Once past a service pack, the number of Windows Updates only continue to grow. Even the less exciting service packs that serve as more of a roll-up can be serious time and annoyance savers. If you need to download updates to slipstream into the installation package or patch offline machines, it is very tedious to keep track of the KB articles that come out monthly and download each file. Microsoft’s update catalog helps a bit but leaves plenty of room for improvement.
A non-Microsoft developed product that greatly eases the problem of bulk downloading Windows Updates is the Windows Updates Downloader. (Grab the installer under the Program Files link.) You can download the Update Lists from the site for the operating systems that you need and their 32-bit/64-bit variants.
With the Windows Updates Downloader installed and the UL downloaded, just double-click the UL to import it. Launch the application and you can select which list you are interested in, expand the various categories, select the downloads you need, and hit the download button.
The files will come down as executables in the download folder you specified before hitting the Download button. Depending on your use, you may have to extract the files from the executables using something like 7-zip but you should have plenty of time to take care of that with all the time this tool just saved you.
