Windows Update Chef Recipe

Question

I am attempting to use the following chef recipe to download and install windows updates on a windows 2008 R2 machine in the Amazon cloud: https://github.com/dougm/site-cookbooks/blob/master/windows/recipes/update.rb.

I am using Chef 11.8.0 but the chef run fails with the following error:

Recipe Compile Error in c:/chef/cache/cookbooks/test/recipes/updates.rb

WIN32OLERuntimeError

---

(in OLE method `CreateUpdateDownloader': ) OLE error code:80070005 in HRESULT error code:0x80020009 Exception occurred.

Cookbook Trace:

---

c:/chef/cache/cookbooks/test/recipes/updates.rb:54:in method_missing' c:/chef/cache/cookbooks/test/recipes/updates.rb:54:infrom_file'

Line 54: downloader = session.CreateUpdateDownloader.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

The error is coming from this line of code. The error is not related to Chef, but rather WIN32OLE is raising that exception.

I would try running the code in an interactive Ruby (irb) and see if you get a more helpful error.

Answer 2

Like sethvargo said, this is not directly a chef code issue. Both "code:80070005" and "error code 0x80020009" are permissions issues. Try confirming the user context that Chef is running on your Windows server. Is Chef installed and running as a service or are you triggering a chef-client execution?

Answer 3

#
# Cookbook Name:: InstallWindowsUpdates
# Recipe:: default
# Author(s):: A M
#

# Configures Windows Update automatic updates
powershell_script "install-windows-updates" do
  guard_interpreter :powershell_script
  # Set a 2 hour timeout
  timeout 7200
  code <<-EOH
    Write-Host -ForegroundColor Green "Searching for updates (this may take up to 30 minutes or more)..."

    $updateSession = New-Object -com Microsoft.Update.Session
    $updateSearcher = $updateSession.CreateupdateSearcher()
    try
    {
      $searchResult =  $updateSearcher.Search("Type='Software' and IsHidden=0 and IsInstalled=0").Updates
    }
    catch
    {
      eventcreate /t ERROR /ID 1 /L APPLICATION /SO "Chef-Cookbook" /D "InstallWindowsUpdates: Update attempt failed."
      $updateFailed = $true
    }

    if(!($updateFailed)) {
      foreach ($updateItem in $searchResult) {
        $UpdatesToDownload = New-Object -com Microsoft.Update.UpdateColl
        if (!($updateItem.EulaAccepted)) {
          $updateItem.AcceptEula()
        }
        $UpdatesToDownload.Add($updateItem)
        $Downloader = $UpdateSession.CreateUpdateDownloader()
        $Downloader.Updates = $UpdatesToDownload
        $Downloader.Download()
        $UpdatesToInstall = New-Object -com Microsoft.Update.UpdateColl
        $UpdatesToInstall.Add($updateItem)
        $Title = $updateItem.Title
        Write-host -ForegroundColor Green "  Installing Update: $Title"
        $Installer = $UpdateSession.CreateUpdateInstaller()
        $Installer.Updates = $UpdatesToInstall
        $InstallationResult = $Installer.Install()
        eventcreate /t INFORMATION /ID 1 /L APPLICATION /SO "Chef-Cookbook" /D "InstallWindowsUpdates: Installed update $Title."
      }

      if (!($searchResult.Count)) {
        eventcreate /t INFORMATION /ID 999 /L APPLICATION /SO "Chef-Cookbook" /D "InstallWindowsUpdates: No updates available."
      }
      eventcreate /t INFORMATION /ID 1 /L APPLICATION /SO "Chef-Cookbook" /D "InstallWindowsUpdates: Done Installing Updates."
    }
  EOH
  action :run
end