ServicePackFiles

[Stewart Taylor]

Re: Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 290402 and 271484

At the beginning I tried to install SP4 via Express setup.
However, I had selected to cancel the installation, before
it completed because I decided it is better to go for SP3.
I did wait for it to 'clean up itself' after pressing
the 'Cancel button'.

Next I located my SP3 file (called w2ksp3.exe and is 127
mb in size) from a CD and I run to install it. I remember
the system did give me a warning if I want to cancel the
previous update. I selected to cancel the previous action
and re-start the update from beginning.

I noticed the system extract the files (from my
w2ksp3.exe) to a separte drive location (not the system
drive). Installation runs smoothly and the system looks
working fine.

Now I am finding the "ServicePackFiles" folder under the %
Systemroot% directory (WINNT in my case). I want to remove
the "ServicePackFiles" from my WINNT to free disk space
(over 200 mb), for one reason being I have already got the
installation files on disk.

Artical 271484 said removing the folder is safe because,
later if I need to add other components to the system, my
computer will prompt me for the files.

Now 2 questions:
- How can I tell whether those files under
my "ServicePackFiles" folder are SP3 files or SP4 files?
The KB article appears to say this folder shouldn't be
created when running a service pack directly from a
distribution share. I have a feeling it is here now
because I cancel the SP4 express setup.
- The following registry key is mentioned in the KB
article:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersio
n\Setup
I couldn't find this key in my system. Is this normal?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Joseph Conway [MSFT]]

You should be able to tell what files those are based on the file dates
themselves. What dates do they show? You can typically delete the
uninstall directory but you wont be able to easily swap out files later
should the need arise.

 

[Stewart Taylor]

1) Yes, I find the answer from dates. SP3 was installed.
2) The registry was not updated because I'd simply run the
w2kSp3.exe
There is a KB article that describes how to use the
network download file. I should have extracted the files
to a separate location and run the update.exe from the
update folder. If that was the case, the registry will be
created during the update.