WSUS 3.0 SP1 on Windows Server 2008

Finally the wait is over. With this optional KB940518 update for Windows Server 2008 (x86 or x64), you can now enable Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) 3.0 SP1 to be fully integrated into Server Manager. Obviously only the full WS08 install is supported (not Server Core).

A system restart is not needed provided that the Initial Configuration Tasks, Server Manager and the servermanagercmd.exe process are not running during the installation process. As with any other new WS08 server roles, you must explicitly tick the checkbox to install WSUS that is newly exposed via this update in Server Manager. Other dependent features may be offered and acceptance is mandatory for successful installation.

Important:
You will still need to download WSUS 3.0 SP1 (x86 or x64) described in KB948014 and separately run setup if it is not already installed on WS08. This should be done beforehand otherwise the process of adding or enabling the WSUS server role will run to completion with a failure message, a step not clearly described in KB940518. Nevertheless, this error condition will be automatically corrected once WSUS is properly installed.

Note that one of the software pre-requisites prior to running the WSUS setup is to first complete installation of the IIS server role, particularly the IIS 6 compatibility role services that are not included by default. The others described in the WSUS download link are either built into WS08 or optional depending on the installation option chosen e.g. Report Viewer 2005 Redistributable or SQL Server server/instance.

News Source: leedesmond’s blog