Uninstalling SP2 using $NtServicePackUninstall$ folder 1

[SaintJimmy]

A coworker of mine installed SP2 and as a result, was getting a "winsrv can't be found" BSOD shortly after boot up, would never make it to desktop, even in safe mode.

I came across the MS KB article:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875350/

I started following the Recovery Console instructions included there, but found there was no $NtServicePackUninstall$ folder in my coworker's Windows directory.

Several months back I had installed SP2 on my own laptop, so I took a look and found my Windows directory did have the $NtServicePackUninstall$ folder. I thought if I copied this folder from my drive onto my coworker's drive, maybe the uninstall could be done. My coworker was facing a re-image anyway, so I thought there wasn't much risk in trying.

I went ahead with my plan and thankfully, it worked perfectly.

My question is...is this uninstall folder for SP2 the same on every computer, or will it be unique to every machine due to different drivers, installed software, etc.?

Thanks much

 

[bcastner]

.....is this uninstall folder for SP2 the same on every computer...?"

Yes. Use notepad to look at:
C:\WINDOWS\$NtServicePackUninstall$\spuninst\spuninst.txt

 

[SaintJimmy]

Thanks very much for the info. That's good news. I thought maybe I got lucky just because the two computers in this case were nearly identical in both hardware/software.

So just to verify...if I compared the $NtServicePackUninstall$ folders on any 2 random machines with XP Pro installed, they'd always be identical, yes?

Thanks again!

 

[bcastner]

Yes.

 

[bcastner]

I should modify this. The folder contains backup of all the files it has replaced with newer versions.

You would only want to use a copy from a computer whose version of XP prior to SP2 matched that of the target. (Usually either Service Pack 1 or 1a is already installed, and either is fine).

You just would not want a non-Service packed version matched with a Service packed version.

Hotfixes do not matter.

 

[SaintJimmy]

Thanks for the added info, bcastner, it's a big help.

SJ