Deploying Service Pack 4

[snicks2]

Has anyone done this from a central location? What is the best way to update at least a couple of hundred workstations without visiting each one? We don't have SMS "yet"! Thanks for all thoughts!

 

[SRG]

The best I can think of is you create an install and have your users run it from a network share. I think you will have to call the install from each workstation unless you have some kind of agent that will do it for you. PS SP5 is out now. You probably don't want SP4 at all.

 

[JimiHendrix]

Set SP4 up to run from the login.bat, that is if you use one. You should be able to configure it to run with an answer file (do you want an uninstall directory? etc.). You will need to install sp4 before sp5. sp4 has +400 fixes. sp5 is mostly fixes for sp4

 

[SRG]

The logon script is a good Idea, make sure your users are ready for it and know what to do when they see it. But read this post from Microsoft.<br>
<br>
Do I need to have SP4 on my machine in order to install SP5? <br>
------------------------------------------------------------<br>
No. Service Packs are cumulative, meaning they include the content updates from all previous Service Packs. No earlier service pack is required to install the latest service pack. In addition, SP5 will update systems with any previous service pack installed.

 

[scully99]

There is also other items to consider when looking at loading SP4 on several hundred machines. Mainly, if you write a script to automate the process, be careful on how you answer any questions the SP gives you. We just finished running the SP on a couple thousand PCs using a script to automate most of them. Well, when we wrote the script we didn't think that it would overwrite vendor modified files and cause problems. It did. Nt often enough to halt everything, but enough were a couple people were always recovering BSODs. Just use some care and remember the more variety in PCs, the more likely you'll see some problems.

 

[scully99]

There is also other items to consider when looking at loading SP4 on several hundred machines. Mainly, if you write a script to automate the process, be careful on how you answer any questions the SP gives you. We just finished running the SP on a couple thousand PCs using a script to automate most of them. Well, when we wrote the script we didn't think that it would overwrite vendor modified files and cause problems. It did. Nt often enough to halt everything, but enough were a couple people were always recovering BSODs. Just use some care and remember the more variety in PCs, the more likely you'll see some problems.

 

[Stones]

Just a sideline question. To install an NT SP you have to start the workstation in administrator mode.<br>
<br>
Do you guys allow users to be administrators?