Windows Desktop Search Forced Install

Yesterday all of my servers at work suddenly started installing WDS 3.1, something I definitely did not approve in my WSUS setup. Double checking my approvals didn't help me much, as the updated was clearly not approved by me or any of the other administrators. A lot of my client computers also got the upgrade before I managed to stop it, but I'm not that troubled that its installed on my clients. My servers is a completely different matter though.

I spent a lot of time yesterday uninstalling it again, and rebooting my servers to make sure that it had been properly removed. Of course I then also blocked the WDS update in WSUS, to make sure I didn't get it reinstalled after boot.

But what happened? How did an update like this sneak past my update services and get applied without my knowledge? It turns out, Microsoft screwed up. Microsoft has publihed an explanation on the WSUS Product Team Blog, stating they made a mistake and have stopped the distribution of the package after they discovered it.

While it's a good thing that Microsoft publicly admits the error and is trying to rectify it, issues like this really doesn't help building trust in their products. Microsoft, through WSUS, provide a great way for system admins to keep track of updates and apply them in a controlled manner. When "updates" sneak through the cracks like this, due to errors at Microsoft, we as system admins have a problem.

Things like this just shouldn't happen, ever. If you deploy a patch management solution, you do expect it to let you manage the patches/updates. You, not anyone else. The fact that this is at all possible lowers my trust level for WSUS to a point that its never been at before. I've never had problems with WSUS before, now I can only hope that this is a one off and that it doesn't happen again.

Posted by Christian Mohn aka h0bbel