Question:

How can I access the Microsoft Update Catalog through an API or documentation, and retrieve the most recent Cumulative Update for a given operating system?

Answer:

How to Query the Microsoft Update Catalog Programmatically

The Microsoft Update Catalog is a website that provides a searchable database of updates, drivers, and hotfixes for Windows operating systems and other Microsoft products. It is often used by system administrators and advanced users who want to manually download and install specific updates.

However, the Microsoft Update Catalog does not offer an official API or documentation for programmatic access. This means that there is no straightforward way to query the catalog using a script or a tool, and retrieve the latest Cumulative Update for a given operating system.

Fortunately, there are some unofficial methods and workarounds that can help you achieve this goal. In this article, we will explore some of these options and show you how to use them.

One possible way to query the Microsoft Update Catalog programmatically is to use a web scraper. A web scraper is a tool or a script that can extract data from web pages by parsing the HTML code. You can use a web scraper to simulate a browser request to the catalog, and then parse the response to find the relevant information.

For example, you can use the following PowerShell script to query the catalog for the latest Cumulative Update for Windows 10 version 2004:

“`powershell

Define the base URL of the catalog

$baseURL = “http://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com”

Define the search query for the Cumulative Update

$query = “2021-02 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 2004 for x64-based Systems (KB4601319)”

Encode the query for the URL

$encodedQuery = [System.Web.HttpUtility]::UrlEncode($query)

Construct the full URL with the query

$fullURL = “$baseURL/Search.aspx?q=$encodedQuery”

Invoke the web request and get the response

$response = Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $fullURL

Parse the response and find the table with the results

$table = $response.ParsedHtml.getElementsByTagName(“table”) | Where-Object {$_.className -eq “results”}

Get the first row of the table, which contains the latest update

$row = $table.rows[0]

Get the title, description, and download link of the update

$title = $row.cells[0].innerText $description = $row.cells[1].innerText $link = $row.cells[3].getElementsByTagName(“a”)[0].href

Output the results

Write-Output “Title: $title”

Write-Output “Description: $description”

Write-Output “Link: $link”

“`

The output of this script should look something like this:

“`

Title: 2021-02 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 2004 for x64-based Systems (KB4601319)

Description: Windows 10, version 1903 and later

Link: http://download.windowsupdate.com/d/msdownload/update/software/secu/2021/02/windows10.0-kb4601319-x64_0a7f7a8a5a7a2c4f0f6a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c9a9f0a0c