automatic updates (XP) and SP2 RC2

[Mark Petersen]

I've gone ahead and installed v5 of Windows Update, but I have not installed,
nor do I want to install, any pre-release version of SP2.

But Windows now wants to do things without letting me know what is going on.
I'm not too happy about that. If I enable automatic updates, as MS clearly
wants me to do, and I schedule it for once a week, something starts downloading
immediately. Since there are NO critical updates available to me (other than
RC2 of SP2), the only thing I can guess is that it is trying to install RC2
(that, and the amount of time the download is taking, about 30 minutes on my
connection). I have killed the download before it completes.

If I let the automatic update service run, I get constant ESENT messages in my
logs, along with firewall requests I do not understand (I block it if I don't
understand it, period). These logs and requests come about every 5 or 6 hours.

If I shut down automatic update service, I cannot use Windows Update *at all*.
(I am inclined to do this now, until SP2 final is released.)

Can anyone say, definitively, what the deal is here? I'd be happy to let
automatic update service run, if it would not do anything without my
permission. But it seems very intrusive.

I don't want RC2 installed behind my back. What is Windows Update doing now,
if I schedule for Sundays at 3 am, and it's not Sunday yet, and I already know
there are NO critical updates for my machine on the Windows Update site? It is
downloading something, and something BIG (I am on 100 mbps glass). What is it
trying to do?

Thanks,

Mark

 

[Kelly Cotter]

I've gone ahead and installed v5 of Windows Update, but I have not
installed, nor do I want to install, any pre-release version of SP2.

But Windows now wants to do things without letting me know what is
going on. I'm not too happy about that. If I enable automatic
updates, as MS clearly wants me to do, and I schedule it for once a
week, something starts downloading immediately. Since there are NO
critical updates available to me (other than RC2 of SP2), the only
thing I can guess is that it is trying to install RC2 (that, and the
amount of time the download is taking, about 30 minutes on my
connection). I have killed the download before it completes.

If I let the automatic update service run, I get constant ESENT
messages in my logs, along with firewall requests I do not understand
(I block it if I don't understand it, period). These logs and
requests come about every 5 or 6 hours.

If I shut down automatic update service, I cannot use Windows Update
*at all*. (I am inclined to do this now, until SP2 final is released.)

Can anyone say, definitively, what the deal is here? I'd be happy to
let automatic update service run, if it would not do anything without
my permission. But it seems very intrusive.

I don't want RC2 installed behind my back. What is Windows Update
doing now, if I schedule for Sundays at 3 am, and it's not Sunday
yet, and I already know there are NO critical updates for my machine
on the Windows Update site? It is downloading something, and
something BIG (I am on 100 mbps glass). What is it trying to do?

Thanks,

Mark

at the update site have you tried unticking "beta updates" or similar

 

[Mark Petersen]

at the update site have you tried unticking "beta updates" or similar

No, I haven't seen any such offer there, but I'll go have another look.

Mark

 

[Mark Petersen]

at the update site have you tried unticking "beta updates" or similar

Okay, I know the site pretty well now. That box was never ticked. You have to
opt in, and I never did. And you have to look around a bit to even find the
option. Oddly, the "opting in" part only says "view" beta software, it doesn't
say anything about whether WU will automatically install it or not.

But, there is a FAQ at the WU site, and it says that only "High Priority"
updates are done by automatic updates.

So that leaves an interesting question:

Is RC2 still considered beta in light of A) it has been released to the general
public; anyone who wants it can get it, and B) when you use Windows Update v5,
if you don't have SP2 on the box already the first thing you see is "Microsoft
strongly suggests . . . that you install this". They don't call it a beta
specifically, and elsewhere on the update site they specifically advise against
putting beta software on a production machine, which is good common sense.

So, it seems to me that MS is not being clear at all about this. To me, RC2
seems to be an obvious beta -- the 'C' means 'candidate'. But MS is urging
anyone that goes to Windows Update (at least if they have version 5 of WU) to
install it. They don't call it "critical", or "High Priority" either, they
just "strongly suggest". So, they are strongly suggesting that you install
beta software, while at the same time warning that beta software should not be
installed on a production machine.

It would be nice if someone in Redmond could write a paragraph in the English
language that is clear and unambiguous. <g> In the meantime, I'll simply
disable automatic updates. And if I find outbound connection attempts (I'm
sure I will) being made, I'll simply turn off the AA service. Really, MS can
be a major pain sometimes.

Mark

 

[KernelMark]

Okay, I know the site pretty well now. That box was never ticked. You have to
opt in, and I never did. And you have to look around a bit to even find the
option. Oddly, the "opting in" part only says "view" beta software, it doesn't
say anything about whether WU will automatically install it or not.

But, there is a FAQ at the WU site, and it says that only "High Priority"
updates are done by automatic updates.

So that leaves an interesting question:

Is RC2 still considered beta in light of A) it has been released to the general
public; anyone who wants it can get it, and B) when you use Windows Update v5,
if you don't have SP2 on the box already the first thing you see is "Microsoft
strongly suggests . . . that you install this". They don't call it a beta
specifically, and elsewhere on the update site they specifically advise against
putting beta software on a production machine, which is good common sense.

So, it seems to me that MS is not being clear at all about this. To me, RC2
seems to be an obvious beta -- the 'C' means 'candidate'. But MS is urging
anyone that goes to Windows Update (at least if they have version 5 of WU) to
install it. They don't call it "critical", or "High Priority" either, they
just "strongly suggest". So, they are strongly suggesting that you install
beta software, while at the same time warning that beta software should not be
installed on a production machine.

It would be nice if someone in Redmond could write a paragraph in the English
language that is clear and unambiguous. <g> In the meantime, I'll simply
disable automatic updates. And if I find outbound connection attempts (I'm
sure I will) being made, I'll simply turn off the AA service. Really, MS can
be a major pain sometimes.

Mark

You are now older and wiser.

 

[Phil]

Okay, I know the site pretty well now. That box was never ticked.
You have to opt in, and I never did. And you have to look around a
bit to even find the option. Oddly, the "opting in" part only says
"view" beta software, it doesn't say anything about whether WU will
automatically install it or not.

But, there is a FAQ at the WU site, and it says that only "High
Priority" updates are done by automatic updates.

So that leaves an interesting question:

Is RC2 still considered beta in light of A) it has been released to
the general public; anyone who wants it can get it, and B) when you
use Windows Update v5, if you don't have SP2 on the box already the
first thing you see is "Microsoft strongly suggests . . . that you
install this". They don't call it a beta specifically, and elsewhere
on the update site they specifically advise against putting beta
software on a production machine, which is good common sense.

So, it seems to me that MS is not being clear at all about this. To
me, RC2 seems to be an obvious beta -- the 'C' means 'candidate'.
But MS is urging anyone that goes to Windows Update (at least if they
have version 5 of WU) to install it. They don't call it "critical",
or "High Priority" either, they just "strongly suggest". So, they
are strongly suggesting that you install beta software, while at the
same time warning that beta software should not be installed on a
production machine.

It would be nice if someone in Redmond could write a paragraph in the
English language that is clear and unambiguous. <g> In the
meantime, I'll simply disable automatic updates. And if I find
outbound connection attempts (I'm sure I will) being made, I'll
simply turn off the AA service. Really, MS can be a major pain
sometimes.

Mark

Sounds like it's trying to download SP2. If you have your settings set to
auto install it will, if you have your auto-update settings to download and
ask you it will ask before installing. If you don't want to use
auto-updates, then turn it off in the control panel.
You should have stayed with version 4 of win update if you didn't want sp2.
V5 is basicly still in beta as well. Once it goes live and sp2 goes live the
strongly suggest sentence will make more sense.