Best practices for Windows Updates with Security Center - Security Center 5.7 - 5.12

Security Center Best Practices - Enterprise
Applies to
Security Center 5.7 - 5.12
Last updated
2023-08-15
Content type
Best practices
Language
English
Product
Security Center
Version
5.12
5.11
5.10
5.9
5.8
5.7

Windows updates are important to keep the system up to date. However, if the updates are not configured properly, they can cause unplanned restarts and incur downtime of your Security Center services.

Windows updates are often configured to be downloaded automatically and then installed on the servers and workstations. As a result, a restart of Windows is often required. If servers running major Security Center roles like Directory, Archiver, Access Manager, are configured this way, unplanned restarts result in unplanned Security Center downtime.

Avoid unscheduled updates by configuring your Windows Updates service to follow one of the two following methods:
  • Download updates but let me choose whether to install them.
  • Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them.
You can also make a planned schedule for installing the updates that could correspond with planned downtime or low impact (for example, once per week during the night).

Updating Windows regularly reduces the chances of experiencing issues in Security Center.

Each version of Windows has a slightly different way of configuring how it downloads and installs updates. For more information about how to do it with your particular version of the OS, see the Microsoft Support website: https://support.microsoft.com.