NTFS and pre-sp2 Hotfix Updates create undeletable folders

[R. Vail]

Fresh install of WinXP SP1 on NTFS partition. Then installing all
pre-sp2 Hotfix Updates, creates 9 different folders on C: drive. All 9
folders have different jibberish names, and contain one subfolder
named "sp2". Windows Explorer show these folders size as "0 bytes".
These folders CAN be re-named or relocated elsewhere on the SAME
drive, but cannot be deleted or copied.
Booting machine in Knoppix, the contents of "sp2" are: one subfolder
named "update", which contains one file "update.exe", size of 267 KB.
Cannot delete any of these when in Knoppix either.

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

What's SP2 and What's Knoppix.

There is no SP2 currently available for XP, in fact, it's not even in beta
there may be work internally at Microsoft but thus far a release date for
SP2 isn't even scheduled until late 04.

 

[R. Vail]

These Hotfix Updates referred to are PRE-SP2, not SP2. That is: all
Hotfixes that MS has released, since SP1 for WinXP was released. Any
Hotfixes released after "SP2 Final" is eventually released, will then
be referred to as: "pre-sp3". OK?

Knoppix is a Linux version (from Germany) that can boot and run from
CD. Download the 700 MB ISO file here (choose the English version):
http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/knoppix/
Burn the ISO using Nero (or similar). Then set machine's bios to boot
from CD.
Can be used to access the internet, NTFS partitions, etc., even when
the HD is unworkable.

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

You can certainly understand the confusion and you may run into this again
with others if you post with similar references. There are pirated builds
of SP2 floating around. When you post in the fashion you have posted, there
is no way for us to know if you are referring to fixes since SP1 as appears
to be the case, or if you might have one of the pirated builds, in which
case any issues might be the result of an unstable build not meant for
public release.

I believe the created folders refer to either the uninstall or install
information from these hotfixes and probably shouldn't be removed unless you
remove the hotfixes in Add/Remove Programs in Control panel. If you are
formatted NTFS, you cannot delete files or folders in XP from another OS as
the security on XP under NTFS prevents it.

 

[Michal Kawecki]

Knoppix is a Linux version (from Germany) that can boot and run from
CD. Download the 700 MB ISO file here (choose the English version):
http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/knoppix/
Burn the ISO using Nero (or similar). Then set machine's bios to boot
from CD.
Can be used to access the internet, NTFS partitions, etc., even when
the HD is unworkable.

The NTFS support in all Linux version is experimental by the time. Do
not use it for any write operation on NTFS file system except modifying
existing files, which is relatively safe operation.