Service packs are a way of life, but installing a service pack on
numerous machines in various sites is tough. Here's how to run an unattended
install of the Windows NT Service Pack on a remote machine.
Since Windows NT 3.51 Service Pack 4, you can run update.exe with a /U
option, and it will run without asking questions. You will need to run with an
administrative account because the service pack needs access to the system32
subdirectory and needs to update the Registry. To run the service pack on a
remote machine with an administrative account, you can do one of the following:
- Set up the scheduler service to run with an administrative account on the
workstation or server.
- Schedule a job within SMS to run the service pack update, ensuring that an
administrative account is logged on at the remote machine.
- Use remote control, either within SMS or a third-party product, to log on
to the remote machine as an administrator, and then launch the update.exe with
the /U.
For a list of available options with update.exe, type update/? at the
command prompt. Figure 1 lists service pack files for NT 4.0. This list is
available on Microsoft's Web site, www.microsoft.com.
--Valda Hilley
More NT Fixes
Just two months after
Microsoft shipped Windows NT 4.0, the company released the first service
pack to fix bugs. NT 4.0 Service Pack 1.0 fixes let NT 4.0 work correctly with
Microsoft's Internet Proxy Server (code named Catapult), which will ship by the
end of the year, and let NT 4.0 correctly support the Normandy beta.
By the time you read this, Microsoft will have released a second service
pack to correct problems with NT 4.0 running on notebook computers.
--Valda Hilley
NT 4.0 Upgrade Path for Octopus 1.6
Planning to upgrade from Windows NT 3.51 Server to NT 4.0 Server and take your Octopus mirroring
software with you? Before you make the leap, check your current version of
Octopus. You must have Octopus 1.6 Build 147n to upgrade safely. Installing
version 1.6 Build 147f on your NT 4.0 system will damage the installation and
cause the system to lock up. The only way to fix it is to reinstall NT 4.0.
--Valda Hilley