Letters to the Editor - 16 Dec 2002

Staying in Time
Kathy Ivens's column Getting Started with Win2K: "Perfect Timing" (November 2002, http://www.winnetmag.com, InstantDoc ID 26697) incorrectly stated that you need to manually set Windows NT 4.0 computers' clocks with a net time \ /set /yes procedure. Microsoft released as part of the Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Resource Kit a Y2K-compliant Windows Time service called W32Time, which you can use to provide similar functionality to the net time procedure, with several configuration differences. (For more information about the W32Time service, see the Microsoft article "Changes to the W32Time and TimeServ Utilities" at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=246145). The W32Time service relies on two files—W32time.exe (in %systemroot%system32) and W32time.ini (in %systemroot%). You can use a simple batch file to install and configure the service. We have remote deployment routines that select specific configuration files to copy for workstations, member servers, and domain controllers (DCs) at deployment.

—Mike Hall
[email protected]

You're right. Thank you for providing this information.

—Kathy Ivens

Minding the Hotfixes
Paula Sharick's Web-exclusive column Keeping Up with Win2K and NT: "SP3's Unexpected Automatic Updates Behavior" (http://www.winnetmag.com, InstantDoc ID 26310) describes a problem that's similar to one I have with Microsoft Software Update Services (SUS). We recently rolled out SUS on client workstations running Windows 2000 Professional Service Pack 2 (SP2). I didn't check each hotfix; I checked each update on http://susserver/susadmin. Two users downloaded and installed the driver, then one user could boot only into Safe Mode and the other couldn't start Microsoft Outlook. I incrementally removed the hotfixes from the Control Panel Add/Remove Programs applet. As I did, I noticed some hotfixes had a pre-SP3 suffix and others had a pre-SP4 suffix. The first I can understand if the destination machines have SP2 installed, but why would Automatic Updates pull pre-SP4 updates from the SUS server? The information at http://susserver/susadmin doesn't specify whether a hotfix is pre-SP3 or pre-SP4 in the Approval List. Does this omission mean that Microsoft doesn't differentiate among various service packs and hotfixes? Can you apply a pre-SP4 hotfix to Win2K SP3 or Win2K SP1 without affecting the OS's stability?

—Sunny Punn
[email protected]

Windows Update and SUS install pre-SPx hotfixes on earlier OS versions. For example, a pre-SP4 fix can correct an SP3-specific problem, which means you should install it only on SP3 systems. Another pre-SP4 fix might correct a problem that exists in all earlier versions of the OS. In your case, I assume the hotfix that the client installed applies to all earlier versions. Unfortunately, you need to carefully read the documentation for each hotfix before you approve the updates.

—Paula Sharick

Thomas Eck's "Self-Service Account Administration" (November 2002, http://www.winnetmag.com, InstantDoc ID 26696) is one of the best and most useful articles I've read in Windows & .NET Magazine since I started subscribing about 4 years ago. Articles like this one, which take me from start to finish and let me accomplish something, are the ones I most appreciate. Keep up the great work!

—Rod Caglia
[email protected]

Disaster Recovery for NT 4.0
Ed Roth's article "Win2K Disaster Recovery" (September 2002, http://www.winnetmag.com, InstantDoc ID 25954) was interesting. Could I use a similar procedure to restore a Windows NT Server 4.0 system, particularly an NT 4.0, Terminal Server Edition (WTS) machine? Also, does NT 4.0 have a utility that's similar to Windows 2000's Microsoft System Information (msinfo32.exe)?

—Trevor Paynting
[email protected]

For the most part, the strategy outlined in "Win2K Disaster Recovery" pertains to NT Server 4.0, too. However, the number of differences in functionality, terminology, and appearance among the versions of NTBackup software included with the respective OSs might make following the Win2K-specific backup application instructions tough. If you can correlate the important operations, you'll be able to make the backup work. For example, the NTBackup software that NT 4.0 includes doesn't have a System State backup option, but you can tell it to back up the local registry. In addition, in NT 4.0 you need to use Windows Microsoft Diagnostics (WinMSD—winmsd.exe), the precursor to msinfo32.exe, to gather system configuration information, and you need to back up the WINS database without the assistance of the Net Shell utility, which NT doesn't support. Perhaps the most important operation regardless of OS or backup software is to test the process to see how well you can recover a test server and make adjustments as necessary.

—Ed Roth