Should I update to Service Pack 3?

[madhente]

I have 5 Windows 2000 Servers which have been giving me errors. Nothing big but very annoying. Microsoft tells me that SP3 will cure many of my problems but I wanted to know if anyone has had any problems with it.
Has SP3 been good for you?
Any input is greatly appreciated.

>:-< MADHENTE

 

[rayen99]

For security reasons alone it is ALWAYS a wise decision to upgrade to the latest service pack and install the latest fixes for Windows. Unless of course you know the the SP itself crashes or messes up something on your system (I had that problem with SP2 one one machine in perticular). Probably close to 100% of all comprimised boxes on the internet didn't have the lastest patches installed. I just upgraded a machine to SP3 from a newly installed system yesterday and everything seems fine and dandy. So far.... ;-)

 

[madhente]

Thanks for the comment RAY.

I had hoped more folks would have done this update by now.

>:-< MADHENTE

 

[alxz]

I was experiencing the same - annoying errors that SP3 promised to fix. I implemented SP3 about a few weeks ago on my Windows 2000 servers (7). Everything running smoothly so far. Although the errors remain...

 

[GlenJohnson]

I have upgraded one of my servers to sp3 because of problems. I also installed it on my desktop to see if I have any issues before going onto installing on my other servers. Glen A. Johnson
Microsoft Certified Professional
glen@nellsgiftbox.com


&quot;The past, though it cannot be relived, can always be repaired.&quot;
John La Farge (1835-1910); U.S. artist.

 

[Norinradd]

I have installed SP3 on several servers and workstations here on my network and I have indeed found a large problem.

If you are running the Exchange 5.5 admin console on a machine you install SP3 to, you might not be able to communicate with the exchange server again. In my scenario
We have 2 Exchange 5.5 servers, I have the admin console loaded on my workstation....after installing service pack 3 on my workstation I can no longer reach the Exchange server &quot;B&quot; but I can still reach Exchange server &quot;A&quot;. Big problem is that the admin console (working of course) is requirred to backup using Backup Exec's Exchange agent. Since I installed SP3 on my backup server in my &quot;B&quot; office, I can no longer backup mailboxes on Exchange server &quot;B&quot;. I would recieve &quot;Communications Failure&quot; anytime I clicked on &quot;Bricks Level&quot; under Backup Exec 8.6 (on either server I could connect to bricks level on Exchange &quot;A&quot; but not &quot;B&quot;, also just opening Exchange admin on either server &quot;A&quot; or &quot;B&quot; I can view/admin &quot;A&quot; but not &quot;B&quot.

I originally found out about this through a user forum at Microsoft.com but once I uninstalled the SP2SR1 from my machine (had to uninstall the newly upgraded IE version first) I was working fine, but thinking that the newer SP3 would be ok to install proved false. Whatever file from SP2SR1 that screws up Exchange Admin, is also screwed up in SP3. This was the problem/fix I found at ms.com and it proved correct for ALL 3 of the machines I was having the problem on.

I searched and searched for anything I could about a fix or even the error OFFICIALLY on ms.com but found nothing whatsoever, only from a user in a forum.

The problem also developes (as far as I have tested and read in forums) from installing SP2SR1

 

[IKnowNothing]

DO NOT INSTALL SERVICE PACK 3 It has a lot of problems, replication problems to name one of them, read the message boards and stay updated with SP3, they fix and change things in service packs without letting anyone know.

example is when SP 2 first came out it was half the size it is now, same service pack? no.

So to answer your question, don't update to SP3, wait till SP4 and see whats said about that, or wait to see if they silently fix SP 3 A+, MCP.

 

[smoud]

also sp3 will affect multi-homed servers. if you have a rras multi nic you need to disable one of the interfaces before installing sp3. you can then renable the intrface.
sp3 can also cause problems running scripts like microsoft update. imagine that