Easiest way to fall back to SP1 from SP2

[Psyke]

Hi Guys.

One PC on our network has gone ahead, and updated themselves to an XP SP2 machine.

Simple Question, whats the simplest way to revert it back to an SP1 machine, without doing a system restore ( i dont know when it was updated, and i don't want the user to lose any applications installed since then..)

Is Add / Remove programs my safest bet?.. Will doing that simply revert it back to SP1 ? or will it just roll it back to no service pack at all?..

Any ideas / thoughts are appreciated.

Also, as a side not what is the easiest way to control the Automatic Updates from occuring on the network.. ( Aside from going to each PC and stopping them by default.)

Can it be done by Group Policy?.

Thanks again guys.

 

[linney]

875350 - How to remove Windows XP Service Pack 2 from your computer

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;875350&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

At the SP1 level, have a look at Group Policy for Windows Updates. "If the status is set to Disabled, any updates that are available on the Windows Update Web site must be downloaded and installed manually by going to

http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com.

 

[bcastner]

Just to add to linney's comment, System Restore is the worst possible way to revert from SP2 to SP1.

"Also, as a side not what is the easiest way to control the Automatic Updates from occuring on the network.. ( Aside from going to each PC and stopping them by default.)"

Workgroup or Domain network?

In either case automatic updates is registry based, and a registry change can be pushed in either setting.

 

[Psyke]

Thanks for the replies.

Further Questions..

1. Click Start, click Run, type appwiz.cpl in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Click to select the Show Updates check box.
3. Click Windows XP Service Pack 2, and then click Remove.
4. Follow the instructions on the screen to remove Windows XP SP2.
5. Perform a system restore to return the system to a point before Windows XP SP2 was installed.

Note See "Use the System Restore process" in this section.
6. Click Start, click Run, type sfc /scannow, and then click OK. This will return the file system to the order that it had before you installed Windows XP SP2.

This was taken from the support document Linney suggests.

With this are steps 5 and 6 necessary?...

Or are they just "additional steps" in case 1-4 don't work?

Oh and bcastner, we are running a Domain based network.

Thanks again.

 

[bcastner]

No, the first part removes the system file changes. The second part rebuilds the registry.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...w2kmag01/html/DistributingRegistryChanges.asp