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I have some computer groups in WSUS:

All Computers
    Group 1 
    Group 2
    Group 3
    Group A

And I want some of the groups to be a subgroup of a group. For example

 All Computers
    Group A
        Group 1 
        Group 2
        Group 3

How do I move computer groups around to create this hierarchy in WSUS? I've been looking over technet for a while and haven't found anything and I can't figure it out through the WSUS interface.

NOTE: All the groups I want to move already exist and "Change Membership" is greyed out.

Mike
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  • I don't think you can move them, but you can create a new one, such as right click on Group A and create sub-group 1. Then you'd have to move the computers in Group 1 into that newly created group under Group A. – TheCleaner Mar 27 '15 at 13:40

2 Answers2

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To create child groups in WSUS, right click on the parent group, e.g. Group A, then choose "Add Computer Group" from the menu. Create a name for the child group and then click OK. Now, you'll need to move the desired computers from Group A to the new child group by selecting all of the computers in Group A, then do a right click on the selected computers and choose "Change membership...". Select the child group to move the computers to and then OK.

Art Vandelay
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  • What if the "Change membership" is greyed out? – Mike Mar 27 '15 at 14:11
  • If Change Membership is greyed out then WSUS is looking at Group Policy for its group management. I bet in WSUS>OPTONS>COMPUTERS the 'use group policy or registry settings on computers' is selected. Change that to ' Use the update services console' and the change membership option will become available. Note: after selecting this option all of the computers will be assigned to the Unassigned group. But now you'll be able to structure your groups the way you like. – Art Vandelay Mar 27 '15 at 14:17
  • So is there no way to move the whole computer group to become a subgroup? Do I need to make a new group and migrate computers to the group? – Mike Mar 27 '15 at 14:28
  • Right. There is no option in WSUS to move groups. You can only assign computers to a different group. So, if all of your computers are in Parent Group and you want to move all of the computers in Parent Group to a subgroup, say Child Group, then you will need to right click on Parent Group and create a subgroup called Child Group, then go to Parent group highlight\select all of the computers in the group then right click and assign selected computers to the newly created subgroup Child Group. – Art Vandelay Mar 27 '15 at 14:33
  • btw, in WSUS>OPTONS>COMPUTERS, was the 'use group policy or registry settings on computers' selected? – Art Vandelay Mar 27 '15 at 14:34
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It is not possible to move/rename groups by using the normal WSUS MMC.

The group hierarchy is stored in the database, so you can restructure the group hierarchy by updating the group's ParentGroupID in dbo.tbTargetGroup by using SQL Management Studio

Cory Knutson
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Henrik Johansson
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