Before Installing a Windows NT Service Pack

ID: Q165418

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT operating system version 3.1
Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Server version 3.1
Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 3.5, 3.51, 4.0
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation versions 3.5, 3.51, 4.0

SUMMARY

This article describes the steps that should be performed before installing a Windows NT Service Pack, maintenance required after installing a Service Pack, and also discusses Service Pack 2 for Windows NT 4.0 specifically.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Follow Before Installing the Service Pack:

Read the Readme.txt file to read installation instructions and view the issues that are resolved by the Service Pack you are installing. Only install the Service Pack if you are experiencing a problem that the Service Pack addresses or you are instructed to do so by a Microsoft Support Professional.

Run the Windows NT Rdisk.exe tool to update the Emergency Repair Disk (ERD). You can update your repair information even if there was no original ERD created. The information used to create an ERD is saved on the system's hard drive in the Repair folder. The Rdisk.exe tool will update the repair information on the hard drive and then recreate the ERD when you choose the Update option. You can run the Rdisk.exe tool from a Windows NT command prompt.

NOTE: The ERD is intended to provide just enough recovery to restore a system to a bootable state and is not a replacement for regular backups.

For more information about the ERD and the Rdisk.exe tool, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q156328 Description of Windows NT Emergency Repair Disk

Q126464 Repair Disk tool Does Not Update SAM and Security Hives

Q122857 RDISK /S and RDISK /S- Options in Windows NT 3.5

Before installing any Service Pack, you should make sure that you have a working backup of your system. The only supported method of restoring your Windows NT to a previous working installation is from a Windows NT backup.

For more information about backing up Windows NT, query on "ntbackup.exe" in Windows NT Help.

If you are running any form of Remote Control Software that controls the screen display, uninstall it. Contact the Vendor of the software if you have any questions regarding the correct procedure to uninstall.

Disable ALL third Party services located in Control Panel Services. Setting to manual startup is not sufficient. Reboot the server before continuing the installation. Any service that accesses the file system is ESPECIALLY important. This includes all virus scanners, quota managers, and scheduling programs.

Set all Microsoft services, which can stress the system in your environment, to manual. Some good examples would be heavily used SQL Services, Exchange Services, and Spooler on dedicated print servers.

Always get a clean reboot with NO errors before starting to install a service pack.

Maintenance Required After Installing a Service Pack

Installing/Reinstalling NT Services and Protocols

If you need to install or reinstall any NT services or protocols after you have installed a Service Pack, you will need to reinstall the Service Pack before you reboot your computer. When you initiate the Service Pack reinstallation, you will again be prompted to create an uninstall folder. Choose yes to recreate the Uninstall folder each time you re-apply the service pack. The Uninstall folder is used to restore your system to a bootable configuration if the need ever arises.

Installing the Next Service Pack

When installing the New Service Pack, you should choose to create the uninstall folder. This will update the uninstall folder with the new Service Pack files. If you ever have to uninstall the new Service Pack, your system will be restored to the previous Service Pack.

Before you install the NEW Service Pack, you may want to save the current Service Pack's uninstall folder. This will enable you to still remove the old Service Pack if needed. For example, if you ever remove the new Service Pack, your system would be restored to the previous Service Pack. If you continued to experience problems and wanted to restore the system to a state before the original Service Pack, the backup of the older Service Pack's uninstall folder would allow you successfully remove that Service Pack.

To make a backup of the current Service Pack uninstall information, copy the uninstall folder to another location on the hard drive. You should rename the folder by the version of the Service Pack for ease in identification.

Windows NT 4.0-Specific Information

Before installing Service Pack 2 or later for Windows NT 4.0, we highly recommend that you verify there is enough free hard disk space to create the uninstall folder. The uninstall folder requires a minimum of 60 megabytes (MB) during the installation and will require half of that after the Service Pack has been applied.

To enable the uninstall option, you must choose to create the uninstall folder whenever you run the Update.exe file. The uninstall folder is used to replace the Windows NT system files that were updated by the Service Pack and restore the registry settings from the last working installation (before you ran Update.exe).

NOTE: You should create the uninstall folder each time you reapply the Service Pack. The Uninstall folder is used to restore your system to a bootable configuration if the need ever arises.

We highly recommend that you leave the uninstall folder on your hard disk even after the Service Pack has been installed and is verified to be working properly. You may install programs, drivers, and so on, at a later date that may not be compatible with the Service Pack driver, thereby causing you to have to uninstall the Service Pack. The uninstall folder is hidden by default and is located in the following folder:


   %SystemRoot%\$NtServicePackUninstall$

Known Issues with Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 2

Please see the following articles for issues you may have after installing Service Pack 2 for Windows NT 4.0:

Q141239 Stop 0xA Errors May Occur After Installing Service Pack 2

Q161368 Service Pack 2 May Cause Loss of Connectivity in Remote Access

Q162837 Replacing TCPIP after SP2 causes STOP 0x00000050

Q162205 "Stop 0x1E" Message Reinstalling Windows NT with SP2 and RAS

Q163383 Failure to Obtain IP Address Via DHCP on Token Ring w/ SP2

Q161038 Winsock Apps Fail on First Attempt at NetBIOS Name Resolution

Q162663 Cabletron T20xx Adapter Does Not Work After Installing SP2

To see additional articles related to Windows NT 4.0 and Service Pack 2, please query the Microsoft Knowledge Base using the following keywords:

"Service Pack 2" winnt 4.00

Additional query words: 3.10 directory servpack


Keywords          : kbenv kbsetup ntsetup nthowto prodnt 
Version           : 3.1 3.5 3.51 4.0
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        :

Last Reviewed: July 2, 1999