CERN Accelerating science

Previous:		New Print Package on NICE	(See printing version)
Next:		Y2K Compliance of UNIX Systems

Overview

Service Pack 4 for Windows NT 4 was released at the end of 1998 and contains various updates and bug fixes for Windows NT.

The most important improvements introduced by SP4 can be summarised as follows:

• Certified Y2K compliance: after application of SP4 and the post-SP4 Hot-Fixes, the system is rated COMPLIANT by Microsoft.
  For more information on Y2K compliance issues of Windows NT 4 check at:
  

      http://microsoft.com/technet/year2k/product/user_view68399EN.htm
      (Windows NT 4 Workstation)
  
  
  
      http://microsoft.com/technet/year2k/product/user_view67961EN.htm
      (Windows NT 4 Server)
  
  
  
      
  

• System Environment Block problem fix (currently bugging many VisualStudio users): if the user environment is large (long path, many environment variables defined), the winlogon service may corrupt the System Environment Block and the workstation may crash with STOP error 0xC000021A when shutting down Windows or using Task Manager. This has been seen to happen on computers where VisualStudio and other large development programs had been installed
  
• Euro symbol support
  
• Additional support for NetWare File and Print Sharing
  
• Updated Time Zones definitions
  
• Security configuration and management tools (server version only - it's not included in the standard NICE installation)
  
• Automatic installation of AGP graphics card during setup: Windows NT doesn't have direct support for the AGP bus. Therefore when an AGP graphics card is present in the system, it's not automatically configured during installation. Support for AGP is introduced by SP3 and SP4, which have to be installed before the AGP card drivers. The installation set will now be patched to configure AGP cards automatically
  
• Improved access to IDE disks with more than 8GB space during setup: SP4 contains a new IDE bus driver that allows to partition correctly IDE disks larger than 8GB during setup.

For more detailed information about the fixes contained in SP4, check at:

http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/nts/exec/overview/NT4SP4whatnew.asp (overview of all new features and fixes)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q194/3/03.asp (detailed technical list of all fixes)

Installation instructions of the NICE NT SP4 package

SP4 will be deployed in the NICE NT environment during the months of June and July one Division at a time.

The installation of SP4 on NICE is automatically started when a user logs in a computer that hasn't yet received the update.

In order to install SP4, it is necessary  to be logged under an account with local administrator privileges. If the account used doesn't have local administrator privileges, a dialog box will prompt you to log in under a valid account to start the procedure and the installation program will then stop. It is not possible to start accidentally the installation while logged in as a non privileged user. You can have a look in the NICE NT FAQ page at http://nicentinfo.web.cern.ch for more information about accounts with local administrator privileges (I want my NICE account to have local administrator privileges. How do I do it?)

The installation consists of one or more steps, depending on the components that you will choose to install.

The first time that you log in under a privileged account, you will see a dialog with four buttons, one for each option.

Option 1: "Yes, proceed with the installation"

If you choose the first option, the installation of SP4 will immediately proceed and will install the basic components required to update your system. You need to have about 35 MB of free disk space to install SP4. You will see a dialog showing you the installation progress. Do not use the computer during this phase. At the end of the installation, the computer will automatically reboot. At this point you can log in with your normal account.

Option 2: "Maybe, but I want more information"

Select this option if you want to choose which components to install. A dialog in French or English will guide you through a series of steps. For the moment the additional components you can install are Internet Explorer 4 Service Pack 1 and the updated Data Access components (v.2.0) for working with databases. You need to have up to 80 MB of free disk space for this option.
This installation is divided in three phases:

1. During the first phase, the system updates are installed. You will see a dialog showing you the installation progress. Do not use the computer during this phase. At the end of the installation, the computer will ask you to confirm before rebooting
2. After the reboot, log in again as local administrator to start the second phase. During this phase, IE4 SP1 and the Data Access components will be installed. The computer will then reboot automatically at the end of the procedure without asking for a confirmation.
3. After the second reboot, log in again as local administrator to complete the installation of IE4 SP1. At the end of this phase, you can use your computer as normal and you can log out and log back in with your normal account.

Option 3: "Not now. Remind me again next time"

Select this option if you want to postpone the installation to the next login as local administrator.

Option 4: "Not now. I'll do it myself later"

Select this option if you don't want to install SP4 and don't want to be reminded anymore.

Manual installation

Service Pack 4 can be installed manually at any time from the Windows Menu by going to

Start - More Applications - System Configuration - PC Administration - 
Windows NT 4 SP4 Setup

The manual installation doesn't check for the user Division and can be used to install SP4 even before your scheduled turn.

Re-installation of SP4

If you want to reinstall SP4, you need to select the first option. IE4 and the Data Components cannot be reinstalled using this procedure. If you need to reinstall Internet Explorer 4.0 SP1 you have to use the procedure from:

Start - More Applications - World Wide Web - Install Internet Explorer,
Netmeeting and Chat

Known bugs and limitations - Please read carefully before installing SP4

• On some computers during the installation of the basic components (Option 1 or Option 2 - Phase 1), we have seen an error message stating that the file IEXPLORE.EXE cannot be found. This is not true, but it depends on the fact that a copy of the file has been found on one of the NICE servers and the setup program is trying to overwrite that file. Just press the Skip button to proceed.
  

  IMPORTANT: if you see this error message, DO NOT reset the computer or you will not be able to connect to the CERN NT Domain anymore. Just press the Skip button.

• On some computers, during the third phase of the complete installation (Option 2), we have seen one or more error messages stating that some Java class could not be registered. Press on the OK button to proceed. The classes will be registered again the first time you use them.

• If you receive the prompt to install SP4 while installing or reinstalling a NICENT system, postpone the installation until NICE has completely finished updating your system. This is necessary to be sure that all files to be updated are already present on your disk.

For additional questions and comments, contact the author.

For matters related to this article please contact the author.