Update ‘WindowsUpdateTest–System–7/12/2015’ on WSUS

[German]It's a strange case I'm stumbled upon last days: A German blog reader observed a very curious update for Windows 7 on WSUS . Here's some information, maybe one of you can confirm this or even better, has an explanation.

Blog reader Axel contacted me via e-mail and reported his obscure observation on his WSUS.

Hello, Günter,

after rejecting all updates in WSUS that had "Windows 10 Version Next" in the title, I stumbled recently across the following update (private parts are blacked out):

According to the above screenshot, WSUS offers an update named 'WindowsUpdateTest-System-7/12/2015 12:00:00 AM – 1.0.0.0' for Windows 7. The date of 2015 suggests that this is a test update that has escaped from the Microsoft network 'into the wild'. Blog-reader Axel wrote:

So[here on WSUS was] an update called "WindowsUpdateTest – System – 7/12/2015 12:00:00:00 AM – 1.0.0.0", released and arrived on our site[it is] on March 12, 2018. I can't find anything there…

My attempts to find out something about this update within the internet also led to nothing. So the question: Have any of you received this update in a WSUS environment? And is there anyone who might have a logical explanation for this?

Not the first time, Test-Update for WSUS in February

hat wouldn't be the first case. In February I had reported a similar mysterious case in the blog article Windows 10: Mysterious (Test) Updates KB4078126 and KB4078127 in WSUS. In February, however, a link was provided to a KB article containing the explanation shown below in text form:

In that case I received a private mail from a blog reader who pointed out that Microsoft uses such test updates for internal checks. There are probably test machines where the test updates are installed; then it is checked whether the updates are OK and can be released. The test updates may not normally be offered on WSUS. Only when Microsoft releases them will they be made available via Windows Update and other channels.