How to determine if a specific KB Windows update has been applied to your computer

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Added by Rick Trader September 21, 2015

There may be times when troubleshooting or preparing for an upgrade to determine if a specific KB Windows Update has been applied to a computer.

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There a couple of solutions.

First use the Windows Update tool.

1. Launch Windows Update
2. Click on View your update history

3. Search the update history to see if the desired update is installed.

Second way – Use DISM.exe.

1. Launch the Command Prompt with administrative privileges.

2. By typing the following command within your elevated command prompt will get a list of all updates that have been applied to your computer. Search the update history to see if the desired update is installed:

Type dism /online /get-packages

3. You can check for a specific update by piping the output to FINDSTR. Typing the following command within your elevated command prompt will get a list of a specific update has been applied to your computer:

Type dism /online /get-packages | findstr KB2894856  (KB is case sensitive)

Note:  (Replace the KB number with whichever update you are looking for.)   If the update exists there will be a response if not a command prompt will be returned.

Third way – Use SYSTEMINFO.exe.

1. Launch the Command Prompt with administrative privileges.

2. By typing the following command within your elevated command prompt will get a list of all updates that have been applied to your computer. Search the update history to see if the desired update is installed:

Type SYSTEMINFO.exe

3. You can check for a specific update by piping the output to FINDSTR. Typing the following command within your elevated command prompt will get a list of a specific update has been applied to your computer:

Type SYSTEMINFO.exe | findstr KB2894856  (KB is case sensitive)

Note:  (Replace the KB number with whichever update you are looking for.)   If the update exists there will be a response if not a command prompt will be returned.

Hope this helps you determine if a specific update is installed on your computer or not.

Until next time, RIDE SAFE!

Rick Trader
Windows Server Instructor – Interface Technical Training
Phoenix, AZ