About This Guide |
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This guide provides instructions for administrators installing hotfixes for Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, and Windows 2000 with Server Appliance Kit. This guide includes technical details, procedures, and recommendations for successfully installing Windows 2000 hotfixes on multiple computers in a small business or corporate environment. Note that you can install hotfixes either alone or in combination with Windows 2000 (with or without a service pack).
This guide assumes a working knowledge of Windows 2000 and hotfix installations. Although some basic operating system information is included in the document, this is not a replacement for either the Windows 2000 documentation or formal training. Rather, it is intended to complement these sources of information.
This guide includes the following main sections:
You can read this section to become familiar with hotfixes. This section also provides information about additional resource material that can help you plan your hotfix deployment.
This section explains how to perform an update installation of Windows hotfixes for computers that are already running Windows 2000.
This section explains how to perform an unattended installation of Windows hotfixes in combination with Windows 2000.
This section explains how to remove a Windows hotfix and discusses the limitations of this process.
Before you get started, it's important to understand a few specialized terms that are used in this guide. These terms, which are specific to Windows 2000 or hotfix installations (or both), are defined in the following table.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| systemroot | The "root" directory of the Windows installation on the computer's hard disk. For example, on most computers, systemroot is C:\Winnt. |
| systemdrive | The drive where the operating system is installed. For example, on most computers, the systemdrive is C:\. |
| integrated | Installed together as a single installation (for example, Windows 2000 and Service Pack 3). |
What is a hotfix? |
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A hotfix is a file or collection of files that you can apply to Windows 2000 to correct a specific problem.
A hotfix is provided as an executable (.exe) file. When you install a hotfix, backup files are created automatically so that you can remove the hotfix later if you want. The installation process also copies files to specific folders and updates registry settings.
Windows 2000 Hotfix.exe programs are named according to the following convention:
Q######_XXX_YYY_ZZZ_LL.exe
where:
Hotfixes are packaged in a self-installing format. There are two main types of hotfix installations:
Use this type of installation to install Windows hotfixes on computers that are already running Windows 2000.
Use this type of installation to perform an unattended installation of Windows hotfixes in combination with Windows 2000 or the service pack (or both).
Important
Hotfixes are applied only to software that is already installed when you apply the hotfixes. For instance, if you remove a component and later reinstall it, you must reinstall any hotfixes that apply for that component. Fixes included in a service pack do not work the same way. After you install a service pack, fixes are applied to all components you add or reinstall without you having to reinstall the service pack.
The Update Installation |
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During the update installation, Windows hotfixes are applied to a computer that is already running Windows 2000. When you run the hotfix package, it automatically installs the updated system files and makes the necessary registry changes. After the computer is restarted (required only for some system files that are used during the installation), the installation is complete and Windows 2000 runs with an updated file set.
You can install the hotfixes by running the Hotfix.exe program, which extracts the hotfix files and runs the Update.exe installation program. Update.exe then checks the service pack version you are currently using. If the service pack version was released before the hotfixes and the language is the same, the Update.exe program installs the hotfixes automatically. If your service pack version was released after the hotfixes, the installation is not completed and an error message appears, stating that the version is incorrect.
Note
If your service pack version was released after the hotfixes and you were completing an unattended installation (using either the /M or /Q option), the installation quits and no message displays.
If the language of the hotfixes does not match the language you have set up for Windows 2000, Setup will be interrupted. If there are no version conflicts, Setup continues the installation. The Update.exe program registers the hotfixes under the following registry keys:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Hotfix\Q######
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software\Microsoft\Updates\Windows 2000\SP4\Q######
During the installation, information for removing the hotfixes is stored in a hidden folder named systemroot\$NtUninstallQ######$. For information about removing hotfixes, see Removing Windows 2000 Hotfixes later in this document.
The following sections describe how to install the Windows hotfixes from a shared network distribution folder.
There are several methods for performing an update installation, including running the Hotfix.exe program manually with a combination of installation options, using Systems Management Server (SMS), and using the Windows Installer. You can distribute hotfixes either by using a shared network distribution folder or by downloading the hotfixes from the Web. Because this guide is intended primarily for corporate users, the update installation procedures provided in this document focus on the shared network distribution method, which is the most common means of hotfix distribution for this audience.
The instructions in this section explain how to install hotfixes on computers that are already running Windows 2000.
Hotfix chaining during update installations is supported in Windows 2000. Qchain.exe is a utility that enables you to install multiple hotfixes without having to restart your computer after each one is installed. If multiple hotfixes replace the same file, Qchain.exe ensures that the correct version is installed. Windows 2000 SP3 and all post-SP3 hotfixes have Qchain.exe functionality built in. You can install SP3 and then install any number of post-SP3 hotfixes without having to restart the computer in between. To determine whether a given hotfix was released after SP3, download the hotfix and check the naming convention used. All post-SP3 hotfixes use the following naming convention:
Q######_W2K_SP4_x86_en.exe
For more information about the Qchain.exe utility, see article Q296861, "Use QChain.exe to Install Multiple Hotfixes with Only One Reboot," in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.
The following table identifies the command-line options that the Hotfix.exe program supports.
| Command-line option | Description |
|---|---|
| /F | Forces other applications to close at shutdown. |
| /N | Does not back up files for removing hotfixes. |
| /Z | Does not restart the computer after the installation is completed. |
| /Q | Uses quiet mode; no user interaction is required. |
| /M | Uses unattended Setup mode. |
| /L | Lists installed hotfixes. |
To install a Windows 2000 hotfix on a single computer, just run the hotfix program on the computer you want to update:
Q######_XXX_YYY_ZZZ_LL.exe
You can create a shared distribution folder on the network for the hotfix if you want to install it on more than one computer. The following procedure describes how to install one or more Windows 2000 hotfixes using this method.
Note
For the following procedure, "E:\" represents the drive of the network or computer where your distribution folder is located.
To install a Windows 2000 hotfix by running the Hotfix.exe program
For example, to create a distribution folder named Hotfix, type the following:
mkdir E:\Hotfix
For example, to copy the Windows 2000 Hotfix.exe program to the distribution folder named Hotfix, type the following:
xcopy C:\Q######_XXX_YYY_ZZZ_LL.exe E:\Hotfix
For example, to install the hotfix from the distribution folder named Hotfix, type the following:
E:\Hotfix\Q######_XXX_YYY_ZZZ_LL.exe
The Q######_XXX_YYY_ZZZ_LL.exe file supports the same command-line options as the Hotfix.exe program. You can use command-line options as described in the table preceding this procedure.
You can group multiple hotfixes together in a batch file and install them as a unit; this way, you do not need to restart your computer after each hotfix is installed. The hotfix installer provides options you can use when performing this type of installation.
The following code sample is a batch file that installs hotfixes and makes sure that the correct files get replaced after the computer is restarted.
@echo off
setlocal
set PATHTOFIXES=E:\hotfix
%PATHTOFIXES%\Q123456_w2k_sp4_x86.exe /Z /M
%PATHTOFIXES%\Q123321_w2k_sp4_x86.exe /Z /M
%PATHTOFIXES%\Q123789_w2k_sp4_x86.exe /Z /MIf you are installing any hotfixes that were released before SP3, you must include the following line at the end of your batch file to run Qchain.exe after the last hotfix is installed:
%PATHTOFIXES%\qchain.exeNote
You can download Qchain.exe from article Q296861, "Use Qchain.exe to Install Multiple Hotfixes with Only One Reboot," in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.
Important
To make sure that the hotfixes you installed take effect, restart the computer if the batch file does not automatically restart it for you.
The Combination Installation |
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The combination installation uses both the update and integrated installation processes to install the service pack with one or more of the following:
This section provides instructions for installing Windows 2000 with hotfixes in unattended Setup mode.
You can perform a combination installation by using either of the following two methods:
Because of the extra steps involved in setting up the shared installation folder for the combination installation, this process is recommended only if the hotfixes are needed during text-mode setup or if network administrator wants to have the hotfixes installed before the first user logs on to a computer connected to the network.
This section explains how to perform a combination installation of Windows 2000 integrated with the service pack and post-service pack hotfixes in a shared distribution folder on a network. You do not need to perform separate installations of Windows 2000, the service pack, or the Windows 2000 hotfixes. Note that if you want to install Windows 2000 with hotfixes, you must use this method.
Important
Before you run Windows 2000 Setup to deploy the installation of Windows 2000 and the Windows 2000 hotfixes across a network, you must copy the Windows 2000 and Windows 2000 hotfix installation files to a shared distribution folder and complete additional steps, as described in the following procedure.
If you are an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and you plan to install additional OEM files (for example, device driver, application, or component files) on the destination computers, create a \$1 subfolder within the \$OEM$ subfolder. The \$1 subfolder maps to systemdrive, the destination drive for the Windows 2000 installation.
Note
In the following procedure, "E:\" represents the drive name of the network or computer where your distribution folder is located.
To create and set up the required folders and files
mkdir E:\i386
xcopy /E /I /V D:\i386 E:\i386
[OptionalSrcDirs]
uniproc
svcpackmkdir E:\i386\svcpack
If you are deploying multiple hotfixes, rename all of the hotfix package files.
E:\i386\svcpack\Q###### /X E:\<samplefolder>
For example, i386\uniproc\* files in the hotfix need to be copied to the i386\uniproc folder of the shared installation folder. There is no need to copy Update.exe, Update.inf, SPmsg.dll, SPcustom.dll, SPuninst.exe, Update.ver, or symbols files.
[Version]
Signature="$Windows NT$"
MajorVersion=5
MinorVersion=0
BuildNumber=2195
[SetupData]
CatalogSubDir="\i386\svcpack"
[ProductCatalogsToInstall]
Q######.cat
[SetupHotfixesToRun]
Q######.exe /options (the recommended options for hotfixes are /Q /N /Z)Important
If you will be deploying multiple hotfixes together, add an entry for each hotfix under both [ProductCatalogsToInstall] and [SetupHotfixesToRun] (as shown following this paragraph). The following lines are a sample of these sections for an installation in which multiple hotfixes are installed. If you are installing a service pack, you do not need to include details about the service pack because it is included in the installation independently of this process.
[ProductCatalogsToInstall]
Q123456.cat
Q123478.cat
Q123490.cat
[SetupHotfixesToRun]
Q123456.exe /options
(the recommended options for hotfixes are /Q, /N, and /Z)
Q123478.exe /options
(the recommended options for hotfixes are /Q, /N, and /Z)
Q123490.exe /options
(the recommended options for hotfixes are /Q, /N, and /Z)You can deploy the installation of Windows 2000 and the Windows 2000 hotfixes to your users' computers from a shared distribution folder on a network. During the standard installation process, Windows 2000 Setup (Winnt.exe or Winnt32.exe in unattended Setup mode) installs the operating system and applies the hotfixes.
To deploy the installation
This section provides instructions for performing a combination installation with Windows 2000 integrated with hotfixes in a shared network distribution folder. You do not need to perform separate installations of Windows 2000 and the hotfixes.
Important
Before you run Windows 2000 Setup to install Windows 2000 with hotfixes, you must complete the tasks described in the following procedures.
Before you begin the combination installation, you must create a distribution folder and subfolders for the Windows 2000 and hotfix installation files, and then you must create an Unattend.txt answer file (for an unattended installation only), as described in the following procedures.
Note
For the following procedure, "E:\" represents the drive of the network or computer where your distribution folder is.
To create the required folders
For example, to create an \i386 distribution folder, type the following:
mkdir E:\i386
For example, to create an \$OEM$ subfolder in the \i386 folder, type the following:
mkdir E:\i386\$OEM$
The \$OEM$ subfolder contains any additional folders that are necessary to satisfy the Microsoft OEM requirements and your own preinstallation needs. For more information about these additional folders, see the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit Deployment Planning Guide.
For example, to create an \$1 subfolder in the \$OEM$ subfolder, type the following:
mkdir E:\i386\$OEM$\$1
The \$1 subfolder maps to %systemdrive%, the destination drive for the Windows 2000 installation.
Note
The $OEM$ and distribution folders are deleted from users' computers automatically after Windows 2000 Setup is completed.
To create an Unattend.txt answer file
[Unattended]
OemPreinstall = YesFor information about using Setup Manager to create an Unattend.txt answer file, see the Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Resource Kit or the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit. For information about answer file parameters and settings, see the Microsoft Windows 2000 Guide to Unattended Setup (Unattend.doc), which is located in the \Support\Tools folder on the Service Pack 3 CD.
[Commands]
"Q######.exe /N /Q /Z"where Q###### = the hotfix number (for example, Q123456).
For example, to install the Q123456.exe hotfix, add the following command line to the [Commands] section in the Cmdlines.txt file:
[Commands]
"Q123456.exe /N /Q /Z"For example, to install the Q123456.exe, Q123478.exe, and Q123490.exe hotfixes, add the following command line to the [Commands] section in the Cmdlines.txt file:
[Commands]
"Q123456.exe -n -q -z"
"Q123478.exe -n -q -z"
"Q123490.exe -n -q -z"
"QChain.exe"For information about using Setup Manager to create a Cmdlines.txt file, see the Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Resource Kit or the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit.
You must copy all of the files needed for the installation to your distribution folder. The distribution folder should contain the installation and executable files for Windows 2000 and the Windows 2000 hotfixes, in addition to any device driver files and other files that you want to install.
To copy the installation files to the distribution folder
For information about files contained in the \i386\$OEM$ subfolder, see the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit Deployment Planning Guide.
You can deploy the combination installation of Windows 2000 and the hotfixes to your users' computers as described in Deploying the Combination Installation by Using Svcpack.inf earlier in this document.
Removing Windows 2000 Hotfixes |
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You can remove a Windows 2000 hotfix by using Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel.
If you install multiple hotfixes that replace the same files and you want to return your computer to its original state, you must remove the most recently installed hotfix first. For example, assume that HotfixA and HotfixB replace the same file and that you installed HotfixA before you installed HotfixB. If you want to return your computer to its state prior to the installation of HotfixA, you must remove HotfixB before you remove HotfixA.
To remove a Windows 2000 hotfix
Note
You cannot remove hotfixes that were installed by means of the combination installation method.
Copyright |
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