Getting Windows Update History in Plain Text: One Update Per Line

Getting Windows Update History in Plain Text: One Update Per Line

Windows updates are crucial for the smooth functioning and security of your system. Knowing the update history of your Windows system can help you troubleshoot issues, monitor system health, and ensure that your system is up-to-date. This article will guide you through the process of obtaining the Windows Update history in plain text format, with one update per line, using both GUI and command-line methods.

Understanding Windows Update

Windows Update is a built-in service in Microsoft Windows that enables the system to download and install updates distributed by Microsoft. It includes security updates, critical patches, drivers, software updates, and feature updates for Windows and other Microsoft products. These updates are essential for fixing vulnerabilities, enhancing functionality, improving performance, and maintaining the overall health of the system.

Viewing Windows Update History in GUI

To access the Windows Update history using the Graphical User Interface (GUI), follow these steps:

1. Press Win + I to open the Settings window.
2. In the Settings window, click on "Update & Security."
3. From the left-hand pane, click on "Windows Update."
4. Then, on the right-hand pane, click on "View update history."

The Windows Update history window will appear, displaying the latest updates installed on your system. However, the format does not meet our requirement of plain text with one update per line. To achieve this, you can use a command-line tool called "Windows Update Log Analyzer."

Analyzing Windows Update History using Windows Update Log Analyzer

To use the Windows Update Log Analyzer, follow these steps:

1. Download the tool from this GitHub repository and install it on your system.
2. Launch the tool.
3. Navigate to the location where the Windows Update log file is stored. By default, it can be found at %SystemRoot%\Logs\WindowsUpdate\WindowsUpdate.log.
4. Select and open the WindowsUpdate.log file using the Windows Update Log Analyzer.
5. From the tool's interface, select "Updates" from the dropdown menu, and then click "OK."
6. The tool will now parse the log file and display the Windows Update history in plain text format, with one update per line. To save the results, click "Save Result" and choose your preferred file format.

Retrieving Windows Update History using Command-line Tools

For those who prefer the command line, use the following steps to obtain the Windows Update history in plain text format:

1. Press Win + X and click "Command Prompt (Admin)" or "PowerShell (Admin)" to open the elevated command-line interface.
2. Type the following command:
   wevtutil qe WindowsUpdateClient/Operational /q:"*[EventData[@Name='Operation']='Install']" /rd:true /c:1000 /f:text > "%SystemRoot%\WindowsUpdateHistory.txt"

   This command filters Windows Update events with the "Install" operation, retrieves the latest 1000 updates, and saves them in a text file in plain text format, with one update per line.

3. After running the command, you can find the generated text file at %SystemRoot%\WindowsUpdateHistory.txt.

• Understanding the importance of Windows updates
• Accessing Windows Update history via the GUI
• Utilizing Windows Update Log Analyzer for plain text output (one update per line)
• Retrieving Windows Update history using command-line tools

References

• Microsoft. (n.d.). Windows Update: FAQ.
• Salvatori, P. (2021). windows-update-log-analyzer.