Update showing as succeeded in update history but still pending installation (KB2975719)

Question

I just installed September patches. KB2975719 is showing as downloaded but not installed in both the WSUS console, and the Windows Update control panel of servers.
The WindowsUpdate.log file shows the patch as successfully installed:
2014-09-20    19:10:07:325     704    a0c    Report    REPORT EVENT: {FE320875-D2A9-44A5-8F8F-5EEA2782EE27}    2014-09-20 19:09:50:763+0100   
1    190 [AU_SCHEDULED_INSTALL_SUCCESS]    101    {756F8A5D-1588-4CFA-9B00-3DC89266CEE0}    204    0    AutomaticUpdates    Success    Content
Install    Installation Successful: Windows successfully installed the following update: Update for Windows Server 2012 R2 (KB2975719)
The WindowsUpdate control panel "View update history" also shows it as succeeded
And so does the event viewer - SYSTEM:
Source: WindowsUpdateClient; ID 19; Message: Installation Successful: Windows successfully installed the following update: Update for Windows Server 2012 R2 (KB2975719)
Despite these, the KB2975719 still shows as ready to install in the Windows Update control panel. "One important update is available" -> "Update for Windows Server 2012 R2 (KB2975719).
I installed the patch manually on one server and it did install correctly. I now have two lines showing success for KB2975719 in the "view update history".
I noticed this like in my update log and was wondering if it could be part of the problem:
2014-09-20    19:03:32:274     708    a18    Shutdwn    user declined update at shutdown
It's not the first time I face patches that do not install. It seems to be a recurring issue on my servers. Not sure if I did something wrong with the configuration of WSUS. Each month I have 1-2 patches that do not install while other are installing properly.
Has anyone seen this already of have an idea of how I could troubleshoot this further?

Answer 1

Please read the KB article for 2975719. It clearly lists update 2993651 as a pre-requisite.
Okay, so why are we having this conversation? It's a documented prerequisite. Having access to that information, it's then incumbent upon you to install the August KB2993651 Security Update, before the September KB2975719 Update Rollup as indicated
by the documentation for the update.
That's pretty much the way 99% of people are going to patch their systems anyway. (FWIW, I never encountered this issue on any of my systems because I always install Security Updates first and I installed the Update Rollup last.)
Yes, the Update Rollup does not detect that prerequisite. Fact is, there are a LOT of updates that do not have logic to detect for prerequisites, so in that this is not really unusual at all., albeit somewhat inconvenient if you're trying to throw months
of updates at a machine in a single pass.
What I'd say is more disconcerting, is not that the detection logic fails to detect the prereq, but that the "Update Rollup" didn't include the prerequisite update in the first place.
In any event, you're right, this is something for the Windows SE team to fix. That would be something to discuss with them in the Windows OS forum.
We use MDT to "build and capture" the fully-patched image that we then deploy with SCCM.
But that's not what I said. What I said was to patch the IMAGE (not patch a reference machine and recapture a patched image), so that the IMAGE is always up to date.
But even if you patch a reference machine, and recapture the image, and keep the reference machine up-to-date on a monthly basis, or only patch one-month-at-a-time of updates, you would have never encountered this issue. Fundamentally you
hit this issue because you're deploying multiple months of update simultaneously.
Patching the IMAGE as the update are released would completely avoid this issue (as well as eliminate the need to regularly recapture the image) as the August Security Updates would have almost certainly been applied prior to a September Update Rollup.
Lawrence Garvin, M.S., MCSA, MCITP:EA, MCDBA
SolarWinds Head Geek
Microsoft MVP - Software Packaging, Deployment & Servicing (2005-2014)
My MVP Profile: http://mvp.microsoft.com/en-us/mvp/Lawrence%20R%20Garvin-32101
http://www.solarwinds.com/gotmicrosoft
The views expressed on this post are mine and do not necessarily reflect the views of SolarWinds.