N-able N-central Patch Management is not installing patches - General Troubleshooting

Last Modified

Mon Aug 10 14:53 GMT 2020

Description

  • This article explains what to do if N-able N-central Patch Management is not installing patches, but may not cover all situations.
     

Environment

  • N-able N-central

Solution

  1. Ensure that Patch Management is enabled for the device in question
  2. Approve the patches you wish to have installed, more information on this can be found here:
    1. Approve by rule
    2. Manual approval
  3. Ensure that the Patch Management Installation Maintenance Window duration has plenty of time to install the patches.
  4. Check also that the Maintenance Window allows installation (or uninstallation) of the desired patch classification.
    • Example: 

       
    • Example patchinstall.log:

      [154] 2020-07-25 22:02:30,968 <<*>> <-------------------------------- START ImmediateAction[False] downloadBeforeSchedule [True] scheduleHit [True] patchOnBoot [False]------------------------------->
      [154] 2020-07-25 22:02:30,975 <<*>> LoadApprovals => Reading Patch Approvals done.
      [154] 2020-07-25 22:02:30,975 <<*>> Classification Filtering => Filtering updates for selected Classification GUIDs [e6cf1350-c01b-414d-a61f-263d14d133b4, e0789628-ce08-4437-be74-2495b842f43b, cd5ffd1e-e932-4e3a-bf74-18bf0b1bbd83].

    • Example: Observing Patch Classifications in the database: 
      select guid, classificationname from patch_classification;
                 guid                 | classificationname
--------------------------------------+--------------------
 e6cf1350-c01b-414d-a61f-263d14d133b4 | Critical Updates
 28bc880e-0592-4cbf-8f95-c79b17911d5f | Update Rollups
 cd5ffd1e-e932-4e3a-bf74-18bf0b1bbd83 | Updates
 b54e7d24-7add-428f-8b75-90a396fa584f | Feature Packs
 e0789628-ce08-4437-be74-2495b842f43b | Definition Updates
 0fa1201d-4330-4fa8-8ae9-b877473b6441 | Security Updates
 68c5b0a3-d1a6-4553-ae49-01d3a7827828 | Service Packs
 ebfc1fc5-71a4-4f7b-9aca-3b9a503104a0 | Drivers
 b4832bd8-e735-4761-8daf-37f882276dab | Tools
 871a0782-be12-a5c4-c57f-1bd6d9f7144e | Third Party
 5eaef3e6-abb0-4192-9b26-0fd955381fa9 | Hotfix
 3689bdc8-b205-4af4-8d4a-a63924c5e9d5 | Upgrades
(12 rows)
  5. If this is relating to a third party patch, ensure the associated application(s) are closed because some applications cannot be updated when they're open
  6. Review the C:\Program Files (x86)\N-able Technologies\Windows Agent\log\PatchInstall.log log to see what has happened when that patch is attempting install
    • For example, driver patches usually fail to install as they require user input, which below shows a snippet of the log:
      • Error: Title[INTEL driver update for 3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller - 0154] Guid[0c33b7e9-2a9a-4561-b59e-ab2088528fe3] Approval[Install] Error[Install needs user input]
    • If a patch successfully installed and doesn't require a reboot, it would show something similar to:
      • Install Update for Microsoft Visio Viewer 2013 (KB2817301) 64-Bit Edition OperationResultCode: Succeeded
      • Update for Microsoft Visio Viewer 2013 (KB2817301) 64-Bit Edition is Installed. Reboot:NotRequired to complete the install.
    • If within this log you see any error codes, it's always best to familarise yourself with the list of Windows Update errors, which can be found here
  7. If you're not seeing the install attempt occur, or if there's any issues with our Patch Management engine communicating with the Windows Update Agent, then please review the C:\Program Files (x86)\N-able Technologies\Windows Agent\log\NWindowsUpdate.log
    • For example, if there's an issue with the Windows Update Agent then you would see a hex code exception shown:
      • Exception from HRESULT: 0x8024001E
    • To resolve issues with the Windows Update Agent, it's always best to run the Windows Update Troubleshooter, which is mentioned in this article
  8. If any of the steps above didn't resolve your issue, please raise a case with Technical Support