Managing WSUS from a Non-Domain Member

I run a lot of test machines in my home office network and rely on WSUS. However, my primary desktop is a stand alone system, that is not a domain member. This has always meant that I needed a remote desktop connection to the WSUS server to approve updates. The latest remote management tools from a Windows 7 client were proving problematic. I was always getting an error message that the server wasn't listening on port 80 and to use port 443, when in fact the real problem was authentication.

My solution, so I could avoid the cumbersome RDP route was to take advantage of pass-through authentication. On my Windows 7 desktop, I created an account with the same name as a domain account that could administer the WSUS service. Because I have RSAT installed, I now navigate to the Windows Server Update Services management console menu link, hold the shift key and right click. I select "Run as different user" and enter the local user account and password, which is the same as my domain account. Because they are the same, I am authenticated and no error messages.

I should disclaim that my WSUS server is running Windows Server 2003 R2 but as far as I know there's no reason passthrough authentication shouldn't work for newer server versions as well.

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