While Service Pack 2 enhances Windows XP's security, mayhem can occur when SP2 is loaded onto a system, the CRN Test Center found in an RC2 version review.

InfoWeek
By Frank J. Ohlhorst and Vincent A. Randazzese
July 23, 2004

The real surprise with Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 isn't potential compatibility issues, but the mayhem that can occur when SP2 is downloaded onto a system.

CRN Test Center engineers evaluated a release candidate two (RC2) version of SP2, and upon completion of the install on three out of five systems, the machines blue-screened. A message stated that "winserv" was missing. The blue screen occurred on both Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Intel platforms, and all systems were running Windows XP Pro with Service Pack 1 installed. Every possible avenue to get back into Windows failed.


To remedy the problem, CRN Test Center engineers reached out to Microsoft. The company provided instructions on how to work around the blue screen and uninstall SP2, but it didn't answer questions on what causes the blue screen or the specific systems that may be affected. Microsoft recommended using the Windows XP recovery console to boot the system and then accessing the "%windir%\$NtServicePackUninstall$\spuninst" folder.


Once in the folder, engineers had to rename "spuninst.txt" to "spuninst.bat" and execute the batch command "batch spuninst.bat." When that process was completed, a rollback of the Service Pack file should have occurred. That didn't happen. So the batch file had to be executed a second time, and then access to Windows XP was restored--but with some caveats. Once back in the Windows operating system, Test Center engineers had to open the registry and set "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\RpcSs\ObjectName" to "LocalSystem." Next, engineers executed the "windir%\$NtServicePackUninstall$\spuninst\spuninst.exe," which prompted additional rollback changes to the registry. [ Read more ]