Reinstall SP6 after post-SP6 updates
Sven Berg
windows updates, after all about 30 patches? Are their $uninstall$
folders dispensable for reinstalling SP6? Do I have to reinstall the
windows updates, too? TIA, Sven
nt4-ever
better asked in group
microsoft.public.windowsnt.misc
or microsoft.public.windowsnt.setup
since this group has little activity ..
why do you need to reinstall sp6a ?
Calvin
the remark from 'nt4-ever' is right - this newsgroup is all but dead. Everyone
has consolidated to microsoft.public.windowsnt.misc
In answer to your question - I haven't done a SP6a re-install in a LONG time -
but if my failing memory serves me correctly, I have a horrible feeling it
ignores hotfixes and overwrites, putting everything back to SP6a state - so you
will then have to go through the rather tedious process of reapplying all the
post SP6a hotfixes and rollups.
You have the problem of even if it doesn't actually regress the files, I seem to
remember it does reset the registry entries, so your hotfix auditing information
(ie: what hotfixes were installed and when) is lost :-(
Whether or not files are overwritten is also primarily controlled by setup.log
in your \repair folder - and Microsoft are notorious for 'forgetting' to update
this information when they apply patches, so the situation can quickly
degenerate to complete chaos if you don't apply patches in the correct order.
See Microsoft knowledgebase article "307866 - You Cannot Log On to the Computer
After You Run a Repair Process if SRP is Installed" for an example of what can
happen.
I'm actually working on a NT4 system at the moment - and plan to do a 'reapply'
of SP6a soon - so if you're not in a hurry, I should be able to get back to you
with some more definite information in a week or so. I will also add my findings
to http://nt4ref.zcm.com.au/patch.htm for posterity.
All the best,
Calvin.
Sven Berg
many thanks for your detailed reply. You reinforce my hesitations to do
an uncalculable action. I'll gladly wait until you post and publish
your announced investigation. By the way, I consider
http://nt4ref.zcm.com.au/patch.htm a very helpful resource.
Regards,
Sven
Calvin
I reapplied SP6a to a system that had already had SP6a + SRP + hotfixes applied
previously. I 'snapshotted' all the file version information with 'FileImg'
from the NT4 Resource Kit before beginning, and 're-snapshotted' and compared
results after the task was done.
Well - the jury is in and the decision is out !!
Re-applying SP6a to a system that has later rollups/hotfixes already in place
results in three things happening:
1. The later patch contents are NOT overwritten, so SP6a does not regress files
on us.
2. BAD NEWS - it does wipe the content of the registry key
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Hotfix
After SP6a is applied only 2 entries remain Q147222 (SP1 I believe and resident
when the OS is installed from commercial NT4 Install CD) and Q246009 (SP6a) so
basically all your hotfix auditing information is destroyed - NICELY DONE
MICROSOFT !!! :-(
3. Setup.log in the \repair folder is modified. I didn't 'snapshot' it before my
experiment (forgot - sorry :-( ) but it definitely was altered by SP6a in size
and content.
So the outcome of all this is:
In theory you could save the hotfix keys, reapply SP6a and any other hotfixes
you 'feel' necessary, then re-instate the hotfix keys to reflect the situation
when you are finished, but I don't know whether I would trust the result.
Short answer, if in doubt, reapply everything from scratch :-( starting with SP6a.
Calvin.
Sven Berg
really great, your tests as promised! The results are obviously worth
the effort. I had never expected hotfix files to be conserved but their
regkeys to be destroyed. Bug or marketing? Anyway, partial registry
backup now is an urgent recommandation.
By the way, glad to learn about 'FileImg' that I neglected until now
(while extensively using RegSnap for registry changes).
Many thanks for your generous explanations.
Sven
Calvin
glad to have been of help. Perhaps you can run the same tests there when you
have a chance - I would be interested in having my results independently
verified :-)
Calvin.
Calvin
I meant to elaborate on my results the other day, I am concerned that setup.log
seems to be changed - I apologies for not being able to give more detail - I
should have copied it before the SP6a application so it could be compared with
what it looked like after - but I know from FileImg that it WAS modified -
depending on how it was changed, I am concerned that any 'repair' attempts after
a reapplication of SP6a could end in disaster - hence my recommendation to
reapply everything from scratch.
Perhaps Sven, you can give us more info on what is being done to setup.log -
specifically, are the recorded checksums for the installed contents being
changed by reapplying SP6a to the system.
Calvin.
Calvin
Have you had a chance to conduct any of your planned actions yet Sven - I'm
curious to see if you reach the same conclusions as I did.
If we can get a repeatable answer to this question, I will add a new section to
http://nt4ref.zcm.com.au/patch.htm explaining the situation.
Calvin.
Sven Berg
Calvin schrieb:
Hi Calvin,
I'll be glad to post findings of my actions taken into consideration.
Possibly, I can accomplish them only in a couple of weeks, though.
Hopefully before Xmas...
Thanks for your patience,
Sven
Calvin
> Possibly, I can accomplish them only in a couple of weeks, though.
> Hopefully before Xmas...
> Thanks for your patience,
Thanks for that Sven - there is no hurry - I'm sure you have lots of other
things to do as well !!
Calvin.