This post will help you to set up Windows Group Policy for a domain so that computers automatically download updates.
- Login in to your domain controller. Go to Start > Administrative Tools and select Group Policy Management.
- Expand the forest and domain. Right-click Default Domain Policy and select Edit. A new window wil open, allowing you to modify the default domain policy.
- Navigate to:
Computer Configuration \ Policies \ Administrative Templates Policy Definitions \ Windows Components \ Windows Update
This will display the Windows update settings. Note that some of your settings may be configured differently, depending on how your domain is configured. - Double-click the Configure Automatic Updates setting, and select the Enabled option in the upper left. Set the automatic updating setting to 4 – Auto Download and Schedule the Install. Then check the Every Week checkbox.
- Click OK to save the setting. You can now close the Group Policy Management Editor and the Group Policy Management application.
Note that the new group policy will not take effect immediately, and it can take some time to propagate to each machine. If you need to take effect immediately, run gpupdate /force on the local machine where you want it to take effect without waiting for propagation.