Jalaj P. Jha Technical & Miscellaneous Ramblings

What is Windows Update Agent?

Want to download Windows Update Agent 5.8.02469 or later? Click here

Most of you (and once me too) had to look for the Windows Update Agent when encountered failure installing an application from Windows Live Services, otherwise nobody even cared what Windows Update Agent was all about.

If you had tried executing Windows Live Installer on an operating system earlier than XP (with SP2), remember the error message that was thrown that meant that you cannot install an application from Windows Live if you didn't have Windows XP with SP2. Was SP2 that essential? Yes because it was the first time with SP2 that Windows Update Agent came into existance, and since Installing Windows Live required Windows Update Agent makes SP2 essential.

Am I confusing you?... Windows Update Agent existed only after SP2 then how did Windows Update happened earlier??... It did use to happen!!!

Yes Updates happened using an application called "Automatic Windows Update" that used to be a standalone software that looked for the updates on the microsoft site. Now since SP2 the task of looking for updates and downloading no longer is handled by the application but a seperate COM Component name "Windows Update Agent" handles it, and it provides a set of COM Interfaces named "Windows Update Agent API" which any application can call and use Windows Update Agent's capabilities to check for updates, download, and deploy them.

OK...OK! So Windows Live Installer is one such application that uses Windows Update Agent API to check for latest versions of softwares, to downlaod and to install them.... then why didn't it function when I had XP with SP2 which had Windows Update Agent and still asked for Windows Update Agent 5.8.02469 or later...

Well the Windows Live Installer is making a API call that was added only after the above version and hence knowing it cannot continue it displays the message for you so that you can get and install it?

Understood, but why did I had to manually download the update and install it, when Automatic Update Service itself could have done it?

Good question! and answer may be that due to download breakups, other more priority downloads or for some other reason it failed to update itself automatically and thus required you to manually do it... and if that doesn't satisfy you... probably because barbers don't have hair-cuts themselves

So in essence, Windows Update Agent is here, you like it or not... and going to live, with Windows Live... and may be a lot of software in future would use the API to update themselves. So keep yourselves (I mean your PC) updated.