Windows 2000 Service Pack 4

[Thom_D]

Has anyone encountered any problems installing Service pack 4? Or any problems once it is installed? Basically trying to find out what the bugs are in the latest service pack before I order it. (Use a dial up so its too big to download)

[JoeP517]

Hi Thom,
I've installed it on one server and one workstation. So far, no problems. I'll be installing it on a couple PCs (inlcuding a couple of notebooks) a day for a while. I'll post back if there a problems.

Joe

[WyllyWylly]

I'm not daring enough to install it yet....I'm going to wait a few weeks and see what pops up in the newsgroups and forums before I take the plunge. <img src=/S/smile.gif border=0 alt=smile width=15 height=15> Joe appears to be our guinea pig!

[sinjin]

Thom...If you use a download manager like the <img src=/S/free.gif border=0 alt=free width=30 height=15> MetaProducts Download Express, or GetRight, or Stardown, or whatever your taste is, the 129MB SP4 can be had while you sleep <img src=/S/snore.gif border=0 alt=snore width=32 height=15> over 3 or 4 nights. You can then take the shipping charge money you saved and celebrate at the local pub. <img src=/S/cheers.gif border=0 alt=cheers width=30 height=16>

[dwicker]

I installed it a bit to rashly I'm afraid

It caused outlook xp (with sp2) to become fragile
it caused internet explorer ditto
windows update ceased to function..........

so i looked on the ms newsgroups and saw other problems and decided to repent at leisure and uninstalled

everything now is ok

so i suppose the best advice is to 'sit on your hands'

[JoeP517]

Guinea pig reporting. Installed on five more PCs and one notebook. All went without a hitch. No problems with any of the systems. All run IE 6.0 SP1. Some have Office 2k SP-3. One has no Office programs yet. Another has only various Office 'reader' programs installed. All have a variety of other apps. More later. Hope all have a great 4th of July even if you don't celebrate it the way we do in the US

Joe

[Denise262]

I was sent the download from ZDNet for this service pack and also decided to investigate before using it. You may want to read one review posted on ZDNet's site that rated this service pack all thumbs down. http://downloads-zdnet.com.com/3302-...-10210714.html ...

[Denise262]

In researching this, I also looked into the Microsoft newsgroups. Seems to be a variety of problems with this SP4, especially when installing to 2000 server.

http://support.microsoft.com/newsgroups/de...n-us;newsgroups

[DaveH]

Hi David. You said Outlook became fragile. Could you say a bit more? What sins did it commit? I'm particularly keen to know if reminders became late and/or returned after being dismissed. This is my current problem with Office 2k SP3 and Win2K SP4, but it is such a new installation that I have no 'before SP4' experience as a benchmark. Any comments much appreciated.

[dwicker]

It was more of a case of complete 'hangs' or crashes
i didn't see the symtoms you describe

[ladyleadfoot]

greetings from the great white north!

all y'all have me scared now, as i just finished updated my 'puter and installed both service packs. i'm afraid to do anything. should i just go ahead and do whatever it is i need to do, until the thing "blows up" <img src=/S/bouncenburn.gif border=0 alt=bouncenburn width=31 height=31> in my face, or worse yet, my husband's, or uninstall both service packs and await further information? this is what i get for not checking the boards first before i do something....

ah well... until something happens, take care and God bless.

smiles-
ladyleadfoot!!!

[JoeP517]

Most of the time service packs for different products do not have any effect on each other. If things seem ok now, I'd just make sure I had a good backup and go about my business. In the future you may want to stage service packs in one at a time and on one machine at a time. Let a service pack run for whatever period you feel comfortable before applying to another machine. Always, always, always make sure you back up your system before applying a service pack. Then after.

Joe

[JoeP517]

Also, remember whether you see it here or another board or a newgroup what you are seeing is usually the small minority of users with problems. That is not to say that you shouldn't be careful. You should. It also is not to say that their problems are anything but real and troublesome. But, the vast majority of users install and run service packs with no problems.

Joe

[SMBP]

One lounger is having a repeat problem, and has tried to install it four times. See this IE thread.

SMBP

[CWBillow]

I's the one Lounger...

I tend to try and stay pretty current on the MS updates, but SP4 has been a TOTAL nightmare...

I first just uninstalled through WinUpdate... it crashed out and corrupted ntoskrnl.exe... trying to replace that file just caused focus to shift to other files... so I ended up re-installing...

Then, thinking I had perhaps done something "wrong" I tried the same process... same result...

THEN, after "ghosting" my disk, I tried AGAIN... this time "it" waited until I had new mail and files, making my image out-of-date, and THEN crashed out...

So NOW I'm on install #4...

and NOW the culprit de jour is ZoneAlarm... My old standby for the last 5 years... is now giving my "fail to initialize vsmon.exe"... so the war goes on.... and on... and on...

I had mentioned to SMBP in the IE forum that Win98 was back under consideration... they say "No, don't do that..." but all this is getting a bit much...

'98, with all of it's shortcomings, *never* caused this/these type(s) of problems....

Mayba a martini would help... or two... or...

Frazzled Chuck