Installing SMS Administrator Console on a Secondary Site Can Impact Hotfix Application (273853)

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

SYMPTOMS

If you install the Systems Management Server (SMS) Administrator console, on a secondary site server, you can prevent successful hotfix installations on that secondary site server.

You will see lines in the installation log for the hotfix, similar to the following example:

*** Installation Started 9/8/00 9:29:28 ***
Title: Service Update
Source: \\scfsms1\hotfix\Q252717\Q252717.EXE
File Overwrite: E:\SMS\LOGS\Q252717r.txt
File Overwrite: E:\SMS\LOGS\Q252717p.txt
File Overwrite: E:\SMS\LOGS\Q252717q.txt
User Rights: Admin

The text files get updated, but the hotfix binaries do not.

CAUSE

This problem occurs because the installation of the Systems Management Server Administrator console changes a registry value critical to the hotfix application. This registry key is:

HKLM/SOFTWARE/MICROSOFT/SMS/SETUP/TYPE

The Type value should be either 0x1 for a primary Site, or 0x2 for a secondary site. The Administrator console installation process on a secondary site may change this to a greater value, such as 0x6. The hotfix installation checks the Type value for a value of 0x1 (primary site), or 0x2 (secondary site), to verify that the installation is occurring on a site server. Because the value has been modified to a greater value, the installation fails.

RESOLUTION

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

You can resolve this problem by changing the value back to the correct value of 2, and then running the hotfix application again.

Note: This behavior does not occur with the SMS Service Pack 2 hotfixes.