XP SP3 auto-update warning!
It might be just me, but I thought I would post a record of this morning's nightmare as a warning to others.
First, I thought SP3 would only become available in June as an auto-update but a pop-up appeared soon after booting the PC this morning so I (foolishly) said ok to the download. Nothing happened! After about 15 minutes of checking e-mails and browsing still nothing was happening so I tried Microsoft Update. Yes - SP3 was waiting so again I said yes and this time the download started.
All seemed to go well, download concluded, verification concluded, but the clean-up stage just ran and ran and ran... and eventually the PC froze... could not even get to task manager to view running processes. I therefore manually re-booted.
As expected Windows did not like that and I was presented with "setup was interrupted. Restoring prior configuration" followed by an re-boot - then Software Update Removal Wizard - then re-boot - then eventually the log-on screen and loading personal settings. The Windows wallpaper then appeared but only with a small box advising that my Internet Explorer profile was being restored ... remained for some considerable time without actually doing anything and was eventually killed by me using task manager leaving just the wallpaper and nothing else!
Another re-boot produce the same IE profile box. At this stage I gave up.
Fortunately I do daily incremental backups using Acronis and this successfully restored what the SP3 update had destroyed.
So the warning. Do heed the advice to do a backup before installing this. My possible mistake was to leave Kaspersky AV running while trying to install and so next time it will be deactivated. But just having looked at Microsoft's Troubleshooting XP SP3 Installation, they do expect problems, so you should as well
Cliff
First, I thought SP3 would only become available in June as an auto-update but a pop-up appeared soon after booting the PC this morning so I (foolishly) said ok to the download. Nothing happened! After about 15 minutes of checking e-mails and browsing still nothing was happening so I tried Microsoft Update. Yes - SP3 was waiting so again I said yes and this time the download started.
All seemed to go well, download concluded, verification concluded, but the clean-up stage just ran and ran and ran... and eventually the PC froze... could not even get to task manager to view running processes. I therefore manually re-booted.
As expected Windows did not like that and I was presented with "setup was interrupted. Restoring prior configuration" followed by an re-boot - then Software Update Removal Wizard - then re-boot - then eventually the log-on screen and loading personal settings. The Windows wallpaper then appeared but only with a small box advising that my Internet Explorer profile was being restored ... remained for some considerable time without actually doing anything and was eventually killed by me using task manager leaving just the wallpaper and nothing else!
Another re-boot produce the same IE profile box. At this stage I gave up.
Fortunately I do daily incremental backups using Acronis and this successfully restored what the SP3 update had destroyed.
So the warning. Do heed the advice to do a backup before installing this. My possible mistake was to leave Kaspersky AV running while trying to install and so next time it will be deactivated. But just having looked at Microsoft's Troubleshooting XP SP3 Installation, they do expect problems, so you should as well
Cliff
Thanks for the warning Cliff.... especially about doing a back up/ restore point before installing. 
I'm pretty sure it creates a restore point anyway, but having your own backups is a wise additional precaution.
I've done 3 XP-SP3's so far. 2 were totally smooth and the 3rd (on my main day-to-day PC) had a "glitch". After the update you have to reboot and an error message appeared briefly, I think something about lsass not having enough virtual memory followed by an immediate reboot. This time it was OK.
I've done 3 XP-SP3's so far. 2 were totally smooth and the 3rd (on my main day-to-day PC) had a "glitch". After the update you have to reboot and an error message appeared briefly, I think something about lsass not having enough virtual memory followed by an immediate reboot. This time it was OK.
Ive just installed SP3, from the network install download. Thought I was going to have to reinstall windows. After the 1st reboot, SVCHost was again hogging 99% processor time, and the HDD was being constantly accessed for some reason. After 4 reboots, things appear to be settling down again, but I have noted that when I login, the desktopicons appear in a normal time, but the taskbar is only partially there, and takes over a minuite to appear properly. I also noted that update.exe appeared to be running all the time, but now seems to have disappeared. Anyone any ideas at all?
