Check_update.exe on Server Core

B4DschK4Pp · May 15, 2019, 2:34pm

Hi everyone,

I just installed the icinga2 agent 2.10.4 msi on a Server 2019 Core. I want to monitor my Windows Updates with check_update.exe.
I changed my Icinga2 Service to local System, as I did with my Servers with desktop experience, but the check runs into a timeout.

If I run the check_update.exe on server core, it returns “Failed to format error message, last error was: 2147954402”.

With debug:
PS C:\Program Files\ICINGA2\sbin> .\check_update.exe --debug
Initializing COM library
Creating UpdateSession and UpdateSearcher
Querying updates from server
Failed to format error message, last error was: 2147954402

Any ideas?

dnsmichi · May 16, 2019, 9:23am

Hi,

“core” is the edition without a desktop interface, right? I’m not sure if that works reliably, we don’t test such.

If the plugin doesn’t work, can you try such with a Powershell script instead? From a quick Google:

gist.github.com

https://gist.github.com/Grimthorr/44727ea8cf5d3df11cf7

pending-updates.ps1

$UpdateSession = New-Object -ComObject Microsoft.Update.Session
$UpdateSearcher = $UpdateSession.CreateupdateSearcher()
$Updates = @($UpdateSearcher.Search("IsHidden=0 and IsInstalled=0").Updates)
$Updates | Select-Object Title

Cheers,
Michael

kiwi · July 25, 2019, 10:33am

HI I had the same error after setting up the proxy on cmd --> netsh --> winhttp set proxy=IP:Port
and a rescan of windows Updates it works fine we are using a proxy to access the Internet. Port 80, 443 is blockt. We have seen this on Windows 1803 17134.765

BR Kiwi

syskoo · March 18, 2021, 4:30pm

I encountered this problem just today, but I found no solution anywhere. However, I noticed that my WSUS server is not working because IIS has stopped working. After I started it, the check_update.exe query was restored and everything worked fine.

aclark6996 · March 19, 2021, 3:02pm

Hello @syskoo
I have experienced “Failed to format error message” on my Windows servers. I did not experience it with the check_update.exe check command but with the CPU and network interface check commands. The problem is the performance counter are corrupted on your server. Run command “lodctr /R” from a elevated command prompt to rebuild the performance counters. I am not sure if this will help with the check_update check command but wanted to let you know.

Regards
Alex