Need clarification about the Portal for ArcGIS Validation and Repair Process

[vbort_ef]

hello,

Yesterday I passed the repair patch on my impacted VM 1091. He uninstalled everything and it actually took a lot of time. I need clarification on the following points:

• In the online article it states this:
  Step 4. You may now proceed with installing additional patches released starting in December 2023, either individually or using the ‘Install All Patches’ option.”
  So should we install the patches before December 2023? in my case 3 patches before this date.

Thank you very much for your feedback and allowing me to finalize the repair process.

[Scott_Tansley · Accepted solution]

Yes.  The validation/repair tool takes it back to a 'pure' install.  

If you were fully patched then it should have removed ten patches.  Some of those have become 'cumulative' so you now only have to install 3 or 4, but they all need to be applied.  

[David_Brooks]

@Scott_Tansley  I'd also add that it's pretty poor from ESRI not to warn that this uninstall process could take a long time. Ours has been running for over 4 hours now when normal patching takes us about 15-20 minutes tops. We could have scheduled this for out of hours had we known.

[Scott_Tansley]

I hear you, but at least it wasn’t 10.8.1 with its slower uninstallers/installers.

[MBReither]

Agree.  The Esri software QA team should be able to provide an estimate regarding how long it takes to install this patch in their documentation (ex. 2 to 4 hours depending on how many patches must be uninstalled) for customers to better plan the install and execution of the "validation and repair tool" - which was a self-inflicted error (releasing a bad Portal security patch) by Esri Core Development in the first place.

[Eric_Andersen]

another agree here.

I would love to see an article on best practices for patches to reduce the long time.  Ours frequently take 20-30 minutes each.  I am curious if antimalware software comes into play and should be disabled during patching.