Performs a scan of cluster nodes for applicable updates and installs those updates through an Updating Run on the specified cluster.
Windows Server · Risk: High · Documentation Verified
Last verified: 2026-10-26
Microsoft ClusterAwareUpdating reference: Performs a scan of cluster nodes for applicable updates and installs those updates through an Updating Run on the specified cluster. The syntax and selected example below are adapted from the pinned Windows Server 2025 reference. Module availability, target configuration and delegated permissions determine whether it can run in your environment. Documentation and parameter text: Microsoft, CC BY 4.0; formatting adapted by Cmdlet World. No execution testing is claimed.
Use an account with the target resource permissions documented for Invoke-CauRun. Modifying administrative cmdlets may require elevation or delegated administration. This catalog does not assert that ordinary users can execute the command.
Supported environments
Windows / ClusterAwareUpdating · Windows Server 2025 documentation; feature/module prerequisites apply
Parameters
-AttemptSoftReboot
Indicates that command attempts a Kernel Soft Reboot (KSR) for the failover cluster. KSR bypasses BIOS/firmware initialization. You can only use KSR for updates that do not require a BIOS/firmware initialization.
-CauPluginArguments
Specifies a set of name=value pairs, as arguments, for each updating plug-in to use. For instance, to specify a Domain argument for one plug-in: - @{Domain=Domain.local} You can specify multiple pairs in a set separated with semicolons. For instance: - @{name1=value1;name2=value2;name3=value3} These name=value pairs must be meaningful to the CauPluginName parameter that you specify. If you specify arguments for more than one plug-in, provide the sets of name=value pairs in the order that you pass values in CauPluginName, separated by commas. For instance: - @{name1=value1;name2=value2;name3=value3},@{name4=value4;name5=value5} For the default Microsoft.WindowsUpdatePlugin plug-in, no arguments are needed. The following arguments are optional: - 'IncludeRecommendedUpdates'='\': Boolean value to indicate that recommended updates will be applied in addition to important updates on each node. If not specified, the default value is False. - A standard Windows Update Agent query string that specifies criteria used by the Windows Update Agent to filter the updates that will be applied to each node. For a name, use QueryString and for a value, enclose the full query in quotation marks. If not specified, then the Microsoft.WindowsUpdatePlugin plug-in by default uses the following argument: - QueryString="IsInstalled=0 and Type='Software' and IsHidden=0 and IsAssigned=1" For more information about query strings for the default Microsoft.WindowsUpdatePlugin plug-in and the criteria such as IsInstalled that can be included in the query strings, see IUpdateSearcher::Search method. For the Microsoft.HotfixPlugin plug-in, the following argument is required: - HotfixRootFolderPath=\: The UNC path to a hotfix root folder in an SMB share with a structure that contains the updates to apply and that contains the hotfix configuration file. The following arguments are optional for the Micr
-CauPluginName
Specifies one or more plug-ins to use when performing updates. You can specify multiple values separated with commas. The default is the Microsoft.WindowsUpdatePlugin plug-in. This plug-in coordinates the Windows Update Agent software resident on each cluster node, the same software that is used when updates are downloaded from Windows Update or Microsoft Update, or from a Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) server. For more information about how plug-ins work with CAU, see How Cluster-Aware Updating plug-ins work.
-ClearCorruptReports
Specifies whether to clear any corrupt reports that were generated during a previous run of the Cluster-Aware Updating (CAU) tool to recover from a failed or interrupted update run.
Prerequisites
Windows with the ClusterAwareUpdating module and the Windows feature or management tools that provide it. Confirm target connectivity and version compatibility using the linked Microsoft reference.
Security considerations
This cmdlet changes system state. Review every target and parameter in the official reference, test outside production, and prepare an appropriate backup or rollback. Do not execute the example automatically.
Examples
Example 1: Perform a scan and a full Updating Run on the specified cluster
Invoke-CauRun @parameters
This command performs a scan and a full Updating Run on the cluster named CONTOSO-FC1. This cmdlet uses the Microsoft.WindowsUpdatePlugin plug-in and requires that all cluster nodes be online before the running this cmdlet. In addition, this cmdlet allows no more than three retries per node before marking the node as failed, and allows no more than one node to fail before marking the entire Updating Run as failed. Because the command specifies the Force parameter, the cmdlet runs without displaying confirmation prompts. This example uses splatting to pass parameter values from the $parameters variable to the command. Learn more about Splatting. Source: Microsoft, CC BY 4.0; transcript prompt/output removed. This example was not executed.
Specifies a cluster for which this cmdlet installs updates.
-ConfigurationName
Specifies the Windows PowerShell session configuration that defines the session in which scripts are run, specified by PreUpdateScript and PostUpdateScript parameters, and can limit the cmdlets that are available to run. If either a pre-update or post-update script is specified but a configuration name isn't specified, then the default session configuration that is built into Windows PowerShell is used.
-Confirm
Prompts you for confirmation before running the cmdlet.
-Credential
Specifies the administrative credentials for the target cluster.
-EnableFirewallRules
Enables the Remote Shutdown Windows Firewall rule group on each cluster node, if it isn't already enabled. If the EnableFirewallRules parameter is specified, CAU automatically re-enables the Remote Shutdown rule group each time the CAU clustered role performs an Updating Run, in case the rules are disabled manually in the intervening time. Enabling this rule group permits inbound communication to each cluster node during each updating run that allows CAU to shut down and restart the node remotely (if the installation of an update requires a restart). If Windows Firewall is in use on the cluster nodes and the rule group isn't enabled, the Updating Run will fail. The Remote Shutdown Windows Firewall rule group isn't enabled when it will conflict with Group Policy settings that are configured for Windows Firewall.
-FailbackMode
Specifies the method used to bring drained workloads back to the node, at the end of updating the node. Drained workloads are workloads that were previously run on the node, but were moved to another node. The acceptable values for this parameter are: - NoFailback - Immediate - Policy The default value is Immediate.
-Force
Forces the command to run without asking for user confirmation.
-ForcePauseAndDrain
Indicates that the command forces cluster nodes to pause and drain roles. A forced drain moves the roles off of the draining node even if the group cannot move. A group might not be able to move because no other node can host the group or the group is locked.
-ForcePauseDrainAndReboot
Indicates that the command forces cluster nodes to pause, drain roles, and restart. A forced drain moves the roles off of the draining node even if the group cannot move. A group might not be able to move because no other node can host the group or the group is locked.
-ForcePauseNoDrain
Indicates that the command forces cluster nodes to pause. The nodes are not drained.
-ForceRecovery (required)
Indicates that the cmdlet recovers from a previous failed run that left the cluster in a Locked state. This switch defeats the synchronization mechanism used to prevent two update coordinators from accidentally updating the same cluster at the same time. Use with care.
-ForceSelfUpdate
Specifies whether to update the CAU plugin on the local computer before running the update.
-MaxFailedNodes
Specifies the maximum number of nodes on which updating can fail. If one more than this number of nodes fails, then the Updating Run is stopped. The range is from zero (0) through 1 less than the number of cluster nodes. The default for most clusters is approximately one-third of the number of nodes.
-MaxRetriesPerNode
Specifies the maximum number of times that the update process (including any pre-update and post-update scripts) is retried per node. The maximum is 64 and the default is 3.
-NodeOrder
Specifies an array of cluster nodes names in the order that they are updated.
-OsRollingUpgrade
Indicates that the CAU cluster role upgrades the operating system of the cluster nodes without stopping the Hyper-V or the Scale-Out File Server workloads.
-PostUpdateScript
Specifies the path and file name for a Windows PowerShell script to run on each node after updating finishes, and just after the node is brought out of Maintenance mode. The file name extension must be .ps1 and the total length of the path plus the file name must be no longer than 260 characters. As a best practice, the script should be located on a disk in cluster storage, or at a highly available network share, to ensure that it is always accessible to all the cluster nodes.
-PreUpdateScript
Specifies the path and file name for a Windows PowerShell script to run on each node before updating begins, and before the node is put into Maintenance mode. The file name extension must be .ps1 and the total length of the path plus the file name must be no longer than 260 characters. As a best practice, the script should be located on a disk in cluster storage, or at a highly available network share, to ensure that the script is always accessible to all the cluster nodes. If a pre-update script fails, the node isn't updated.
-RebootMode
Specifies the type of reboot to use for each node in the cluster during the update. The available values are: - ClusProp - FullReboot - SoftReboot - PluginCustomReboot - OrchestratorDefault
-RebootTimeoutMinutes
Specifies the time in minutes that CAU allows for the restarting of a node. If the restart doesn't complete within this time, then the Updating Run on that node is marked as failed.
-RequireAllNodesOnline
Indicates that all cluster nodes must be online and reachable before the update begins.
-ResumeNode (required)
Specifies the name of a node in the cluster to resume updating if it was previously suspended.
-RunPluginsSerially
Indicates that CAU will scan each cluster node for applicable updates and stage the updates for each plug-in in the plug-in order passed into the CauPluginName parameter when multiple plug-ins are used during an Updating Run. By default, CAU scans and stages the applicable updates for all plug-ins in parallel. Regardless of the configuration of this parameter, CAU installs the applicable updates for each plug-in sequentially. The parameter is valid only when multiple plug-ins are specified for the CauPluginName parameter. If a single plug-in is specified, a warning appears.
-SeparateReboots
Indicates that CAU will shut down and restart a cluster node after each plug-in installs updates on the node, if the installation of an update by a plug-in requires a restart when multiple plug-ins are used during an Updating Run. By default, during an Updating Run, all plug-ins complete the installation of updates on a cluster node before the node restarts one time. The parameter is valid only when multiple plug-ins are specified for the CauPluginName parameter. If a single plug-in is specified, a warning appears.
-SiteAwareUpdatingOrder
Specifies the order in which the command updates cluster nodes. By default, CAU selects the order of nodes to update based on the level of activity.
-SkipUpdateChecks
Indicates that the command skips update checks.
-StopAfter
Specifies the time in minutes after which the Updating Run is canceled if it hasn't completed. The time span can be expressed in the standard ways available in Windows PowerShell, for instance, 01:30:00 represents one hour and thirty minutes. By default, the Updating Run is allowed an unlimited amount of time to complete. If pre-update or post-update scripts are specified, then the entire process of running scripts and performing updates must be complete within this time limit.
-StopOnPluginFailure
Indicates that if a failure occurs during the application of updates on a node by any plug-in, subsequent updates on the node that are coordinated by the remaining plug-ins are stopped when multiple plug-ins are used during an Updating Run. By default, a failure by one plug-in doesn't affect the application of updates on a node by other plug-ins. The parameter is valid only when multiple plug-ins are specified for the CauPluginName parameter. If a single plug-in is specified, a warning appears.
-SuspendClusterNodeTimeoutMinutes
Specifies the maximum amount of time CAU should wait for the Suspend-ClusterNode cmdlet to succeed if the underlying clustered space is in degraded condition. If Suspend-ClusterNode fails with ERROR_CLUSTER_SPACE_DEGRADED error, CAU will keep retrying for SuspendClusterNodeTimeoutMinutes or suspend the call if the command succeeds. The retries for this error don't count towards the MaxRetriesPerNode parameter set by the user. The timeout value is per cluster node. So CAU could potentially spend the amount of time specified for this value for every node in the cluster in the worst case.
-SuspendNode (required)
Specifies the name of a node in the cluster to suspend updating.
-SuspendRetriesPerNode
Specifies the number of times to retry suspending a node before moving on to the next node.
-WaitForStorageRepairTimeoutMinutes
Specifies the amount of time in minutes to wait for storage to be repaired on a node before continuing with an update.
-WarnAfter
Specifies the time in minutes after which a warning is logged if the Updating Run, including any pre-update and post-update scripts, hasn't completed. By default, no warning is logged, regardless of the time taken by the Updating Run.
-WhatIf
Shows what would happen if the cmdlet runs. The cmdlet is not run.