AutoPatcher Forum

Hi all,

After wondering if this could be done, and seeing various requests, here's a solution that worked for me.

1. Download desproxy (http://desproxy.sourceforge.net/) Used to tunnel tcp requests over a proxy

2. Add/Update the following line in your hosts file (<Windows>/system32/drivers/etc/hosts)

127.0.0.1 localhost www.autopatcher.com download.microsoft.com

This points the addresses you want to connect to over the proxy to your local host.
(Remove these extra entries once done)

3. Run desproxy from a command shell replacing the relevant proxy details below

desproxy 208.43.166.248 80 <your_proxy_address> <your_proxy_port> 80


208.43.166.248 is the autopatcher.com web address

This will then forward all requests to autopatcher via your proxy server.


As a side effect requests to download.microsoft.com are correctly directed, I guess by the proxy server.
I initially had another more complicated redirection setup using apache and desproxy but found this to be unnecessary.


4. Run apup.exe

It should now connect and download the various updates.


Let me know if this works for you, or not!

Cheers,
Hamish
Edited by autopatcher, 14 July 2008 - 10:49 PM.

A quick update to the instructions above, as some updates were not able to be found


2. Add/Update the following line in your hosts file (<Windows>/system32/drivers/etc/hosts)

127.0.0.1 localhost www.autopatcher.com download.microsoft.com download.windowsupdate.com www.download.windowsupdate.com www.update.microsoft.com
Edited by autopatcher, 15 July 2008 - 02:23 AM.

If you still get errors with autopatcher not being able to download various files then the download site is probably not set up in your hosts file

To correct this run apup.exe with logging (apup.exe /log)

Then check for any http://xxxx entries, and ensure these are in your hosts file

After selecting various options to update my hosts file it now looks like this:

127.0.0.1 localhost www.autopatcher.com download.microsoft.com download.windowsupdate.com www.download.windowsupdate.com www.update.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 silverlight.dlservice.microsoft.com ardownload.adobe.com www.abstractpath.com
127.0.0.1 www.mlin.net fpdownload.macromedia.com download.macromedia.com activex.microsoft.com gpdl.google.com iespell.huhbw.com office.microsoft.com


Be sure to let me know if this solution works for you by replying to this topic.

Good luck,
Hamish

I'm behind ISA proxy,
I followed your words and desproxy Manual (for NTLM Authentication).
And as in the manual I entered my "user:pass" in PROXY_USER in environment variable.
I also tried "my_domain\user:pass" in PROXY_USER field,
but still I get the following error:



Is it better to put a proxy support with NTLM Authentication in 'apup' ?!
My hands are tied and I cannot even download an offline version of Autopatcher!
What should I do?

Yes proxy support in apup is the best solution, I believe there are multiple user requests for this so hopefully it will be in a version soon

From the manual unfortunately desproxy does not appear support NTLM authentication, so this solution will probably not work for you

autopatcher, on Jul 21 2008, 02:08 PM, said:

Being behind a very restrictive corporate firewall I found this thread very interesting. After a bit of messing around I finally found a solution that lets me use APUP to fetch files for me.

Conclusions:

1) While desproxy is a great tool it's not really useful to us. desproxy is for tunneling non-HTTP connections through an HTTP/1.1 proxy. Since APUP uses HTTP for everything, that's not a problem.

2) The proxy I have to use to get out of our corporate intranet uses NTLM authentication, which can be nicely handled by NTLMAPS without resorting to desproxy or similar. NTLMAPS handles the authentication issues as well as forwarding requests from domains aliased in my hosts file.

3) Simple proxy support in APUP is way up my most wanted list. It doesn't need to handle NTLM authentication, since NTLMAPS will do that for me. But having to modify my hosts file every time I want to fetch an updated set of files with AP - and every few minutes when the local Group Policy resets it - are a bit of a pain.

how to add/update the host file?
thanks

+1 vote for simple proxy support in autopatcher.

AFAICT, I've got desproxy working, but getting errors trying to download updates. "Valid name, no data record..."

No firewall enabled, fairly vanilla Windows XP installation. Next I'll try formatting it and starting again.

Here's some more detail of my problems, on a freshly installed XP machine:
Downloaded AutoPatcher. Downloaded DesProxy, running it as instructed here. Ran apup.exe, selected just the first entry, i.e. AutoPatcher Updater 1.0.5, Next, and all works fine. Finish and exit.

Ran apup.exe again, this time just selected the second entry, i.e. AutoPatcher 5.6.81, Next. It downloads a few files successfully (by the look of things), then at apengine.rti I get this popup:
"One or more files has failed verification. Please re-run AutoPatcher Updater. If this problem persists, please report to the forums at Autopatcher.com"

Same problem if I run apup.exe with both of the first two entries selected. I have download.microsoft.com in my hosts file, but it's failing to connect. Huh? I will investigate this and desproxy with wireshark, and come back with any results. Meanwhile, if anyone can shed some light on the situation, please do.

My log file is below.
Cheers,
Greg.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
APUP Has Started

Operating System: English (1033) Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3
Current Locale: English - Australia / Non-Unicode Default: English - Australia
Starting APUP From: C:\apup
Date & Time: 04-Feb-2009 12:17 UTC Offset: 8

***Downloading/Processing Releases.list***

List file HTTP location: http://www.autopatch...m/releases.list

***Releases.list Processed: Waiting for User Input***

The Following Releases have been Picked:
apengine.script

***Running Any Pre-Cleanup Routines***


***Starting Detection Routine Phase***

Missing file C:\apup\apengine.rti
Item apengine.rti is missing. Adding its download to the queue.
--Adding http://www.autopatch.../apengine.rti--

Missing file C:\apup\autopatcher.exe
Item AutoPatcher Executable 5.6.81 is missing. Adding its download to the queue.
--Adding http://www.autopatch...engine_exe.7z--

Missing file C:\apup\win9xnt\vbrun60sp6.exe
Item vbrun60sp6.exe is missing. Adding its download to the queue.
--Adding http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/a...90887-X86.exe--

Missing file C:\apup\tools\editor.exe
Missing file C:\apup\tools\COMCT232.OCX
Item AutoPatcher Tools Folder is missing. Adding its download to the queue.
--Adding http://www.autopatch...gine/tools.7z--

Missing file C:\apup\translations\1033.apl
Missing file C:\apup\translations\1033.apt
Missing file C:\apup\translations\1033.msl
Missing file C:\apup\translations\1035.apl
Missing file C:\apup\translations\1035.apt
Missing file C:\apup\translations\1035.msl
Missing file C:\apup\translations\1036.apl
Missing file C:\apup\translations\1036.apt
Missing file C:\apup\translations\1036.msl
Missing file C:\apup\translations\1040.apl
Missing file C:\apup\translations\1040.apt
Missing file C:\apup\translations\1040.msl
Missing file C:\apup\translations\1043.apl
Missing file C:\apup\translations\1043.apt
Missing file C:\apup\translations\1043.msl
Missing file C:\apup\translations\1045.apl
Missing file C:\apup\translations\1045.apt
Missing file C:\apup\translations\1045.msl
Missing file C:\apup\translations\1046.apl
Missing file C:\apup\translations\1046.apt
Missing file C:\apup\translations\1046.msl
Missing file C:\apup\translations\1055.apl
Missing file C:\apup\translations\1055.apt
Missing file C:\apup\translations\1055.msl
Missing file C:\apup\translations\2057.apl
Missing file C:\apup\translations\2057.apt
Missing file C:\apup\translations\2057.msl
Missing file C:\apup\translations\2067.apl
Missing file C:\apup\translations\2067.apt
Missing file C:\apup\translations\2067.msl
Missing file C:\apup\translations\2070.apl
Missing file C:\apup\translations\2070.apt
Missing file C:\apup\translations\2070.msl
Item AutoPatcher Translations is missing. Adding its download to the queue.
--Adding http://www.autopatch...engine_lng.7z--

Missing file C:\apup\bin\reboot.exe
Missing file C:\apup\bin\aamd532.dll
Missing file C:\apup\bin\COMCTL32.OCX
Missing file C:\apup\bin\COMDLG32.OCX
Missing file C:\apup\bin\FM20.DLL
Missing file C:\apup\bin\FM20ENU.DLL
Missing file C:\apup\bin\MSCOMCTL.OCX
Missing file C:\apup\bin\RICHTX32.OCX
Missing file C:\apup\bin\SSubTmr6.dll
Missing file C:\apup\bin\mklnk.exe
Item AutoPatcher Runtime is missing. Adding its download to the queue.
--Adding http://www.autopatch...engine_bin.7z--

***Downloading Releases***

Files to be Downloaded: 6
VB6.0-KB290887-X86.exe: Valid name, no data record of requested type

Download error: C:\apup\win9xnt\VB6.0-KB290887-X86.exe
File does not exist!!!

***Processing Cleanup Routines***

Extracting C:\apup\temp_bin\apengine_exe.7z into C:\apup\
Executing shell command: "C:\apup\win9xnt\VB6.0-KB290887-X86.exe" /Q /T:"C:\apup\win9xnt\"
Extracting C:\apup\temp_bin\tools.7z into C:\apup\tools
Extracting C:\apup\temp_bin\apengine_lng.7z into C:\apup\translations
Extracting C:\apup\temp_bin\apengine_bin.7z into C:\apup\bin

Hang on, how on earth are requests supposed to reach download.microsoft.com? They're being sent to localhost by windows/system32/drivers/etc/hosts and then onto 208.43.166.248 by desproxy - thus ending up at autopatcher.com!

Wouldn't it be easier to add proxy support to APUP?

yes, it would, but we don't do magic and we lost our software developer some time ago. so, basically, the develop of apup himself is on hold. but if someone has skills enough to add that, we are open

[]s

So then someone still has access to the source code? Not that I'm asking for a copy

yes, we do have access to the source code

[]s

Cristiano, on 22 April 2009 - 09:41 AM, said:

What was the development environment? Are you open to opening APUP for development to fix some cosmetics as well as implementing Proxy handling, etc?

There are plenty of people interested in furthering the project, and I'm sure we can find a programmer among us who is up to the challenge.

> I'm sure we can find a programmer among us who is up to the challenge
we are trying find one in many years. so far, no luck. the very few ones that tried made any contact about it have vanished like the wind.

[]s

Cristiano, on 12 October 2009 - 11:50 AM, said:

I guess that going the Open Source route for APUP (not AutoPatcher) is not something you're interested in? APUP on SourceForge might get some more interest.

I'd volunteer but (wife + 4 * kids) = (0 * free_time).

EMonk said:

I have to admit I find comments like these more humorous the more I see them. The AutoPatcher / APUP team has always considered all
serious offers to get the software updated and to add the much needed missing features but the story ends the same - NOTHING!, so we
keep waiting and hoping. I'm sure someone will eventually have the time and skills but I hope it isn't by then too late.

The project is after all volunteer and we are happy for the time the past developers / maintainers have given but unfortunately they
had to move on but, thankfully we still have a few release maintainers doing good work

oh well, i'm really out of time lately, but i'm also working in a few extra things related to this project, despite my lack of time. first of all, a few guys of good will makes all difference. you know, to this job, isn't required that you work every single day. second: this is cooperative work. and i'm proud to announce that 2 guys of good will are making the difference. one of them is currently working into the 2 main issues that apup has:
1 - lack of proxy support;
2 - the broken downloader engine.

one of those guys of very good will is working on the implementation of proxy support and also replace the current engine by curl, that will fix a lot of issues that we have with the current version.

also, this another guy of good will is helping us with an major issue that we have faced so far: the kaspersky 2010 issue. this guy have found and we now have an new beta that should fix. as an bonus, he has implemented resizable window (apup was really needing this, don't yours think?)

as we already said more than once: make the difference

and really, really thanks to those that helped us. your names will remain private until yours request that, but yours have our greatest gratitude

this new beta will be public in a few minutes, i just need upload it first

[]s
Edited by Cristiano, 18 October 2009 - 01:03 AM.