Managing Windows security and Microsoft updates

With Update Management you can control how Windows and Microsoft updates are installed on all supported hosts in your account. (Also referred to as Patch Management.)

Who can use this feature? The Update Management feature is available for the following:

Basic/Plus/Premier Subscription	Modular Subscription	User Permissions
Premier	Security	Windows update Management

Required software

Required host software: Version 4.1.1868 or higher

For each computer covered by your subscription, you can do the following:

View list of pending updates
Install updates
View update settings
Change update settings on a single host
Change update settings on multiple hosts

Note: Recommended Updates for Windows 7 and 8 operating systems will show as Important Updates in LogMeIn Central.

Required host operating systems

The host must run an officially supported Windows operating system. See System requirements for the LogMeIn host computer.

Tip: Consult Microsoft documentation for comprehensive information about Windows and Microsoft updates.

Windows 10 and 11 – http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-update
Important: In the Home Edition of Windows 10 and 11, Windows Update Settings can't be changed. Depending on Microsoft's schedule, Windows updates will be installed automatically. In other editions of Windows 10 and 11, you can use Windows group policy settings to customize the installation of Windows updates as described on the Microsoft support site.
Windows 8 – http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/windows-update-faq
Windows 7 – http://windows.microsoft.com/en-XM/windows7/Understanding-Windows-automatic-updating
Windows Server 2008 – https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2008-R2-and-2008/cc730810(v=ws.11)

Note: Windows updates that do not have a Microsoft Knowledge Base article associated with them will show as “Null”.

View update status

You can view whether there are Windows updates available to be installed on your hosts.

In LogMeIn Central, go to the Updates page.

Color coded icons indicate the update status of each supported host:

Note: Major or critical Windows updates can't be updated remotely. You must apply major updates directly on the host.

Service is set to check for updates automatically. All important updates are installed.
Service is set to check for updates automatically. Important updates are pending.
Host will attempt to reboot automatically after installing updates. This icon is only available on the Updates page.
Service is set to never check for updates, or the service cannot be accessed.
Host reboot required.

Note: You can refresh the page to refresh your computer list.

Filtering computers on the Updates page

To filter computers displayed on the Updates page, use the drop-down list at the top of the page. Available filters:

Operating system
Update status
Subscription

Change update settings for a single host

With Update Management you can change the update settings of Windows hosts.

Before you begin:

In LogMeIn Central, on the Updates > Windows page, select the computer you want to change.
Select Change settings above the computer list.
Result: The Update settings page is displayed.

Change how Windows installs updates. Some settings may be managed by the system administrator. See Windows documentation for details. All settings are the same as in Windows.

Option	Description
Important updates	Select how important updates are downloaded and installed. Install updates automatically - Updates are downloaded to the host and installed automatically. If an update requires a restart, the host will restart automatically. No user interaction is needed. To avoid disruption on the host, you can schedule updates to be installed out of business hours. Unless you choose this option, you may see an "Automatic updates are not turned on" message in Windows. Download updates but let me choose whether to install them - Updates are downloaded to the host, but you can decide on the best time to install those updates. If an update requires a restart, then this option allows you control when hosts are restarted. Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them - The host automatically checks for updates, but does not download and install those without user interaction. Never check for updates - The host does not check for updates. You can still manually check for updates by selecting Check for updates now on the Update settings page. See Microsoft's website for information on how updates are categorized.
Who can install updates	Choose who can install updates. Not valid for Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows 2003 hosts.
Software to update	Choose to install either Windows updates only or Microsoft product updates along with Windows updates (for example, Microsoft Office updates).

Option

Description

Important updates

Select how important updates are downloaded and installed.

Install updates automatically - Updates are downloaded to the host and installed automatically. If an update requires a restart, the host will restart automatically. No user interaction is needed. To avoid disruption on the host, you can schedule updates to be installed out of business hours. Unless you choose this option, you may see an "Automatic updates are not turned on" message in Windows.
Download updates but let me choose whether to install them - Updates are downloaded to the host, but you can decide on the best time to install those updates. If an update requires a restart, then this option allows you control when hosts are restarted.
Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them - The host automatically checks for updates, but does not download and install those without user interaction.
Never check for updates - The host does not check for updates. You can still manually check for updates by selecting Check for updates now on the Update settings page.

See Microsoft's website for information on how updates are categorized.

Who can install updates

Choose who can install updates. Not valid for Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows 2003 hosts.

Software to update

Choose to install either Windows updates only or Microsoft product updates along with Windows updates (for example, Microsoft Office updates).

The updates that only a system administrator can change are grayed out.

Note: If you have trouble with hosts restarting at inconvenient times, see How to prevent hosts from restarting after important updates are installed?

To display delivery options, select Change next to How the settings above are delivered to hosts.

These settings are not applied to hosts, but rather tell LogMeIn Central how to deliver the Updates-related settings.

Option	Description
Attempt to connect to computers for	LogMeIn Central will attempt to change how Windows installs updates for this period of time.
Wake up computers	Send a Wake On LAN command before attempting to deliver changes to update settings. Hosts must meet all Wake On LAN requirements. See Wake a LogMeIn host computer using Wake On LAN.

Select Apply Settings.

How to restrict certain updates to be installed automatically?

You may want to block certain Windows updates to be installed automatically on a host.

In LogMeIn Central, on the Updates > Windows page, select the computer you want to change.
For Important updates, select Download updates but let me choose whether to install them from the drop-down list.
Select Apply Settings.

Results: This way, Windows updates are downloaded to the host, but you can choose which ones to install. See Choose which updates to apply.

How to prevent hosts from restarting after important updates are installed?

Depending on what option you have selected for installing important updates, you have the following options:

If you chose Install updates automatically, then you can set a convenient time to install updates and reboot the host without disturbing the person at the host.
If you chose Download updates but let me choose whether to install them or Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them, then you can schedule the installation and allow a delayed restart. To do so, on the Updates > Windows page, select the number in the Important Updates column. Then select Restart computers if required to install the updates and set when the host should restart.

Remember: You cannot set different restart behaviors for important and optional Windows updates.

The Auto-Restart column on the Updates > Windows page displays whether a host had the Restart computers if required to install the updates option applied during the update that started last:

- (a minus symbol) means that updates have not been installed on the host yet
Off means that the restart option was not selected for the last update
On means that the restart option was selected for the last update. A clock icon is also displayed if the restart was scheduled.

Notice that the last update may still be running, which impacts what you see in the Auto-Restart column.

Change update settings for multiple hosts

With Update Management you can change the update settings of multiple Windows hosts.

In LogMeIn Central, go to the Updates page.
Select the checkbox for each computer or group of computers you want to manage.
Select Change settings.

Change how Windows installs updates. Some settings may be managed by the system administrator. See Windows documentation for details. All settings are the same as in Windows.

Option	Description
Important updates	Select how important updates are downloaded and installed. Install updates automatically - Updates are downloaded to the host and installed automatically. If an update requires a restart, the host will restart automatically. No user interaction is needed. To avoid disruption on the host, you can schedule updates to be installed out of business hours. Unless you choose this option, you may see an "Automatic updates are not turned on" message in Windows. Download updates but let me choose whether to install them - Updates are downloaded to the host, but you can decide on the best time to install those updates. If an update requires a restart, then this option allows you control when hosts are restarted. Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them - The host automatically checks for updates, but does not download and install those without user interaction. Never check for updates - The host does not check for updates. You can still manually check for updates by selecting Check for updates now on the Update settings page. See Microsoft's website for information on how updates are categorized.
Who can install updates	Choose who can install updates. Not valid for Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows 2003 hosts.
Software to update	Choose to install either Windows updates only or Microsoft product updates along with Windows updates (for example, Microsoft Office updates).

Option

Description

Important updates

Select how important updates are downloaded and installed.

Install updates automatically - Updates are downloaded to the host and installed automatically. If an update requires a restart, the host will restart automatically. No user interaction is needed. To avoid disruption on the host, you can schedule updates to be installed out of business hours. Unless you choose this option, you may see an "Automatic updates are not turned on" message in Windows.
Download updates but let me choose whether to install them - Updates are downloaded to the host, but you can decide on the best time to install those updates. If an update requires a restart, then this option allows you control when hosts are restarted.
Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them - The host automatically checks for updates, but does not download and install those without user interaction.
Never check for updates - The host does not check for updates. You can still manually check for updates by selecting Check for updates now on the Update settings page.

See Microsoft's website for information on how updates are categorized.

Who can install updates

Choose who can install updates. Not valid for Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows 2003 hosts.

Software to update

Choose to install either Windows updates only or Microsoft product updates along with Windows updates (for example, Microsoft Office updates).

Tip: Don't want to change a particular setting across multiple computers? Choose Keep current setting of the computers to leave a setting unchanged.

Result: You will be notified whenever there is a host to which settings cannot be applied. Select the X computers link to see which computers were excluded.

To display delivery options, select Change next to How the settings above are delivered to hosts.

These settings are not applied to hosts, but rather tell LogMeIn Central how to deliver the Updates-related settings.

Option	Description
Attempt to connect to computers for	LogMeIn Central will attempt to change how Windows installs updates for this period of time.
Wake up computers	Send a Wake On LAN command before attempting to deliver changes to update settings. Hosts must meet all Wake On LAN requirements. See Wake a LogMeIn host computer using Wake On LAN.

Select Apply Settings.

How to restrict certain updates to be installed automatically?

You may want to block certain Windows updates to be installed automatically on a host.

In LogMeIn Central, on the Updates > Windows page, select the computer you want to change.
For Important updates, select Download updates but let me choose whether to install them from the drop-down list.
Select Apply Settings.

Results: This way, Windows updates are downloaded to the host, but you can choose which ones to install. See Choose which updates to apply.

Choose which updates to apply

You can choose which Microsoft and Windows updates to install to your hosts.

In LogMeIn Central, go to the Updates page.
Select the computers you want to update.
Select Apply updates.
Result: The list of available updates for the selected hosts is displayed on two tabs (Important and Optional).
Select the updates that you want to install.

To select whether hosts should be restarted after installing Windows updates, choose Restart computers if required to install the updates. Hosts are only restarted if at least one of the installed updates require reboot.

Option	Description
Immediately after updates are applied	Select this option to restart the host when updates are downloaded and installed.
After updates are applied, at this time	Select this option to restart the host at a specific time. Optionally, select on this date to specify a date for rebooting the host.
Additional delay	Select this option to delay automatic restart. This delay benefits users who may be logged in to the host. When a user is present, a notification is shown regarding the pending reboot. Restart settings cannot be changed during the delay period.

To display delivery options, select Change next to How the settings above are delivered to hosts.

These settings are not applied to hosts, but rather tell LogMeIn Central how to deliver the Updates-related settings.

Option	Description
Attempt to connect to computers for	LogMeIn Central will attempt to change how Windows installs updates for this period of time.
Wake up computers	Send a Wake On LAN command before attempting to deliver changes to update settings. Hosts must meet all Wake On LAN requirements. See Wake a LogMeIn host computer using Wake On LAN.

Select Apply updates.
Result: The updates are applied to any host that is online. For any host that is offline, the updates are applied when the host next comes online.

Schedule restart for hosts after installing updates

You can set your hosts to automatically reboot if an installed update requires restart.

Important: Automatic restart is only available when applying updates manually.

In LogMeIn Central, from the Updates > Manage page, select the computers you want to update.
Result: The available updates page is displayed.
Select Change settings.
Result: The Update settings page is displayed.
Select the link next to Available updates for this computer.
Select the updates from the list you want to be installed.

Select Restart computers if required to install the updates.

Configure when the computer should be restarted.

Option	Description
Immediately after updates are applied	Select this option to restart the host when updates are downloaded and installed.
After updates are applied, at this time	Select this option to restart the host at a specific time. Optionally, select on this date to specify a date for rebooting the host.
Additional delay	Select this option to delay automatic restart. This delay benefits users who may be logged in to the host. When a user is present, a notification is shown regarding the pending reboot. Restart settings cannot be changed during the delay period.

Select Apply updates.

View update history

Use the History tab to track the status of applied updates and changes made to update settings.

In LogMeIn Central, go to the Updates > History page.
Choose what you want to view.
- Select Running to view updates or configuration changes that are in the process of being applied.
- Select any other option to view updates or configuration changes that have already been applied.
Select View next to any item to see its details.