How to run the WSUS Server Cleanup Wizard from command-line

When running the WSUS Server Cleanup Wizard from the MMC snap-in, it can occur that you receive the following WSUS database error:

Error: Database Error
An error occurred when trying to perform a database operation. This can happen if the database is very busy, if the database service is stopped, if the connection to the database is lost, of if the Post-Installation task is not completed successfully. Please contact your system administrator if the problem persists.

Click Reset Server Node to try to connect to the server again.


If you haven't performed the cleanup in a long time, then this can happen. So you might decide to read through the manual of the wsusutil.exe tool where you think that the deleteunneededrevisions switch will resolve all your problems, however, it seems that the wsusutil.exe parameter deleteunneededrevisions doesn't exist on WSUS 3.1.

Luckily, you can achieve the same thing using powershell. The advantages here are:

  • If you have used this powershell script once, you can use the Server Cleanup Wizard from the GUI again.
  • You can schedule the execution of this powershell script using Task Scheduler (for example once every month).
  • On my WSUS server, I had about 600GB of updates. After running this script, almost 2000 updates were compressed, saving almost 200GB of disk space!


If you save the contents of the powershell script to "WSUSCleanup.ps1", then you can execute this script as follows from a DOS Command Prompt window: powershell -file "WSUSCleanup.ps1"
Make sure that you open the DOS Command Prompt as administrator!

The script itself is only 11 lines long (13 if you include comments):

# WSUSCleanup.ps1

[reflection.assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.UpdateServices.Administration")` | out-null

$wsus = [Microsoft.UpdateServices.Administration.AdminProxy]::GetUpdateServer();

$cleanupScope = new-object Microsoft.UpdateServices.Administration.CleanupScope;

$cleanupScope.DeclineSupersededUpdates = $true      

$cleanupScope.DeclineExpiredUpdates = $true

$cleanupScope.CleanupObsoleteUpdates = $true

$cleanupScope.CompressUpdates = $true

$cleanupScope.CleanupObsoleteComputers = $true

$cleanupScope.CleanupUnneededContentFiles = $true

$cleanupManager = $wsus.GetCleanupManager();

$cleanupManager.PerformCleanup($cleanupScope);

# Script END


The output of the script looked as follows when I ran it the first time:

C:\scripts>powershell -file "WSUSCleanup.ps1"


SupersededUpdatesDeclined : 0

ExpiredUpdatesDeclined    : 0

ObsoleteUpdatesDeleted    : 3

UpdatesCompressed         : 1953

ObsoleteComputersDeleted  : 0

DiskSpaceFreed            : 168707192502


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Comments

Unexpected token...?

Did Anyone else get an Error with "Unexpected Token..."? i.e.Unexpected token ' ` ' in expression or statement.At C:\WSUSCleanup.ps1:3 char 88+ [reflection.assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.UpdateServices.Administration")` <<<< | out-null    + CategoryInfo               :ParserError: (' :String) [], ParentContainsErrorRecordException    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : UnexpectedToken 

I just tried this on my

I just tried this on my server and the backquote symbol seems to be optional.It also works without the backquote on the first line.Do that resolve your error?

Hi,How long does it take to

Hi,How long does it take to finish running that script? I'm waiting almost an hour for the script to complete.ThanksAsif

If you run it for the first

If you run it for the first time than it can take a few hours to complete.If you run it periodically then it should take less time.

Still timeout with script

PS C:\temp> ./WSUSCleanup.ps1  
...
(after about 20 minutes)
...
Exception calling "PerformCleanup" with "1" argument(s): "Timeout expired.  The timeout period elapsed prior to complet
ion of the operation or the server is not responding.
The statement has been terminated."
At C:\temp\WSUSCleanup.ps1:12 char:31
+ $cleanupManager.PerformCleanup <<<< ($cleanupScope);
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DotNetMethodException

How can I get the final

How can I get the final output put into a text file instead? I want to be able to email as a post cleanup report. I'm setting these up as automated tasks and the cleanup will run then the cleanup results will be emailed to the team straight after.

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