Patch Deployment Prerequisites

In addition to the scanning prerequisites, the following are required in order to successfully deploy patches to target machines:

• The Windows Update service must not be disabled; rather, it must be set to either Manual or Automatic in order to successfully deploy patches. In addition, the Windows Update setting on each target machine (Control Panel > System and Security > Windows Update > Change settings) should be set to Never check for updates.
• The machine credentials that you supply are used to provide access to the remote machine and to push the necessary patch deployment files. See Credential Precedence for information on what occurs if machine credentials are not supplied. The actual deployment, however, will be run under the remote machine's Local System account.
• A scheduler is required on the machines being patched to ensure a successful deployment. You may need to enable the Windows Task Scheduler on the machines being patched. On most Windows machines you can access the Task Scheduler by selecting Start > Administrative Tools > Services and then right-clicking Task Scheduler.