LAB12: APPLYING SERVICE PACK UPDATES
In this exercise, you will apply a service pack update to the Windows NT installation. Microsoft periodically releases updates to each of its operating systems, which fix bugs and introduce new features or developments.

Details of service packs are found on the Microsoft WWW site, and for Windows NT Server can be found at

http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver

To find out if a service pack is already applied to your computer, start Explorer and select

Help->About Windows NT

From the menu bar. This displays a dialog box showing the Version number of the software, build number and the number of any service pack which has been applied.

In the above example, Service Pack 3 has been applied on this computer. Service Pack updates are essential to keep the Operating System up to date and also to run many of the new products which are made available from Microsoft or other vendors.

NOTE: If you install a product after applying a service pack, you must reapply the service pack after installing the product.

NOTE: If you need to reinstall the server and restore from backup tape, such as in the case of a hard disk crash, first install the Operating System, apply the same service pack level that was on the system at the time that the backup occurred, then run the backup.

In our example, we have provided the service pack on a network share point, specifically

\\ice\msfiles\nt4ssp\ussp3\nt4sp3_i.exe

Using Network Neighborhood, select this location and double click on the file to run it.

The first thing is that the files are verified to ensure they are not corrupted.

After verifying the files, the first Welcome dialog box is displayed, as shown below.

Click Next to continue. This will then display the Software License Agreement. Please read this agreement.

After reading the Software License Agreement, click on YES to continue. The setup program now asks you if you want to install the Service pack updates.

Click Next to continue. Setup now prompts for you to decide whether you want to create an uninstall directory. This is necessary if you want to uninstall the service pack at any time in case of problems. Prudent management practice would suggest you create an uninstall directory.

Click on "Yes, I want to create an Uninstall directory", then Click on Next to continue. The setup program is now ready to install the updated files, and displays the dialog box shown below.

Click on Finish to install the Service Pack. Setup then inspects your computer, preparing to update it.

When the inspection is complete, Setup begins to copy the files.

After the files have been copied, Setup prompts for you to restart the computer.

Click OK to restart the computer. This is necessary in order to complete the update process. When the computer is restarted, the service pack update will be completed.