Microsoft's Stealth Updates Stymie XP Repairs
The stealth update that Microsoft recently delivered to customers blocks 80 patches and fixes from installing after Windows XP is restored using its "repair" feature.
Gregg Keizer, Computerworld
Thursday, September 27, 2007 02:00 PM PDT
The contentious stealth update that Microsoft delivered to customers this summer blocks 80 patches and fixes from installing after Windows XP is restored using its "repair" feature, researchers said Thursday.
Scott Dunn, who first reported the problem in a story posted Thursday morning to the "Windows Secrets" newsletter, said that users who reinstall Windows XP with the repair option cannot retrieve the full set of updates from Windows Update (WU). The problem, he said, has been traced to the so-called "stealth update" to WU which Microsoft has acknowledged sending to users beginning in July.
Two weeks ago, Dunn broke the story of the background updates, which were sent to most non-corporate Windows XP and Vista users. The updates were delivered and installed without prior notification, even when the PC's owner had told the operating system not to download or install updates without notification and permission.
The revelation launched a firestorm of protest from users, which in turn prompted Microsoft to defend the practice as well as say it would think about ways to clarify its update policies.
"Two weeks ago we said that the silent update was harmless," said Dunn Thursday. "But now we're saying it is a problem."
That problem affects any user who restores Windows XP using the setup CD's "repair" option, sometimes also called an "in-place reinstallation" because it reinstalls the operating system files without disturbing the applications and data already on the disk drive. Because repair is essentially a roll-back to XP's original state, the OS must be updated with all subsequent patches and hotfixes using WU. A system bought soon after Windows XP SP2 was released, for example, would need to download and install about three years' worth of updates.
After a repair, XP defaults to the "Automatic" setting for Automatic Updates, which means WU is immediately updated to version 7.0.600.381, the version pushed to PCs by the summer's undercover upgrade, said Dunn. Seven of the DLL (dynamic link library) files that make up 7.0.600.381, however, fail to register themselves with Windows. That, in turn, keeps XP from successfully installing approximately 80 of the most recent patches and fixes.
In a normal, non-repair situation, there's no indication of a glitch, since DLLs by the same name have previously been keyed into Windows' registry. "On a repaired copy of XP, however, no such registration has occurred, and failing to register the new DLLs costs Windows Update the ability to install any patches," he said
Dunn pointed out workarounds, which included installing an older version of WU over the top of 7.0.600.381. "Windows Secrets" has also posted instructions for creating a batch file that registers the seven DLLs.
While the registration failure and the unsuccessful patch installations aren't directly related to the fact that Microsoft didn't disclose the silent WU updates, Dunn sees it as part of a bigger, and disturbing, picture. "It's part of the whole problem with the silent update, and all part of the pattern of Microsoft's sloppiness," he said. "They're keeping us out of the loop. They're not working well with the IT community."
If anyone needed proof that stealth updates are a bad idea, Microsoft's defense of the practice notwithstanding, this is it, said Dunn. "IT needs to test updates for this very reason. It's why companies like to download and test updates before they install to the rest of the network," he said.
( MS doesn't have the resources to test software, don't have a quality assurance group, etc, etc.
It's not clear how long WU has prevented post-repair updates, but searches through Microsoft's support newsgroups revealed questions about similar behavior as long ago as June. Responses by other users, including some with Most Valued Professional (MVP) designation -- a honorific Microsoft gives to users who make major contributions to the Windows community -- offered advice much like Dunn's. Several of them pointed users to the support do ent KB916259.
The earliest such postings, however, preceded the silent WU update to version 7.0.600.381. When questioned about the discrepancy, Dunn acknowledged the similarities, but in an e-mail said that the two issues were different. He cited several inconsistencies, including an error message called out in the support do ent that doesn't appear in his test machines.
In fact, Microsoft has updated WU twice since late May: the July-August silent update and a visible update rolled out in June. That update was designed to fix a long-standing problem with Automatic Updates in which the PCs' CPUs maxed out at 100 percent.
Microsoft was not available for comment early Thursday morning.
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Taking dubya's and head's lead on monopolistic power and violation of the Cons ution and rights to privacy, US corps will their clients over, and over and over, if they can make a buck out of it.
boutons, you are the only person I know who can blame Bush
for what MS, Bill Gates, does. With you normal classless
profanity.
I gotta say you lost even me on that one, Bootie.
Microsoft has been pulling this for years. Notice how this story is about XP and not Vista? Vista damn near caused one of my friends to suffer a mental breakdown. Everyone I know is either sticking with XP or getting a Mac.
I have the heard the same. And I still use XP along with
firefox and thunderbird.
The White House sets a tone for the country, even if you don't realize it.
The tone set by the this White House is one of lying, hiding/distorting/disrespect for the truth, incompetence. corruption, immorality, unbounded venality, and with absolutely no negative consequences. It's a corrosive influence on the national ethic and civilization.
Everybody can see the WH is getting away with their crimes and bull . Why should anybody else, especially in corps where responsiblity is diffuse and the top actors are out of sight, Do The Right Thing?
MS's dominance was born in commercial extortion, not in technical competence. Their software isn't worth the money they are shaking the world down for.
This kind of bad MS up, including violating the users' PCs without permission, costs users 100s of 1000s of hours. Imagine the 100s of millions of hours MS users have lost with MS's ty software since Windows 3.0 came out. What's the penalty for MS delivering ty software? Several $B in profits every quarter. What will this sinister up by MS cost them? absoutely nothing.
boutons, one word for you: Linux!
Now that should solve your problem.
Boutons....
lol
just lol
wait until you get advice from Mike Tirico
It's not just a GOP thing. Corporations have more rights than individuals because they, one way or another, contribute a lot to every campaign of every elected official.
Honestly, if any individual tried to manipulate everyone's computer system without permission, the government would try to put him in the slammer for a long time. I'm surprised the so-called libertarians here buy into this. Maybe their true colors are coming through. Corporations' profits are more important than individuals' rights.
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