Having a hard time insatlling sp4 on exchange 5.5

[phil272]

Im running Windows NT4 with MS Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack 3. I can't seem to install SP4. I've downloaded the commpressed files to a folder labled sp4 on the hardrive. I've unziped them, and yet, nothing. Is there something I'm not doing right?

In MS Exchange Admin., I check to see if sp4 was installed by clicking on "help-About MS Exchange Server".
Is this the best way to check if the SP was installed correctly?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[brontosaurus]

so, when you run UPDATE, nothing happens?

 

[phil272]

I've never done an sp install on a server before, I'm new to the field so could you elaberate on the update? are you refering to win16/eng/update.exe file?

If so, I get a "setup initialization error" when I click on it - tells me setup is not intended for my version of windows. I run Windows NT4, SP6.

Thanks

 

[snowghost]

Since the reboot of a server is always required after the installation of a Service Pack, it makes sense to stop all the Exchange services before applying the SP. Beyond that, it has also been recommended to reinstall the Exchange service pack after the NT service pack to avoid any possible conflicts due to shared file overwrites.
1. Stop all Exchange Services
2. Install the NT Service Pack
3. Re-install the Exchange Service Pack
4. Reboot server
There will, of course, be other variables that need to be taken into account depending on what else is going on with the server, such as Outlook Web Access, Clustering, etc. The product SP readme.txt should address these variables, and basic research via TechNet and

http://www.microsoft.com

is recommended as information is frequently updated.
Q248635 - XADM: Recommended Installation Order for Windows NT, Exchange Server, Cluster Service, and Service Packs is another article which comes to mind.

 

[royalmail]

Also, be careful with SP4. One of my colleagues in another site installed it and it killed his live Exchange server. I thought it was unlikely, and had never had a problem with it. However, not so long ago I was building a new Exchange 5.5 server and SP4 killed that. I was fortunate that I wasn't upgrading a live machine.

If you haven't installed one before, it is worthwhile you building a dummy server that replicates your live server and install the SP on that first. Also, I have no idea what caused these problems, but if it was me I would reboot your live server before installing any of the SPs mentioned just so that you have a better chance of a clean install.

 

[andyrob]

I recently installed SP4 from a technet CD and the path you need is \ENG\SERVER\SETUP\I386\Update.EXE. It did not need a reboot, but did restart services. It also messed up our Outlook web access - make sure you are familiar with your set-up if you use it.

If you still have problems, make sure you have previously installed SP3.

 

[Nightwatch]

We did a SP4 installation recently. After the install finished everything was pretty much screwed up, DR. Watson's and OWA was gone.

The MS Knowledge Base specifies some steps to be taken before applying SP4. We followed these instructions and everything went smoothly.

Here's the article:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;320097

Good Luck!

Paul

 

[phil272]

Guys, I installed the SP without a problem (from what i could tell). thank you all for your experience and support.

Phillip