How to Manually Install CAB and MSU Updates in Windows 10

Windows updates are released as packages with the MSU or CAB extensions. If Windows Update service is not working (or specifically disabled), you can manually download and install the necessary cumulative or security updates for your system. In this article we’ll show how to download and offline install updates in the MSU or CAB file formats in Windows 10.

How to Manually Download the MSU Windows Update File

Initially, Microsoft released security updates and patches in the CAB (Windows cabinet) file format. This is how your computer receives updates from Microsoft update servers or a local WSUS server. To make manual distribution of separate updates using Microsoft Update Catalog more convenient, these CAB files are packed in a special MSU format (Microsoft Update Standalone Installer Package).

You can download MSU Windows updates files (sometimes also CAB files) or files for other Microsoft products from Microsoft Update Catalog (https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/). Go to Microsoft Update Catalog, find and download the update you need. For example, I want to install an Adobe Flash Player security update for Windows 10 x64 1507 – KB4056887. Click Download.

Move the file windows10.0-kb4056887-x64_fca8a311f0495e669715ae5aa0e0d8720f945049.msu you have downloaded to the C:\temp folder. Rename it, to get a shorter name: windows10.0-kb4056887-x64.msu

Installing MSU Update File in Windows

To start the installation of a Windows update package, just double-click the MSU file you have downloaded. If the update is applicable to this computer, a Windows Update Standalone Installer window will open, where you will be prompted to confirm the update installation.

You can also install an MSU update package using wusa.exe in the command prompt.

To install the update in a silent mode (a user won’t see any pop-up windows) with a later restart, open the command prompt as administrator and run the following command:

wusa.exe c:\Temp\windows10.0-kb4056887-x64.msu /quiet /norestart

In some time make sure that the update has been installed successfully by running this command:

wmic qfe list | findstr 4056887

Or in the Setup event log, find an entry with the Event ID 2 from the source WUSA and the following message:

Windows update “Security Update for Windows (KB4056887)” was successfully installed. (Command line: “wusa.exe c:\Temp\windows10.0-kb4056887-x64.msu /quiet /norestart”)

How to Extract a CAB File from an MSU Update Package

In some cases when Windows Update that is used by wusa works incorrectly (try to reset Windows Update agent settings first), you can’t install an update in the MSU format. In this case you can unpack MSU package manually, extract a CAB file from it and install it manually in your system.

To unpack an MSU package to C:\Temp\kb4056887 (you have to create this folder in advance), run this command:

expand _f:* “C:\Temp\windows10.0-kb4056887-x64.msu” C:\Temp\kb4056887

Microsoft (R) File Expansion Utility Version 10.0.10011.16384
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Adding C:\Tmp\kb4056887\WSUSSCAN.cab to Extraction Queue
Adding C:\Tmp\kb4056887\Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64.cab to Extraction Queue
Adding C:\Tmp\kb4056887\Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64-pkgProperties.txt to Extraction Queue
Adding C:\Tmp\kb4056887\Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64.xml to Extraction Queue
Expanding Files ….
Expanding Files Complete …
4 files total.

As you can see, 4 file types have appeared in the folder:

• An .xml file (Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64.xml) that contains MSU package metadata and used by wusa.exe;
• A .cab file (Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64.cab — one or more) is an archive with Windows update;
• *pkgProperties.txt file (Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64-pkgProperties.txt) that contains package properties (release date, architecture, package type, a link to the KB, etc.).

Installing a CAB Update File in Windows 10

You can install a CAB update file obtained from an MSU package in two ways.

The most common way to install an update from a CAB file is using DISM.exe. The installation command can look like this:

DISM.exe /Online /Add-Package /PackagePath:c:\Temp\kb4056887\Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64.cab

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.10240.16384
Image Version: 10.0.10240.16384
Processing 1 of 1 — Adding package Package_for_KB4056887~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~10.0.1.0
[==========================100.0%==========================]
The operation completed successfully.

If you have to install a CAB package in a silent mode with a later restart, use the following DISM command:

start /wait DISM.exe /Online /Add-Package /PackagePath: c:\Temp\kb4056887\Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64.cab /Quiet /NoRestart

In Windows 8 and Windows 7, you can install an update using Pkgmgr. The command is:

start /w Pkgmgr /ip /m:c:"c:\Temp\kb4056887\Windows10.0-KB4056887-x64.cab"

This guide on manual installation of cumulative or any other Windows updates is applicable to all supported Windows OS versions: Windows 10 / 8.1 / 7 and Windows Server 2016 / 2012 / R2 / 2008 / R2.