Two Efficient Ways to Do Windows Update from Command Line (2023)

Do you want to update Windows? Maybe you can try Windows update Command Line. But before you upgrade Windows, you had better back up your operating system with MiniTool software. Of course, there are other methods for Windows update offered in this article.

Why Do You Need to Update Window?

Every year, Microsoft makes several updates to Windows. Especially Windows 10 has twice security updates every year. You may feel that Windows is so annoying to update so frequently, and you plan to ignore it, however, the risk to your computer will increase.

Most of the updates to Windows are designed to handle security issues. Security is the most important thing for you, because if the security is not enough, your computer can be easily attacked by malware or exploited by hackers.

By patching and improving vulnerabilities in the use of Windows, Microsoft adds new features in Windows Defender and Essentials program to resist malware and enhances Office security.

In addition to improving Windows security, Microsoft will also upgrade the existed programs or add new features to Windows, for example, the Cortana.

When Do You Need to Run Windows Update Command Line?

With the release of Windows 10, Windows is now available as a service rather than a product, so Windows Update on Windows 10 is turned on by default, and you can't disable it, which is one of the highlights of Windows 10.

But sometimes there may be some problems with your computer, causing your Windows 10 not to update automatically. Therefore, you can run Windows update from Command Line.

What to Do Before Updating Windows from Command Line

Before running Windows update Command Line, the most important thing you need to do is to back up your operating system.

Some people will encounter some problems in reinstalling the system, causing the reinstallation system to fail. Similarly, some people will fail to upgrade Windows. The upgrade failure is likely to cause data loss, system file corruption, and so on.

So in order to avoid system corruption caused by the upgrade failure or the computer cannot start, you can back up the system to another hard drive in advance or make a bootable external hard drive.

But how to back up the operating system to another hard drive quickly and safely? Here I’m going to introduce a piece of professional and powerful backup software – MiniTool ShadowMaker.

You can back up the operating system, disk, partition, files, and folders. And then you can restore them when you need them. Besides, you can also sync files and folders using the software to avoid data loss as much as possible. It also enables you toclone disks, even simple volumes on dynamic disks.

And the best thing about this piece of software is that you can use it for free for 30 days, so why not download it and have a try?

Free Download

And now I will show you how to use MiniTool ShadowMaker to back up the operating system step by step.

Step 1: Launch MiniTool ShadowMaker at first, then choose Keep Trial.

Step 2: MiniTool ShadowMaker backs up the operating system and selects the destination by default. But if you want to change the destination, just click DESTINATION.

Step 3: As you can see, MiniTool ShadowMaker supports you to back up your data to five different destinations. You can choose the destination you want to save the backups, and then click OK to continue. It is recommended to choose an external hard drive.

There are three backup settingsthat are very useful for you.

• Schedule: You can set automatic backup here to avoid losing data by forgetting to back up when you are using your computer.
• Scheme: You can manage the space occupied by the backed-up files by deleting the specified backup image file versions here.
• Options: You can set some advanced parameters here, such as setting encryption mode, shutting down after successful backup, adding comments to backup data, etc.

Step 4: If you have confirmed the backup source and backup destination, then click Back Up Now.

Then after MiniTool ShadowMaker has backed up your operating system successfully, you can run Windows update Command Line.

After backing up your operating system, I highly recommend you to create bootable media using MiniTool ShadowMaker in case you cannot boot your computer because of a Windows update failure.

Click Media Builder under theTools page after you have inserted a USB flash drive or CD/DVD, then just follow the instructions to create bootable media.

MiniTool ShadowMaker is really a piece of convenient and safe software to back up operating system.Click to Tweet

How to Run Windows Update Command Line?

After keeping data safe, it is time to run Windows update from Command Line. Actually, there are two powerful tools to run Windows update Command Line. One is Windows update Windows PowerShell, another one is Windows update Command Prompt.

Now let’s get started with Windows PowerShell to update Windows.

Windows Update Windows PowerShell

You can update your Windows by using Windows PowerShell, and it only takes four steps to get it done.

PowerShell, as a task-based command-line shell and scripting language, is designed for system administration. In PowerShell, cmdlet, designed to perform specific operations, also typically perform administrative tasks.

The reason administrators can perform administrative tasks on local and remote Windows systems as well as WS-Management and CIM is that PowerShell provides full access to COM and WMI.

Windows PowerShell can execute four kinds of named commands: cmdlets (.NET Framework programs designed to interact with PowerShell), PowerShell scripts (suffixed with .ps1), PowerShell functions, and stand-alone executable programs. PowerShell also provides an interactive command-line interface where you can enter commands and display their output.

Here's how to update Windows with Windows PowerShell.

Step 1: Type powershell in the search box next Cortana, and right-click the top one, then choose Run as administrator and click Yes to continue.

Step 2: Enter Install-Module PSWindowsUpdate to install the Windows update module.

Step 3: Enter Get-WindowsUpdate to check for updates.

Step 4: Enter Install-WindowsUpdate to install the available updates.

After the four steps, you can update Windows using Windows PowerShell.

Windows Update Command Prompt

Except using Windows PowerShell to update Windows, you can also use Command Prompt to update Windows, which has existed for a long time on Windows operating system. But there is a limitation using this method: it will only show the results without showing any progress.

Command Prompt, as a command line interpreter application in most Windows operating systems, is used to execute typed commands. Through scripts and batch files, many commands automate tasks, and can perform advanced administrative functions.

So how to use Command Prompt to update Windows? It depends on which operating system you are using.

1. If your operating system is Windows 10, you can do the following instructions to update Windows.

Step 1: Type cmd in the search box next to Cortana, and right-click the top one, then choose Run as administrator and click Yes to continue.

Step 2: Type UsoClient StartScan to check for updates.

Step 3: Type UsoClient StartDownload to download updates.

Step 4: Type UsoClient StartInstall to install the download updates.

Step 5: Type UsoClient RestartDevice to restart your device after installing the updates.

Step 6: Type UsoClient ScanInstallWait to check, download and install updates.

2. If you are using older versions’ operating system, you need to enter the following instructions in the Command Prompt window one by one.

Step 1: Enter wuauclt /detectnow to check for updates.

Step 2: Enter wuauclt /updatenow to start installing the detected updates.

Step 3: Enter wuauclt /detectnow /updatenow to check, download and install updates.

After doing these instructions step by step, you can update your Windows.

Other Ways to Update Windows

There are two other different methods you can use to update Windows.

Use Windows Update Feature

Besides Windows update Command Line, you can also use the Windows Update feature to update Windows.

But how to use Windows Update to update Windows? The detailed instructions are below.

Step 1: Open Settings to choose Update & Security to continue.

Step 2: Choose Windows Update and click Check for updates to continue.

Step 3: After the Windows finds the available updates, click Restart now.

Then you just need to wait for the Windows to update. With this method, you can also update Windows.

Reinstall Windows

Actually, you can also reinstall Windows to perform Windows update. Let’s take Windows 10 as an example.

Before reinstalling Windows 10, you need to create installation media for reinstalling.

You’d better back up all the files in the computer you want to an external storage device or upload them to OneDrive or other Clouds to keep data safe.

Then download Windows 10 installation media to a single external hard drive with at least 8 GB available space.

And here is the way to reinstall Windows 10 using the installation media.

Step 1: Insert the installation media to your computer, and then open File Explorer to continue.

Step 2: Select the drive with the installation media and double-click on it to continue.

Step 3: Double-click setup.exe at first, and then click Yes to continue.

Step 4: Select one of the following options, and then click Next to continue.

• Keep personal files and apps – This will preserve your personal data, apps, and settings.
• Keep personal files only – This will preserve your personal data and settings, but all your apps will be removed.
• Keep nothing – This will remove all personal data, settings, and apps.

Step 5: Click Install to start reinstalling Windows 10 on your computer.

Your computer will restart several times in the process of reinstallation.

From this article, I have known several ways to update my Windows, and I should update Windows as soon as possible to protect my data and operating system.Click to Tweet

Bottom Line

When you want to update your operating system, you should back up your operating system in advance to avoid data loss during the upgrade process. When upgrading Windows, you can use the Command Line to upgrade, or you can use other methods to upgrade Windows.

Finally, never ignore every update, because every update is for your computer to enhance your data protection.

If you have better advice or any confusion about this article, then you can leave a comment below or contact [emailprotected].

Windows Update Command Line FAQ