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Thread: wuauclt.exe command line switches

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Posts
    55

    Wuauclt.exe command line switches

    I need some help with finding the list of command line switches of Wuauclt.exe. It am not able to find the same. I am aware about very few commands like /detectnow. Is there any utility available that can help me to find the information on the switch as and when needed. I tried some web sources but they are bit complicated and I am not able to find out easy way of using them. I tried microsoft site also but it too has a limited information on the same. There must be a reference guide on the same that allows a easy way to work on it.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Posts
    132
    There is no documentation on web but there is certain set of commands that work. You can find them much easier on the web. I am also trying to find the list of some most useful command but still it is not working. I hope there will be some way to get the same work. There are only two things I know about wsusclt.exe. The first is the one that you had mentioned wuauclt.exe /detectnow and the second one is /resetauthorization. There must be some set of command line that can allow use to control the behavior in more better way.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Posts
    2

    Re: wuauclt.exe command line switches

    wuauclt /r /reportnow

    This is very useful command which sends all queued reporting events to the server immediately

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Posts
    1
    I found this on another site:

    Reposting for you guys.
    ***
    From a dump of the .exe (W2k3 R2 version ) we can extract the following options:
    /DetectNow
    /ReportNow
    /RunHandlerComServer
    /RunStoreAsComServer
    /ShowSettingsDialog
    /ResetAuthorization
    /ResetEulas
    /ShowWU
    /ShowWindowsUpdate
    /SelfUpdateManaged
    /SelfUpdateUnmanaged
    /UpdateNow
    /ShowWUAutoScan
    /ShowFeaturedUpdates
    /ShowOptions
    /ShowFeaturedOptInDialog
    /DemoUI

    Most of these options don't give any noticable response, but that may be because of the state of the service.
    The command 'wuauclt /ResetAuthorization /DetectNow' worked for me right away.

    No need to need to be a troll. A simple explanation would have sufficed without being a jerk. I simply reposted some info I found on another site while researching the same topic as I just learned about the command the other day. If you make yourself feel better by making others feel inferior to you, then I hope you find something better to do with your life.

    Or because there's no code behind the switches.

    There *is* a reason the options are not documented!

    Yes, this is one of only *three* functional command options.

    The other two are:
    wuauclt /detectnow

    and

    wuauclt /reportnow

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Posts
    2

    Re: wuauclt.exe command line switches

    Sure, because most people wouldn't find them useful.
    You'll find you're wrong on the "there's no code behind the switches."
    Code:
    .text:004043C9 loc_4043C9:                             ; CODE XREF: wWinMain(x,x,x,x)+212j
    .text:004043C9                 mov     eax, [ebp+var_C]
    .text:004043CC                 mov     esi, [ebp+eax*4+lpString1]
    .text:004043D0                 push    offset String2  ; "/ShowWU"
    .text:004043D5                 push    esi             ; lpString1
    .text:004043D6                 call    ?AsciiStringCompareI@@YGJPBG0@Z ; AsciiStringCompareI(ushort const *,ushort const *)
    .text:004043DB                 test    eax, eax
    .text:004043DD                 jz      loc_4045DB
    .text:004043E3                 push    offset aShowwindowsupd ; "/ShowWindowsUpdate"
    .text:004043E8                 push    esi             ; lpString1
    .text:004043E9                 call    ?AsciiStringCompareI@@YGJPBG0@Z ; AsciiStringCompareI(ushort const *,ushort const *)
    .text:004043EE                 test    eax, eax
    .text:004043F0                 jz      loc_4045DB
    .text:004043F6                 push    offset aClosewindowsup ; "/CloseWindowsUpdate"
    .text:004043FB                 push    esi             ; lpString1
    .text:004043FC                 call    ?AsciiStringCompareI@@YGJPBG0@Z ; AsciiStringCompareI(ushort const *,ushort const *)
    .text:00404401                 test    eax, eax
    .text:00404403                 jz      loc_40456E
    .text:00404409                 push    offset aSelfupdateunma ; "/SelfUpdateUnmanaged"
    .text:0040440E                 push    esi             ; lpString1
    .text:0040440F                 call    ?AsciiStringCompareI@@YGJPBG0@Z ; AsciiStringCompareI(ushort const *,ushort const *)
    .text:00404414                 test    eax, eax
    .text:00404416                 jz      loc_404578
    .text:0040441C                 push    offset aSelfupdatemana ; "/SelfUpdateManaged"
    .text:00404421                 push    esi             ; lpString1
    .text:00404422                 call    ?AsciiStringCompareI@@YGJPBG0@Z ; AsciiStringCompareI(ushort const *,ushort const *)
    .text:00404427                 test    eax, eax
    .text:00404429                 jz      loc_404592
    .text:0040442F                 push    offset aDetectnow ; "/DetectNow"
    .text:00404434                 push    esi             ; lpString1
    .text:00404435                 call    ?AsciiStringCompareI@@YGJPBG0@Z ; AsciiStringCompareI(ushort const *,ushort const *)
    .text:0040443A                 test    eax, eax
    .text:0040443C                 jz      loc_404599
    .text:00404442                 push    offset aReportnow ; "/ReportNow"
    .text:00404447                 push    esi             ; lpString1
    .text:00404448                 call    ?AsciiStringCompareI@@YGJPBG0@Z ; AsciiStringCompareI(ushort const *,ushort const *)
    .text:0040444D                 test    eax, eax
    .text:0040444F                 jz      loc_4045A0
    .text:00404455                 push    offset aUpdatenow ; "/UpdateNow"
    .text:0040445A                 push    esi             ; lpString1
    .text:0040445B                 call    ?AsciiStringCompareI@@YGJPBG0@Z ; AsciiStringCompareI(ushort const *,ushort const *)
    .text:00404460                 test    eax, eax
    .text:00404462                 jz      loc_4045A7
    .text:00404468                 push    offset aRunhandlercoms ; "/RunHandlerComServer"
    .text:0040446D                 push    esi             ; lpString1
    .text:0040446E                 call    ?AsciiStringCompareI@@YGJPBG0@Z ; AsciiStringCompareI(ushort const *,ushort const *)
    .text:00404473                 test    eax, eax
    .text:00404475                 jz      loc_4045AE
    .text:0040447B                 push    offset aRunstoreascoms ; "/RunStoreAsComServer"
    .text:00404480                 push    esi             ; lpString1
    .text:00404481                 call    ?AsciiStringCompareI@@YGJPBG0@Z ; AsciiStringCompareI(ushort const *,ushort const *)
    .text:00404486                 test    eax, eax
    .text:00404488                 jz      loc_4045B5
    .text:0040448E                 push    offset aResetauthoriza ; "/ResetAuthorization"
    .text:00404493                 push    esi             ; lpString1
    .text:00404494                 call    ?AsciiStringCompareI@@YGJPBG0@Z ; AsciiStringCompareI(ushort const *,ushort const *)
    .text:00404499                 test    eax, eax
    .text:0040449B                 jnz     short loc_4044BC
    .text:0040449D                 cmp     ebx, 2
    .text:004044A0                 jnb     loc_4045CB
    .text:004044A6                 cmp     [ebp+var_18], eax
    You see at each stop it's comparing a parameter against each of these and doing a jump if it matches.
    Those jumps go to a dispatch table down further in the code:
    Code:
    .text:00404599 ; ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    .text:00404599
    .text:00404599 loc_404599:                             ; CODE XREF: wWinMain(x,x,x,x)+FDj
    .text:00404599                 call    ?DetectNow@@YGJXZ ; DetectNow(void)
    .text:0040459E                 jmp     short loc_404557
    .text:004045A0 ; ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    .text:004045A0
    .text:004045A0 loc_4045A0:                             ; CODE XREF: wWinMain(x,x,x,x)+110j
    .text:004045A0                 call    ?ReportNow@@YGJXZ ; ReportNow(void)
    .text:004045A5                 jmp     short loc_404557
    .text:004045A7 ; ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    .text:004045A7
    .text:004045A7 loc_4045A7:                             ; CODE XREF: wWinMain(x,x,x,x)+123j
    .text:004045A7                 call    ?UpdateNow@@YGJXZ ; UpdateNow(void)
    .text:004045AC                 jmp     short loc_404557
    .text:004045AE ; ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    .text:004045AE
    .text:004045AE loc_4045AE:                             ; CODE XREF: wWinMain(x,x,x,x)+136j
    .text:004045AE                 call    ?RunUpdateHandler@@YGJXZ ; RunUpdateHandler(void)
    .text:004045B3                 jmp     short loc_404626
    .text:004045B5 ; ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    .text:004045B5
    .text:004045B5 loc_4045B5:                             ; CODE XREF: wWinMain(x,x,x,x)+149j
    .text:004045B5                 mov     eax, [ebp+var_C]
    .text:004045B8                 lea     ecx, [eax+1]
    .text:004045BB                 cmp     ecx, [ebp+var_20]
    .text:004045BE                 jnb     short loc_4045CB
    .text:004045C0                 push    [ebp+eax*4+hLibModule] ; hLibModule
    .text:004045C4                 call    ?RunDatastoreAsComServer@@YGJPBG@Z ; RunDatastoreAsComServer(ushort const *)
    .text:004045C9                 jmp     short loc_404626
    Etc. To see what they do, you can follow their code. Let's start with one we "know" works (DetectNow):
    Code:
    .text:00403EC0 ; long __stdcall DetectNow(void)
    .text:00403EC0 ?DetectNow@@YGJXZ proc near             ; CODE XREF: wWinMain(x,x,x,x):loc_404599p
    .text:00403EC0
    .text:00403EC0 ppv             = dword ptr -4
    .text:00403EC0
    .text:00403EC0                 mov     edi, edi
    .text:00403EC2                 push    ebp
    .text:00403EC3                 mov     ebp, esp
    .text:00403EC5                 push    ecx
    .text:00403EC6                 push    esi
    .text:00403EC7                 push    edi
    .text:00403EC8                 xor     esi, esi
    .text:00403ECA                 push    esi             ; dwCoInit
    .text:00403ECB                 push    esi             ; pvReserved
    .text:00403ECC                 call    ds:__imp__CoInitializeEx@8 ; CoInitializeEx(x,x)
    .text:00403ED2                 push    3
    .text:00403ED4                 mov     edi, eax
    .text:00403ED6                 call    ?RegisterProxyStubCLSIDs@@YGXK@Z ; RegisterProxyStubCLSIDs(ulong)
    .text:00403EDB                 cmp     edi, esi
    .text:00403EDD                 jl      short loc_403F13
    .text:00403EDF                 lea     eax, [ebp+ppv]
    .text:00403EE2                 push    eax             ; ppv
    .text:00403EE3                 push    offset __GUID_7ae22377_b19d_497d_808e_307860c5660a ; riid
    .text:00403EE8                 mov     [ebp+ppv], esi
    .text:00403EEB                 call    ?CoCreateAU@@YGJABU_GUID@@PAPAX@Z ; CoCreateAU(_GUID const &,void * *)
    .text:00403EF0                 mov     edi, eax
    .text:00403EF2                 cmp     edi, esi
    .text:00403EF4                 jl      short loc_403F0D
    .text:00403EF6                 mov     eax, [ebp+ppv]
    .text:00403EF9                 mov     ecx, [eax]
    .text:00403EFB                 push    esi
    .text:00403EFC                 push    esi
    .text:00403EFD                 push    esi
    .text:00403EFE                 push    eax
    .text:00403EFF                 call    dword ptr [ecx+5Ch]
    .text:00403F02                 mov     edi, eax
    .text:00403F04                 mov     eax, [ebp+ppv]
    .text:00403F07                 mov     ecx, [eax]
    .text:00403F09                 push    eax
    .text:00403F0A                 call    dword ptr [ecx+8]
    .text:00403F0D
    .text:00403F0D loc_403F0D:                             ; CODE XREF: DetectNow(void)+34j
    .text:00403F0D                 call    ds:__imp__CoUninitialize@0 ; CoUninitialize()
    .text:00403F13
    .text:00403F13 loc_403F13:                             ; CODE XREF: DetectNow(void)+1Dj
    .text:00403F13                 mov     eax, edi
    .text:00403F15                 pop     edi
    .text:00403F16                 pop     esi
    .text:00403F17                 leave
    .text:00403F18                 retn
    .text:00403F18 ?DetectNow@@YGJXZ endp
    So it calls CoInitializeEx(NULL,NULL), which initializes the COM lib in multithreaded mode, then registers some files with the system. The CoCreateAU is a function almost every switch that "does something" calls, it creates a COM AutomaticUpdates object and returns the result of the CoCreateInstance call. This COM object has GUID string: "__GUID_7ae22377_b19d_497d_808e_307860c5660a". You could always create an instance of this object yourself and play around with what it can do, I may reverse the DLLs responsible for implementing its functionality at some point and see if I can document these switches. The 'ReportNow' uses a different GUID, so it seems there's a windows update and a windows update reporting COM differentiation.

    You can see after it gets that HRESULT back, it compares it against 0 (esi is used as zero here, as by the ABI it must be preserved across interfacing function calls), if it's 0 it uninits the COM library and returns false. Otherwise it calls some thiscall function in the class instance returned as a pointer from the CoCreateAU call.

    The switches do work similarly through COM. The base API in the wuaueng.dll though is particularly interesting.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Posts
    1

    Re: wuauclt.exe command line switches

    jmerlin, I'd be interested to find out what tool(s) you used to interrogate the wuauclt command and switches.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Posts
    2

    Re: wuauclt.exe command line switches

    IDA Pro, Ollydbg, and a lot of experience.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Posts
    1

    Re: wuauclt.exe command line switches

    Quote Originally Posted by jMerliN View Post
    "I may reverse the DLLs responsible for implementing its functionality at some point and see if I can document these switches."
    Yes, please. I lack the required skills to do so myself but would be very interested to read your findings.

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