Exam 70-124: Objective 2.4: Troubleshooting Update Installations

From time to time, you might experience problems while updating your computers with the latest hotfix or service pack. When it comes to applying updates to your computers, two universal truths, without a doubt, apply to software installation and update in Windows networks:

• Nothing works correctly every time, no matter how well designed the product.

• If there is an incompatibility issue with an applied update, you will most likely find it-the hard way.

Of course, you can face a host of other issues, but these tend to be the most common that you will see, along with permissions-based problems during upgrade.

Application Compatibility Issues

It is an unfortunate reality that not all software programs that can be run on a Windows 2000 computer are 100-percent compatible with each other. In fact, there are likely cases in which two or more software products should not be run together on the same Windows 2000 computer-ever. Most times you can find out ahead of time about application compatibility issues by visiting the Microsoft Knowledge Base and reading the background information about any update that you are preparing to deploy.

Performing a search against the knowledge base for the application name can also yield some positive results. As a last resort, you should look for available information on the vendor's Web site about compatibility issues. More often than not, vendors make it very clear what combinations of applications you can and cannot use with their products.

Permissions Problems

With very few exceptions, any updates that are installed manually (including Windows Update) require the user to be logged in with local computer Administrative credentials. Members of the Administrators group in Active Directory are, by default, members of every computer's local Administrative group. When updates are being applied by some automated method, such as scripting, SUS, or SMS, the updates are performed using a preconfigured domain account-often invisible even to the administrator.

In the event that you have updates that fail to install due to permissions problems, you need to first determine what method is being utilized to apply the updates. After you have determined the method, you can then go on to examine the account or service account that is being used for the deployment and ensure that it is one that is configured with the correct permissions and is the correct one for the task at hand. Often, installation failures show up in the Event Logs of the local computer and can provide some insight into what went wrong.

Version Conflicts

Without sounding overly optimistic, Windows 2000 really is an intelligent operating system when it comes to keeping its files in order. However, sometimes a version conflict can wreak havoc on your computer. If installing hotfixes or other patches, always use the Qchain.exe tool to prevent version conflicts. In all other cases, always install only one update or hotfix at a time and immediately restart the computer to allow the updates to take effect. Only by using one of these two methods can you ensure that your computers will be protected, for the most part, against version conflicts that arise out of updates gone bad.

Should you fall prey to a version conflict, you might be able to uninstall the suspected culprit update by starting the computer in Safe mode and removing the update using the Add/Remove Programs applet. Severe corruption may require a reinstallation of the operating system and applications-thus providing yet another compelling reason to have in place a well-designed, documented, and tested disaster recovery plan.