VBScript: Cannot find/click a button on webpage automatically

Question

Could use some help here please. We have to maintain a bunch of laptops which will NEVER connect to the internet (security reasons). There is a single laptop of the same type and disk image which does connect to the internet for patch management.

They run Windows 10 and on the internet laptop I use a script which uses the wsus2 cab file to find missing updates.

Now I want to take that script's output from the command line and have it download the missing updates for me.

In my script, I import the findings, find the KB number, append that KB number to the end of "https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=", get the webpage in a variable, parse the variable for the patch name, and then try to get the download button which corresponds to the patch name.

For example, the output says "2017-07 Security Update for Adobe Flash Player for Windows 10 Version 1703 for x64-based Systems (KB4025376)" is missing.

So I get the URL, and download the source... which looks like this:

<td class="resultsbottomBorder resultspadding" id="9ebe5d13-4966-4cdb-a612-9780df621411_C1_R0">
    <a id='9ebe5d13-4966-4cdb-a612-9780df621411_link' href="javascript:void(0);" onclick='goToDetails("9ebe5d13-4966-4cdb-a612-9780df621411");'>
        2017-07 Security Update for Adobe Flash Player for Windows 10 Version 1703 for x64-based Systems (KB4025376)
    </a>
</td>
<td class="resultsbottomBorder resultspadding" id="9ebe5d13-4966-4cdb-a612-9780df621411_C2_R0">
    Windows 10
</td>
<td class="resultsbottomBorder resultspadding" id="9ebe5d13-4966-4cdb-a612-9780df621411_C3_R0">
   Security Updates
</td>
<td class="resultsbottomBorder resultspadding " id="9ebe5d13-4966-4cdb-a612-9780df621411_C4_R0">
    7/11/2017
</td>
<td class="resultsbottomBorder resultspadding" id="9ebe5d13-4966-4cdb-a612-9780df621411_C5_R0">
    n/a
</td>
<td class="resultsbottomBorder resultspadding resultsSizeWidth" id="9ebe5d13-4966-4cdb-a612-9780df621411_C6_R0">
    <span id="9ebe5d13-4966-4cdb-a612-9780df621411_size">20.7 MB</span> 
    <span class="noDisplay" id="9ebe5d13-4966-4cdb-a612-9780df621411_originalSize">21711921</span>
</td>
<td class="resultsbottomBorder resultsButtonWidth" id="9ebe5d13-4966-4cdb-a612-9780df621411_C7_R0">
    <input id="9ebe5d13-4966-4cdb-a612-9780df621411" class="flatLightBlueButton" type="button" value='Download' />
</td>

I say "try" because that is where the script doesn't work.

Before posting, I looked at Click Button on Webpage via VBScript?. No help. I'm posting this so you all don't think I didn't RTFM beforehand.

The script fails on (yeah, I'm hardcoding the ID for now just to get it working... will be a variable later):

IE.Document.getElementsByID("9ebe5d13-4966-4cdb-a612-9780df621411").Item(0).Click

I also tried just using a http provider, rather than an IE object, and that failed too:

http.Document.getElementByID("9ebe5d13-4966-4cdb-a612-9780df621411").Item(0).Click

Here's my script:

' Test data -- not going to be in the production script.  The output from the wsus scan 
' will be imported here.

Dim findings(1)

findings(0) = "2017-07 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1703 for x64-based Systems (KB4025342_Fail)"
findings(1) = "2017-07 Security Update for Adobe Flash Player for Windows 10 Version 1703 for x64-based Systems (KB4025376)"

' *****
' Production script follows
' *****

' An array to hold all the findings from the wsus output.  
' This array will change in size and is not declared as fixed.
Dim patches()
' Just a counter.
Dim i : i = 0

' Ints from parsing the strings created fromn the findings.
Dim firstParen, lastParen, length

Dim kb
Dim kbAndNameHash : Set kbAndNameHash = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")

' Iterate through the results and populate the array... putting this stuff into
' an array because the original MS script just redirected the findings to 
' output -- you couldn't do anything automatically with it afterwards.
For Each item In findings 
    ReDim Preserve patches(i)
    patches(i) = item 
    i = i + 1
Next 

For Each thingy In patches
    ' Need to parse the string to find just the KB number.  The "(KB...)" appears to be
    ' unique.
    firstParen = InStr(thingy, "(KB") 
    lastParen  = InStr(thingy, ")")
    ' The -1 in this line is to exclude the closing paren in (KB...) -- we just want digits
    ' no special characters.
    length = ((lastParen - 1) - firstParen)

    ' Just some debug
    ' WScript.Echo "firstParen: " & firstParen & vbCR & _
    '              "lastParen:  " & lastParen  & vbCR & _
    '              "length:     " & length     & vbCR


    ' Get the KB number by reading the string from the next spot after the first paren to 
    ' the length of the number (because it's not always a fixed length).
     kb = Mid(thingy, firstParen + 1, length)

    ' Create a hash for the kb and name.  A hash is easier to work with
    ' than a 2 dimensional array.  kb is needed for the patch URL.  The name
    ' is needed for what to download once the page is loaded.
     kbAndNameHash.Add kb, thingy
Next

' Provides access to the scripting dictionary
Dim k             : k = kbAndNameHash.Keys
Dim n             : n = kbAndNameHash.Items

' Get the patches
Dim http       : Set http = CreateObject("WinHttp.WinHttpRequest.5.1")
Dim partialURL : partialURL = "https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q="
Dim webpage, j 

' #####
' Tried from: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5292860/click-button-on-webpage-via-vbscript

Dim objWshShell,IE,searchStr

Set objWshShell = Wscript.CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
Set IE = CreateObject("InternetExplorer.Application")

' #####

For Each key In k

    With http
        .Open "GET", partialURL & key, True
        .Send 
        .WaitForResponse
    End With

    ' Load the webpage source into memory.
    webpage = http.ResponseText
    ' Find the postion of the name of the finding.
    j = InStr(webpage, kbAndNameHash.Item(key))

    If http.Status = 200 Then

        If j > 0 Then

            ' This is where the script no longer works.
            ' I also tried this:
            ' http.Document.getElementByID("9ebe5d13-4966-4cdb-a612-9780df621411").Item(0).Click

            ' #####
            ' Tried from: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5292860/click-button-on-webpage-via-vbscript

            With IE
                .Visible = True
                .Navigate partialURL & key

                Do While .Busy
                WScript.Sleep 100
            Loop

            .Document.getElementsByID("9ebe5d13-4966-4cdb-a612-9780df621411").Item(0).Click
        End With

        ' #####

        Else
        MsgBox "Did not find a download link for: " & vbCR & vbCR &_
                    kbAndNameHash.Item(key) & vbCR & vbCR &_
                    "Please manually check for " & key, 48, "Patch not found"
        End If

    Else

       ' TODO: handle the <>200 status

    End If

Next

Set http          = NOTHING
Set kbAndNameHash = NOTHING
WScript.Quit

Any assistance on how I can get the Download button which corresponds to the name of the patch specified would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks!