After several months of beta testing, the most important service pack ever issued for Windows 2000 is at last available for download. The Service Pack 3 (124 MB, German here) is a collection of bug fixes that addresses all the issues that were discovered since Windows 2000 shipped. This new Service Pack 3 also adds some new features like the ability to configure the middleware and an automatic updater.
Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 Released
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if my Windows 2000 wouldn’t refuse to boot. =)
Anyone know if this service pack disables the warez versions of Win2k ?
I’m not sure but I’ve downloaded a release of Win2k that had SP3 included so it definitely doesn’t disable everything.
Just when you thought you might be up to date…
Q322842_W2K_SP4_X86_EN.exe
Darn, and I was looking forward to not installing more hotfixes.
Anyone want to start taking bets now on whether MS will actually put out a SP4 for Win2k? Remember SP7 for Winnt4?
they’re called pre-SP4 patches actually. i think there’s about a dozen of them so far, the first one, if memory serves, popped up back in march or april, i’m guessing after SP3 beta testing started… most of the nasty IE security fixes have pre-SP4 in the name somewhere…
Like DVD region codes? For now, I am not upgrading simply because I want to be completely sure that it doesn’t change the internal region coding system in win2k (which DVDGenie does a damn fine job of bashing in SP2
)
“they’re called pre-SP4 patches actually. i think there’s about a dozen of them so far, the first one, if memory serves, popped up back in march or april, i’m guessing after SP3 beta testing started… most of the nasty IE security fixes have pre-SP4 in the name somewhere…”
Are any of these hotfixes available on Windows Update? If not, where to get them all in one place? I’m assuming this is for both server and pro versions ?
why isn’t this showing up in autoupdate?
http://www.microsoft.com/security is the portal for all of your pre-SP4 patches. if you’ve run through windows update in the last month or so, you have most if not all of the fixes i’m referring to.
it’s also a good idea to subscribe to the MS Security Bulletin – which is an e-mail listservice that spits out about 3-4 warnings a week… and then there are weeks where there are 3-4 warnings a day. it makes for fun reading.
I’ve currently got it running in our test bed environment (Single DC with 2 clients), and it seems fine so far…
Haven’t actaully looked at the fix list yet, but nothing seems to have been broken since SP2…
So good, so far…
Ok, I’ve got it running also. About the Middleware configurer thingie:
SP3 adds an icon to the start menu that reads “Set Program Access and Defaults”, which takes you to the Add/Remove programs screen where there’s a new tab with the same name.
Basically, for browser, email, media player, chat, and JVM, you have an option to choose either Microsoft apps or ‘use my current media player’, which for most people, would default to the MS apps anyway. There’s also a check box for each one that says ‘Show program’, which I assume removes the program icons if you uncheck them.
Hardly the ‘modular windows’ that the anti-MS crowd were hoping for, no? Is this the result of the DOJ lawsuit? If so, is this ALL that came from the DOJ lawsuit ?
And silicondiode, thanks!
In my above post, ‘Use my current media player’ should have read, ‘User my current browser/e-mail program/media player/etc’
If my Linux vendor (http://www.gentoo.org) announced a 150MB bugfix, I would move to a different OS. Only M$ could dish this out while claiming that Windows is stable, cost effective, etc, etc…
Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 should really be Windows 2000 Release Candidate 3. But that wouldn’t be cost effective for M$
If my Linux vendor announced a 150MB bugfix,
<troll>
You’ll never see a bug fix for Linux, they just release a new version of the distribution, and tell you to download that…
</troll>
Just my 2 cents…
Chewy509…
…why Windoze Update wasn’t working a few minutes ago (building a new machine at work).
Re: Daniel….I updated a new RH 7.2 installation the other day with APT for RPM, and the req’d updates were over 200 MB, FWIW.
So where do you find it for languages others than English or German??
Normally, upgrading is a good thing, but this is the first time I consider not to do so – the reason is “never change a running system”.
My LAN FTP was running for 5 month 24/7 and I only powered it down because we got electricity cut of for an hour…
This machine is always under 100% load when utilized because I have 256 Bit drive encryption on it…
<em>If my Linux vendor (http://www.gentoo.org) announced a 150MB bugfix, I would move to a different OS. Only M$ could dish this out while claiming that Windows is stable, cost effective, etc, etc…
Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 should really be Windows 2000 Release Candidate 3. But that wouldn’t be cost effective for M$</em>
Hmmm, where do I start? Well, I have Win2K on all machines in my house. The home file server has been up for weeks without a problem, running on SP2. SP3 is a collection of bugfixes, not just one. It also includes some enhancements as well.
As mentioned in another comment, what happens when Linux gets a bug? Download a new distro release or go hunt for an updated package. All I need to do is download one EXE, doubleclick, and it’s done.
In the age of broadband, who cares if it’s 150MB?
@ IFightMIBs: You seem to be forgetting that those 200Mb of patches is not just to the linux kernel (you might argue that for example WMP is not part of the Windows kernel, but then why is it impossible to get rid of it?) but also for some software that you will probably never use.
I dont want to have a sneaky service running on my computer that reports to Microsoft once in a while… neither do I want to have updates automatically d/led… My system is up for month, and I wouldnt want to reboot once a week or more!!
I just downloaded it…. I’ll try to NOT install it right away but it seems like my brain has gone on “NEW STUFF AVAILABLE, GOTTA TRY IT RIGHT NOW”. I sound like Homer Simpson, doh!
I have a silly question, why is this not being detected in the auto update through windows update…? It seems the download came from MS, but it is not released to the windows public for use?
I think that this is viewed as an “optional, not required” update for the moment. Like most service packs, MS introduces the updates with the caveat that the user should review and decide if he wishes to install or not. That may have something to do with it?
“Hmmm, where do I start? Well, I have Win2K on all machines in my house. The home file server has been up for weeks without a problem, running on SP2. SP3 is a collection of bugfixes, not just one. It also includes some enhancements as well.”
No offence but this hardly counts as proving that an OS is stable. W2k is trying to compete with Mainframe and enterprise OSs like UNIX, AS400 etc, working well on a few PCs isn’t the point. The point is does it work well on a machine that has >1000 users every day and does not get rebooted more than once a year. Say what you like, windows has come a long way, but mainframe class it aint, if it was you would be able to apply patches without a reboot….
I find the whole idea that the OS for a PC can be the same one on a mainframe somewhat flawed
SP 3 is not mentioned on MS website – where is the guarantee that it is final ?
It appears that MS is releasing Win2k SP3 today (Wednesday) to “preimier” customers, and will be announcing it globally tomorrow.
(See http://news.com.com/2100-1001-947337.html?tag=cd_mh for story on this).
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/downloads/servicepacks/default…
No mention of it….. yet. Can this be final code??? Or is it just my imagination?
Scanner, thanks for the heads up. So much for only “Premier users” having access. >=P
SP3 doesn’t work on all machines. Specifically, mine. I installed it earlier today and after the required reboot, Windows kept rebooting during startup (after the GUI starts, but before allowing the log in). Had to start in safe mode and uninstall (and they give you a choice of keeping the old files, so make sure you do).
//Say what you like, windows has come a long way, but mainframe class it aint, if it was you would be able to apply patches without a reboot….//
Er…when I add patches to my E1000 Sun boxes, they *STRONGLY SUGGEST* rebooting the server…
So how many OS’s *don’t* require a reboot? One? Two?
Seems W2K isn’t alone, here.
I ran the SP3 update and found SVHOST.exe failing after a short while. I also had a problem running Microsoft Excel 2002 (Office XP Small Business Edition) with that Service Pack.
I have since uninstalled it and haven’t had any problems with my system. This had better not be the final product. Of course, didn’t MS have the same kind of issue with SP5 for Windows NT4.0? I believe reading/hearing that you should NEVER run SP5 on any Windows NT 4.0 machine, unless you like to have a splitting headache.
Please correct me if I am wrong.
I can’t believe that they can keep saying that this deals with all known issues. That’s an absolute lie and they’re doing it a lot lately in their release notse. I can still crash it via the backspace bug – damn marketters.