WindowsXP SP2 danger! *geek topic*

[growler_south]

To my delight I came to work this morning and found my PC at the login screen. Bugger, I thought, must have been a power failure, I wonder how far the render got before it died?

Login and Windows' new 'security centre' cheerily informs me that "new updates were installed and your computer was restarted"

WHAT?!?!

The old Automatic Updater would install updates, but then sit there waiting for you to confirm the restart. Now Windows thinks its ok to just shut down your PC any old time it likes, regardless of what processes are running at the time. Does XP Server have this 'feature'?

And no, I cant use a Mac, I like getting a new PC every 6 months.

UPDATE/CLARIFICATION:

After much argument here at work: Yes, I know you can turn it off (or to 'download updates but ask before installing') that isnt my problem. My problem is that they changed the default behaviour. I have ALWAYS had auto update set to 'install automatically' and, pre SP2, it never rebooted without asking. Now it does. And now I have to go and change the settings on a number of computers to 'Download and prompt for installation' and educate the users to click 'ok' instead of 'close' when prompted.

How about a "dont restart my fucking machine without asking first" option? Registry hack, anyone?

Comments

there is no "XP Server"

[henare.livejournal.com]

WIndows XP is only a desktop product.

Re: there is no "XP Server"

[growler-south.livejournal.com]

Thank god! See, Microsoft has *some* good ideas! ;-)

Re: there is no "XP Server"

[henare.livejournal.com]

don't get too excited--the approximately matching product can be seen here (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/default.mspx).

[smellykaka.livejournal.com]

I'm sure there's an option for that. Maybe chucking SP2 on reset it to "reboot without asking"?

[musclebearnz.livejournal.com]

well you can imagine the panic attack I had, arriving at work this morning (husbear1 & IT guru still in Thailand I must add), nothing working, ringing Telstra, they thought I was a moron. Rhonda trying to help in her own special way, telling me to turn the screen off and then on again and then that would fix everything...
Miraculously I found my emergency set of instructions for when catastrophes happen... Everythings ok, I dont have to cancel my trip to Sydney tomorrow !

[growler-south.livejournal.com]

You *could* have called Husbear2 and IT guru-in-training.

I've heard of Rhonda's 'special' way of 'helping', it involves rubbing her breasts on things, doesnt it? *grin*

[cpratt.livejournal.com]

What's your employer's IT department like? Ultimately it's up to them to decide whether or not to force reboot machines after installing patches... AFAIK XP doesn't do that by default, but it can be made to do so depending on domain policy, SMS policy, etc.

[growler-south.livejournal.com]

Our IT department is very similar to Me, sitting at my desk, right now. Oh hang on, it IS me! *grin*

(In a nutshell- *what* IT department?)

XP SP2's default behaviour, with "automatically download and install updates' selected, resulted in a few machines rebooting overnight. No-one's fiddled with any settings, this is a default SP2 install over a default XP Pro install.

I did however find this wee gem today:

No automatic restart with logged on users...
To prevent Automatic Updates from restarting a computer while users are logged on, the administrator can create the NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers registry value in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Win dows\WindowsUpdate\AU. The value is a DWORD and must be either 0 (false) or 1 (true). If this value is changed while the computer is in a restart pending state, it will not take effect until the next time an update requires a restart.

sounds promising...

[growler-south.livejournal.com]

Scratch that, I suspect that wee registry entry is specific to people using a domain.

[cpratt.livejournal.com]

I was wrong; yes, XP does indeed by default reboot after installing updates.

http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;328010&spid=1173&sid=92 might help - look for the NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers key info.

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

This is part of why I haven't installed SP2 on anything. From where I stand, I have better security by just not using Internet Exploiter or Outreek. ;)

[growler-south.livejournal.com]

This is the first problem I've had with SP2, and its just a default behaviour change, so Im not too upset...

[cpratt.livejournal.com]

Not a good idea; without SP2, you are vulnerable to exploits that may occur even if you're using Firefox or what have you.

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

Well -- at work, there are only two machines that run XP. At home, the machine running XP is my media box and I don't feel like missing something because of some screwup with all their network security changes.

The only "feature" of SP2 that is at all relevant to my usage is the buffer overflow patch. Given the potential hassles from the rest of it, I'll take my chances in that regard.

[smellykaka.livejournal.com]

How about a "dont restart my fucking machine without asking first" option? Registry hack, anyone?

I think if you found a registry key that made Windows reliable, you could be almost as rich as Bill(me) Gates...

[andrewhime.livejournal.com]

As much as that is shitty behavior, I don't know why you'd select to let Windows update itself without user input. I've always had it set to download and prompt. I want to know what I'm installing. I understand of course that average users don't need such an option, like in a work environment, but for my personal use, it's the only way to go.

[growler-south.livejournal.com]

Mainly because Auto Updates install used to install happily in the background, and when prompted I only had to wait for a restart. Now I have the machine set to "prompt for install" I have to wait for installation *and* for the restart. Yeah, I know, not a huge deal. Again, I'm pissed off that SP2's AutoUpdate restarted a machine that was *doing something*, without MS warning me that this might happen.

Im mainly pissed because my render isnt finished and the clients getting shitty...