SP1 vs SP4

[Darren Kennedy]

Why would I not want to go to SP4 for Windows 200 server?
That is question I asked our outside support who deployed
our Windows 2000 Terminal server. He said that if the
system crashes, he cannot restore from SP4 because the
original disks we had to deploy are SP1, and advised never
to upgrade to SP4 because it is unstable and full of
bugs...What gives? Can we not just restore from backup to
SP1 and then update to SP4? Isn't SP4 supposed to be a
better service pack than SP1. If it isn't why is it out
there???

 

[Oli Restorick [MVP]]

So he left your system installed with SP1 only, then? I wouldn't let him
near your network again, then.

Some people have had issues with SP4, but there's no excuse for not
installing it on a newly-built system where a problem would be discovered
and can be corrected without causing too much disruption.

I don't know what he's on about with respect to restoring from SP4.

Oli

 

[Jeremy Church]

Well, you can make SP4 Win2k Disks if you really want to. Oli is right, I
wouldn't let that guy near your network again. We set up Terminal services
and such and see no problems with SP4. It may cause some issues with a few
things for some people, but for the servers I've deployed and updated, I
have not seen a problem.
I'm just curious, does your outside support person build and sell their own
OEM PCs?

Jeremy

 

[Joanne Lowery]

I'm just in the process of updating SP4 onto a Win2K
install CD. Each time I try to stream the W2ksp4_en.exe
file onto the CD contents stored on a hard drive it tells
me that not all the files required are present in the
folders. To extract the w2ksp4_en.exe I have run the
extract with a /? switch. I then copy the temporary folder
contents to another folder. Then I run the Update.exe file
with the /S: option pointing to a sub folder containing
the entire CD contents including the i386 folder.
If I try to install the Win2K CD (SP3) it just tells me it
can't install using Winnt32.exe onto the existing SP4
install. The only option is then to carry out a complete
clean install and then re-install all the
apps /drivers /config etc. etc....
Since the server is a Compaq DL380 set up as a remote site
DC/GC with its own DNS/DHCP etc I don't want to go
completely back to scratch with the SSD disks.
Any ideas on how to stream the SP4 install files onto the
CD contents? Is there a correct switch to extract the
w2ksp4_en.exe without an installation?

Thanks

Joanne

 

[SteveC]

Hello,

it sounds like you're just missing one or two little things.
Have you looked at this?

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/planning/default.asp

Scroll down to the SP4 deployment guide link.
Pay careful attention to the order of the steps and the folder structure.

regards,

SteveC
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