Troubled Servicing Stack Update code flipped the reboot switch on unsuspecting users, Microsoft says.
Microsoft has fixed the issue of endless reboots that some customers had
while installing the
Servicing Stack Update that contains the installation
program for Windows Vista SP1.
That issue led Microsoft to suspend the automatic distribution of the SSU pending an investigation into the problem.
"Over the past few weeks, we've learned a lot more
about the problem and have taken steps to address the
issue. Today, we'd like to let you know that we are resuming automatic
distribution of the SSU tomorrow and provide more clarity on what
happened," said an April 7 post on the
Microsoft Update Product Team blog.
The team also stressed that, for those who have already successfully
installed the update, there are no problems with the files that make up the
SSU, as the problem was with the installation process for the update. "If
you already have the update installed, you do not need to uninstall it or
install the rereleased version of the update," the blog post said.
Troubled SSU code
As to the cause of the problem, that lay with the special SSU code that
checked to see if there were any pending reboots or other updates to install.
If it found either of these, the installation could not start, the team said in
its post.
"There were also a few unknown and rare events that occurred during the
middle of the installation of the update that could cause the update to think
it needed a reboot to complete the installation. If this happened, the system
entered a repeating reboot loop," the post said.
Microsoft will introduce a fix for this April 8 that will install before the
SP1 Servicing Stack Update does, and which works to prevent the system from
rebooting during the SP1 SSU installation. Again, this will apply only to those
customers who have not already installed the SSU.
"We also made additional changes to the SSU installer code, so that it
checks for and requires the pre-SSU before it will install. These two updates
should now install seamlessly through Windows Update, in the proper
order," the team said.
Customers who get their updates installed
automatically through
Windows Update and who have not yet installed the SSU are
not required to take any corrective action, while the stand-alone download of
SP1 has not been affected by the SSU issues, the blog post noted.
Peter Galli has been a financial/technology reporter for 12 years at leading publications in South Africa, the UK and the US. He has been Investment Editor of South Africa's Business Day Newspaper, the sister publication of the Financial Times of London.He was also Group Financial Communications Manager for First National Bank, the second largest banking group in South Africa before moving on to become Executive News Editor of Business Report, the largest daily financial newspaper in South Africa, owned by the global Independent Newspapers group.
He was responsible for a national reporting team of 20 based in four bureaus. He also edited and contributed to its weekly technology page, and launched a financial and technology radio service supplying daily news bulletins to the national broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation, which were then distributed to some 50 radio stations across the country.
He was then transferred to San Francisco as Business Report's U.S. Correspondent to cover Silicon Valley, trade and finance between the US, Europe and emerging markets like South Africa. After serving that role for more than two years, he joined eWeek as a Senior Editor, covering software platforms in August 2000.
He has comprehensively covered Microsoft and its Windows and .Net platforms, as well as the many legal challenges it has faced. He has also focused on Sun Microsystems and its Solaris operating environment, Java and Unix offerings. He covers developments in the open source community, particularly around the Linux kernel and the effects it will have on the enterprise.
He has written extensively about new products for the Linux and Unix platforms, the development of open standards and critically looked at the potential Linux has to offer an alternative operating system and platform to Windows, .Net and Unix-based solutions like Solaris.
His interviews with senior industry executives include Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Linus Torvalds, the original developer of the Linux operating system, Sun CEO Scot McNealy, and Bill Zeitler, a senior vice president at IBM.
For numerous examples of his writing you can search under his name at the eWEEK Website at www.eweek.com.
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