No one likes to patch or update SQL Server, it takes time and can make for very long days. I have been using a silent or quiet install of SQL Server patches used the windows command line for a while now and it has cut down on the time it takes to patch my environment. Below are some examples of the commands you can run to do a silent patch of SQL Server.
Step 1 Open Command Line as administrator.
Step 2 Run the CD command to change directories to the location of where your patch executable’s are located.
Step 3 Run the command to install the patch/update.
There are a few different ways you can patch. You can patch all instances on a server with the following command:
Patch File.exe /qs /IAcceptSQLServerLicenseTerms /Action=Patch /AllInstances
Or you can patch just a specified instance with this command:
Patch File.exe /qs /IAcceptSQLServerLicenseTerms /Action=Patch /InstanceName=Enter Instance Name
Using command line for my patches has decreased the amount of time I spend patching. For more information head check out the following link for installing updates via command line. Installing Updates Command Line SQL Server