the proper folder of updates by running it

on an installed/running win7-sp1 system or VM.   I installed a fresh win7 sp1 x64 dvd into a VirtualBox VM  (VirtualBox is free).

Then, you run KUC through about 7 to 9 cycles using this tutorial, until there are no more updates to remove or add.

http://www.windows-update-checker.com/FAQ/Getting%20started%20with%20KUC.htm

 

At that point, you finally have a  folder with only those Windows Updates that are compatible and known to work together,

and it excludes the ones that cause installation problems.

Now, you can use that folder of updates (C:\WU\REPO)  with any tool you like;   WinToolKit, RT7lite, KUC, etc, to add them

to an offline image.

KUC shows how to do that here;

http://www.windows-update-checker.com/FAQ/How%20to%20integrate%20updates%20into%20a%20DVD%20image.htm

but WinToolKit (WTK) is easier (less command lines, just click.)

 

 

So, in summary;

Until WTK is able to download updates once again, the process I use is;

 

A.  Build an Updates folder with KUC.

 

B.  Integrate them to a DVD and test.

 

C.  Use WinToolKit to integrate add-ons and silent installers, etc.

 

As Ricktendo properly points out,  even though you could download updates with Win Update Downloader (WUD),

and sometimes with McRip inside WTK, it appears that KUC does a much more detailed deep inspection of

which updates are incompatible, which can cause trouble with offline integration, and which are superceded and

should be removed from the image.   So you get what you pay for.  KUC is more work, but it worked for me.

I did first try using Windows Update Downloader to download all updates and integrate them.

It was less work, but the image did not work. 

 

IMPORTANT NOTE:   At this time (August 2013),  KUC does not properly slipstream ie10 into an image, even though

KUC shows a checklist selection for doing that.   I believe that WTK can integrate ie10.

KUC plans to fix that in their next release.   But some people, inlcuding me, have tested this process for manually

integrating ie10 offline into the image, and it works fine;

http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/30670-KUC-a-utility-to-check-you-Windows-7-2008-R2-WMS-or-Win-embedded-update-status/page41?p=784971&viewfull=1#post784971

 

Again, I *think* that WTK can do this more easily.

 

Neal

[Thiersee]

McRip Server is online again.

 

Thiersee

[spidernz]

YAY!

[ricktendo]

WUD depends on UL (Update List) files, they generally only have updates that are ONLY from Windows Update. McRip/KUC updates are ALL known updates that have been released since the last SP

[blagasamuel]

Accorting to this thread , Lego is gonna come soon.I can't wait !!!

Edited August 31, 2013 by blagasamuel