HowTo: Install updates on a Sharepoint 2013 Server

From time to time Microsoft released updates for Microsoft SharePoint 2013. These updates will now be installed via Windows updates and must be applied manually. This required some steps on the server which where added to the summary below:

1.) Login to the Sharepoint Server OS with the “FarmAccount”

2.) Run the cumulative update installer you downloaded (from here)

3.) Once the installation said it is finished run the “SharePoint 2013 Management Shell” as administrator

4.) Try if you can connect to the SP Server with your current user account via

(get-spfarm).buildversion

and you should get the current buildversion (your could look different then the example down under):

Major  Minor  Build  Revision
-----  -----  -----  --------
15     0      4420   1017

If you get a error message check if you use the correct account!

5.) Change directory to “C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\15\BIN”

6.) Run PSConfig.exe -cmd upgrade -inplace b2b -force -cmd applicationcontent -install -cmd installfeatures

If everything went fine you will get a result like:

SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard version 15.0.4420.1017. Copyright (C) M
icrosoft Corporation 2012. All rights reserved.

Performing configuration task 1 of 6
Initializing SharePoint Products upgrade...

Waiting to get a lock to upgrade the farm.

Successfully initialized the SharePoint Products configuration.

Performing configuration task 2 of 6
Initiating the upgrade sequence...

Successfully initiated the upgrade sequence.

Performing configuration task 3 of 6
Registering SharePoint features...

Feature installation has determined that there are no new features that require
installation.

Successfully registered SharePoint features.

Performing configuration task 4 of 6
Installing the application content files...

Installing the SharePoint Central Administration Web Application content files..
.

Installing the SharePoint Web Application content files...

Successfully installed the application content files.

Performing configuration task 5 of 6
Upgrading SharePoint Products...

10.00% : Successfully upgraded SharePoint Products.

Performing configuration task 6 of 6
Finalizing the SharePoint Products configuration...

Successfully completed the SharePoint Products configuration.

Total number of configuration settings run: 6
Total number of successful configuration settings: 6
Total number of unsuccessful configuration settings: 0
Successfully stopped the configuration of SharePoint Products.
Configuration of the SharePoint Products has succeeded.

 You can then control the result via

(get-spfarm).buildversion

which should show a newer version:

Major  Minor  Build  Revision
-----  -----  -----  --------
15     0      4481   1005

A PU is a security update that is released every month, any customer can install them; a CU is an update that release every other month and targets specific customer fixes in the form of hotfixes.

You can find more infos here:

Updates for SharePoint 2013

How to install update packages on a SharePoint farm where search component and high availability search topologies are enabled.