Install Windows Update file (*.msu) without having Windows update service activated - windows

Question

I want to install a specific Windows Update file (.msu) on a device which is running on Windows 7 embedded. The msu file is available and the automated installation is running the right commands, but I have a problem:
On the device, the Windows update service is disabled. This is a requirement from the device image, this service should not be activated (not even for the time of the installation). If I try to install the msu file without this service, an error occurs "The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or ...".
My question is : Does anyone know a possibility to install a msu file without having the Windows Update Service enabled?

Answer 1

From comment:
Using DISM.exe works if the right command is used.
Additionally, it is important that MSU files cannot be installed using DISM.exe with /Online mode.
You have to unpack the msu file, the resulting *.cab file can then be installed using DISM.exe without enabled Windows update service. See How to use DISM to install a hotfix from within Windows
I'll quote the blog post here:
The purpose of this blog is to give you the steps to install a hotfix
(or any other “package”) on the currently running operating system
using the Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) command.
...
The command-line switch to install a package is “/Add-Package.”
... the file name is “Windows6.1-KB976571-v2-x64.msu.”
... you would assume that following
syntax would work:
DISM.exe /Online /Add-Package /PackagePath:c:\kb976571\Windows6.1-KB976571-v2-x64.msu
You will see the following snippet if you review the file
c:\windows\logs\dism\dism.log:
...
2010-09-02 20:33:58, Error DISM DISM Package Manager: PID=7116
DISM does not support installing MSU files online. –
CMsuPackage::Install(hr:0x80070032)
...
The answer is found in defining what a Microsoft Update Standalone
Package (MSU) file is and how you would do this in the previous
command-line tool, Package Manager (Pkgmgr.exe).
You had to extract the contents of a MSU file and instead use the .CAB
file of the package in order to install or uninstall using the Package
Manager tool
(http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;940410).
So try this approach:
...
Use the following command to extract the contents of the MSU file:
Expand –F:* c:\kb976571\Windows6.1-KB976571-v2-x64.msu c:\temp\976571
... multiple files, which included the Windows6.1-KB976571-v2-x64.cab
file.
Now try the following command:
...
DISM.exe /Online /Add-Package /PackagePath:c:\temp\976571\Windows6.1-KB976571-v2-x64.cab
... (or) ...
start /wait DISM.exe /Online /Add-Package /PackagePath:c:\temp\976571\Windows6.1-KB976571-v2-x64.cab /Quiet /NoRestart