Microsoft plans to roll out Windows XP Service Pack 2 on Wednesday.

According to InfoWorld, WinXP SP2 could be availabe on Windows Update as soon as Wednesday August 25th. Although the 266MB service pack has been available to download for a couple weeks (see: WinXP SP2 network install available from Microsoft) Microsoft has delayed its release to allow corporations a bit more time to disable automatic updates to prevent the service pack from being automatically installed.

Here's a spicy quote from the InfoWorld article:

Faced with concerns from business users, Microsoft two weeks ago made available a tool that allows users to set a Windows registry key that will instruct the system to skip downloading and installing the service pack for 120 days, but still download other critical updates. The tool was released one day after the network installation package for SP2.

SP2 is more than the usual roll-up of bug fixes and updates; it makes significant changes to Windows in the name of increased security. As a result, SP2 can render existing applications inoperable. Because of those changes, many businesses want to hold off on installing the update and are taking time for testing. Automatic Updates initially did not give users that flexibility.

You can find more info on disabling automatic installation of SP2 at: Temporarily Disabling Delivery of Windows XP Service Pack 2 Through Windows Update and Automatic Updates [Microsoft.com]

[via InfoWorld]

Posted by peter on August 23, 2004 at 04:35 PM
Comments

Of course as soon as I post the news I find another source that lists a second method of blocking the automatic updates.

CRN notes that Microsoft offers a copy-and-paste script that allows you to easily control which servers will be able to install the update.
See: Microsoft Offers Second Method To Block XP SP2 Updates

Microsoft has the following to say:

This script runs against multiple computers to remotely block or unblock the delivery of Windows XP SP2 from Windows Update Web site or via Automatic Updates. The code uses the StdRegProv class of the Windows Management Instrumentation Registry provider. The ability to block delivery of Windows XP SP2 will be available for a limited time only. Please see http://www.microsoft.com/technet/winxpsp2 for information on the expiration date. For details on temporarily disabling delivery of Service Pack 2 through Windows Update and Automatic Updates, please see http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/sp2aumng.mspx.
Input for this script comes from a comma-delimited text file, hosts.csv, which contains the names of computers against which the script will run.

[via CRN]
[via Microsoft]

Posted by: peter at August 23, 2004 04:52 PM