Hey Syncro Users,
It’s Windows Patch Management re-birth-day (get it? ).
We’re happy to share that we now have a totally revamped, more customizable, and most importantly, a more powerful Windows Patch Management module (currently in Open Beta).
NOTE: If you were not using Syncro’s Windows Update Management prior to this update (within an Asset RMM Policy), no changes have been made to your Assets.
If you had enabled Windows Updates within an Asset RMM Policy, in an effort to not lose the Updates you were managing, we have translated your existing settings into an updated “Default Schedule” Policy. You can view and adjust this new Windows Patch Policy using the instructions below.
The short version:
Windows Patch Management now has all new functionality, including the ability to:
- Build templates to install Windows Updates on a schedule within your Asset Policies, by Category
- Prevent updates from installing that are not in those Categories
- View all missing Updates on an Asset
- View a history of recently installed Updates (even from before Syncro was installed on the Asset!)
- Push a button to install all available Updates for an Asset in real-time
- Push a different button to install individual Updates to an Asset in real-time
- Click a KB number next to an Update to view Microsoft’s documentation on the Update
- View a report of all Asset that are missing Updates
- View a report of all Updates that have not been installed on your Assets
- Create saved Asset searches to find Assets that are missing specific Updates, and have installed specific Updates.
The long version:
Setting Up
We now have a specific Windows Patch Management section which lives under the Asset RMM Policy and gives you much more granular control over Windows Updates on client Assets.
To view and/or adjust a Windows Patch Management Policy, head to your Policies Module and click the drop-down menu in the upper righthand corner of the page to select “Windows Updates.”
You can also open up any of your Asset RMM Policies and scroll to the “Windows Updates” section. From here, click the “You can configure options for updating Windows here” link.
On the Windows Patch Management Policies list page, you will see a few example templates we’ve created for you, and can create your own using the “New Windows Patch Management Policy” or the “Custom From Template” buttons in the upper righthand corner of the page.
Follow the instructions in the Help Center article to create or edit your Windows Patch Policies, and learn how to add this to your Asset RMM Policy. Be sure to save your changes!
If you wish to run more than one Windows Patch Policy within your Asset RMM Policy, you may do so by simply selecting and adding the various Windows Patch Policies in the Asset RMM settings page. This is valuable if you wish to include different Update Categories and/or run your Windows Patch Policies at different times.
Viewing Windows Patch Information at the Asset level
We’ve added a new “Windows Patches” tab within the Assets Details page. It contains a log of both “Missing” and “Recently Installed” Patches.
If a Windows Update has not been installed on an Asset, and you’d like to immediately install it, you can click the “Install” button on the far right side of the Patch entry and it will immediately begin the process of installing. If the Asset is offline, the Update will run when the Asset is back online.
You can also select more than one missing Patch to install by using the checkboxes on the far left side of each entry.
Finally, you can install all missing Patches using the “Install All Available Patches” button in the upper righthand corner of the Missing Patches table.
Additionally, we’ve added a KB number and a link out to the KB for each Patch so you can review Microsoft’s documentation on the Patch. Within the “Recently Installed” section, you can also “View Records” about the Patch and review the history of all the Patches that have been installed on the Asset with the specific KB number.
More Good Stuff We Added
- Check out the newly added Vulnerable Systems and Vulnerable Patches reports to view missing Patches based on the KB number (the Update itself) or based on the Asset (which Assets are missing certain Updates). The Customer RMM and Executive summary reports also includes Windows Patch information now.
- When Windows Patches are installed, they get placed in the Activity Feed on the Asset.
- You can create Asset Saved Searches using missing or installed Windows Patches in order to mass-view or change Updates on Assets.
We hope you enjoy this upgraded version of Windows Patch Management, and welcome your constructive feedback during this Open Beta period. Be sure to review our Help Center article for more information.
Please email any questions or feedback you have to help@syncromsp.com.
Cheers,
The Syncro Team
)