Microsoft Windows 98 Year 2000 Update 2 Readme File Contents

ID: Q234561


The information in this article applies to:


SUMMARY

This article contains a copy of the information in the Microsoft Windows 98 Year 2000 Update 2 Readme file. This file is installed in the Windows folder as a file named Y2k_2.txt by the Microsoft Windows 98 Year 2000 Update that was released in June, 1999.


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************************************************************************
                        Microsoft Windows 98 
                    Year 2000 Update 2 README File
                              May 1999
************************************************************************
                   YEAR 2000 READINESS DISCLOSURE


(c) Copyright Microsoft Corporation, 1999

This document provides complementary information to supplement the 
Microsoft Windows 98 documentation.

The Windows 98 Year 2000 Update provides Windows 98 updates to resolve 
known year 2000 issues with the Windows 98 operating system. 

For current year 2000 information regarding Microsoft products, visit 
the Microsoft Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/year2000 or call 
1-888-MSFT-Y2K or contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. 
Such information is generally available to all Microsoft customers for 
the sole purpose of assisting the planning for the transition to the 
year 2000. This document contains the information currently available 
concerning the date-handling behavior of Microsoft's products and is 
subject to change, at any time, without notice. We therefore recommend 
that you continue to check the information on the Microsoft Year 2000 
Web site regularly for any such changes.

NOTE: For the best readability, maximize the Notepad window. 

To print this file, open it in Notepad or another word processing 
program, and then click Print on the File menu.


========================================================================
CONTENTS
========================================================================
I.   Installation Notes

II.  Release Notes

III. What Are the Year 2000 Issues in Windows 98?

IV.  Additional Issues

V.   Microsoft Technical Support

========================================================================

I. Installation Notes
---------------------

A. System Requirements
   You need 20 MB free disk space to install the Windows 98
   Year 2000 Update.

B. Downloading and Extracting the Windows 98 Year 2000 Update
   If you download the update from the Web site, be sure to read the 
   release notes completely before you extract and install the 
   Windows 98 Year 2000 Update. 

   After you download the Update, a compressed executable file called 
   Y2kw98_2.exe appears on your hard drive. This executable file contains 
   the files you need to update your system for the year 2000.

   >>> To extract the file and install the year 2000 updates:
   1. Click Start, and then click Run.
   2. In the Run dialog box, click Browse.
   3. Locate the Y2kw98_2.exe file on your hard drive.
   4. Click Open, and then click OK.
   5. Follow the instructions that appear on your screen.

   This Year 2000 Update is for Windows 98 Gold only. This Update is not 
   intended for use on and will not install on computers running 
   Windows 95, Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows NT, or Windows 2000.
   For international versions of Windows 98, download and install the
   appropriate language version for your location.

C. Before You Install the Windows 98 Year 2000 Update
   Because the Windows 98 Year 2000 Update updates your system files 
   and requires you to restart your computer during installation, you 
   should save and close all open documents and close all programs 
   before installing the Update.

D. Useful Switches
   There are several installation options available to advanced users 
   when installing the Windows 98 Year 2000 Update. You can view these
   options at any time by clicking Start, clicking Run, typing 
   y2kw98_2.exe /? and then clicking OK.

   To use the optional installation parameters below, type
   y2kw98_2.exe <option>

   /Q - Quiet mode (skips all user prompts) - Useful for silent 
        installations in batch setups.
   /T: <full path> - Specifies a temporary working folder.
   /C - Extract files only to the folder when used also with /T - 
        Allows an administrator to download files into a specified 
        location.
   /C: <cmd> - Override install command defined by author - Not used 
        for this update.

II. Release Notes
-----------------

If You Reinstall Windows 98
If you have to reinstall the Windows 98 operating system, you will 
lose the benefits of the Windows 98 Year 2000 Update installation. 
Any time you have to reinstall Windows 98, run the Windows 98 Year 
2000 Update installation again.

III. Year 2000 Issues addressed in this release.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

The issues listed below are resolved in this release.

1. OLE Automation
   The Microsoft Automation library contains routines for interpreting
   two digit years and provides a convenient way for applications to
   create unambiguous (serial) dates. In Windows 98 the current two
   digit year cutoff is 2029. This means that two digit years beginning
   with 30 will be interpreted as being in the 20th century, i.e. 1/1/30
   is converted to 1/1/1930, irrespective of the user's century window
   settings in Control Panel\Regional Settings\Date tab.

2. DOS Xcopy
   When using xcopy in real mode with the optional parameter /D:date,
   xcopy does not accept years entered as 2 digits, except for the years
   80 - 99. The message "Invalid date" is displayed. When using xcopy in
   protected mode (from within Windows) 2 digit dates are accepted but
   are recognized as being within the 20th century (02/05/01 is seen as
   02/05/1901).

3. MQRT.DLL
   Microsoft Message Queue (MSMQ) is installed as part of Personal Web
   Server and works with two types of digital certificates - external
   and internal.  The internal certificates is a concept supported by
   MSMQ to allow MSMQ applications to allocate certificates for the
   purpose of sending authenticated messages.  The code creating the
   requests for internal certificates for MSMQ 1.0 requests to set the
   validity of the newly created certificates to 10 years.  The problem
   materializes when MSMQ tries to create such a certificate on February
   29, 2000 (or any leap year such as 2004, 2008, etc.).  This fails
   because it computes the validity by adding 10 years to the current
   date which yields 2/29/2010.  This is an illegal date because 2010 is
   not a leap year.

IV. Additional Issues
----------------------

A. VDHCP.386
   There are no new Y2K issues.  A versioning problem with VDHCP.386 was identified
   and is corrected with this release.

V. Product Support Services
--------------------------------------

Refer to the SUPPORT.TXT file located in the Windows directory for available
support options.

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED TO YOU FOR THE 
SOLE PURPOSE OF ASSISTING THE PLANNING FOR THE TRANSITION TO 
THE YEAR 2000. THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS THE INFORMATION CURRENTLY 
AVAILABLE CONCERNING THE BEHAVIOR OF MICROSOFT'S PRODUCTS IN THE NEXT 
CENTURY AND IS UPDATED REGULARLY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE. WE THEREFORE 
RECOMMEND THAT YOU CONTINUE TO CHECK THE INFORMATION LOCATED AT 
http://microsoft.com/year2000 REGULARLY FOR ANY CHANGES. 

ALL COMMUNICATIONS OR CONVEYANCES OF INFORMATION TO YOU CONCERNING 
MICROSOFT AND THE YEAR 2000, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THIS 
DOCUMENT OR ANY OTHER PAST, PRESENT OR FUTURE INFORMATION REGARDING 
YEAR 2000 TESTING, ASSESSMENTS, READINESS, TIME TABLES, OBJECTIVES, 
OR OTHER (COLLECTIVELY THE “MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 STATEMENT”), ARE 
PROVIDED AS A “YEAR 2000 READINESS DISCLOSURE” (AS DEFINED BY THE 
YEAR 2000 INFORMATION AND READINESS DISCLOSURE ACT) AND CAN BE FOUND 
AT MICROSOFT’S YEAR 2000 WEBSITE LOCATED AT http://microsoft.com/year2000/ 
(THE “Y2K WEBSITE”). EACH MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 STATEMENT IS PROVIDED 
PURSUANT TO THE TERMS HEREOF, THE TERMS OF THE Y2K WEBSITE, AND THE 
YEAR 2000 INFORMATION AND READINESS DISCLOSURE ACT FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE 
OF ASSISTING THE PLANNING FOR THE TRANSITION TO THE YEAR 2000.  EACH 
MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 STATEMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION CURRENTLY AVAILABLE 
AND IS UPDATED REGULARLY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE. MICROSOFT THEREFORE 
RECOMMENDS THAT YOU CHECK THE Y2K WEBSITE REGULARLY FOR ANY CHANGES 
TO ANY MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 STATEMENT. EACH MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 
STATEMENT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. CONSEQUENTLY, 
MICROSOFT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING 
THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. 
MOREOVER, MICROSOFT DOES NOT WARRANT OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING 
THE USE OR THE RESULTS OF THE USE OF ANY MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 STATEMENT IN 
TERMS OF ITS CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE. NO ORAL OR 
WRITTEN INFORMATION OR ADVICE GIVEN BY MICROSOFT OR ITS AUTHORIZED 
REPRESENTATIVES SHALL CREATE A WARRANTY OR IN ANY WAY DECREASE THE SCOPE 
OF THIS WARRANTY DISCLAIMER. IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT OR ITS SUPPLIERS 
BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER REGARDING ANY MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 
STATEMENT INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF 
BUSINESS PROFITS, PUNITIVE OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF MICROSOFT OR ITS 
SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME 
STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR 
CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT 
APPLY TO YOU. THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN EACH MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 
STATEMENT IS FOUND AT THE Y2K WEBSITE AND IS INTENDED TO BE READ IN 
CONJUNCTION WITH OTHER INFORMATION LOCATED AT THE Y2K WEBSITE, INCLUDING 
BUT NOT LIMITED TO MICROSOFT’S YEAR 2000 COMPLIANCE STATEMENT, THE 
DESCRIPTION OF THE CATEGORIES OF COMPLIANCE INTO WHICH MICROSOFT HAS 
CLASSIFIED ITS PRODUCTS IN ITS YEAR 2000 PRODUCT GUIDE, AND THE MICROSOFT 
YEAR 2000 TEST CRITERIA.

ANY MICROSOFT YEAR 2000 STATEMENTS MADE TO YOU IN THE COURSE OF PROVIDING 
YEAR 2000 RELATED UPDATES, YEAR 2000 DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS, OR REMEDIATION 
SERVICES (IF ANY) ARE SUBJECT TO THE YEAR 2000 INFORMATION AND READINESS 
DISCLOSURE ACT (112 STAT. 2386).  IN CASE OF A DISPUTE, THIS ACT MAY 
REDUCE YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS REGARDING THE USE OF ANY SUCH STATEMENTS, UNLESS 
OTHERWISE SPECIFIED BY YOUR CONTRACT OR TARIFF. 

Additional query words: Y2KW98_2.TXT


Keywords          : kbreadme win98 
Version           : WINDOWS:
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbinfo 

Last Reviewed: June 17, 1999