Slipstreaming Earlier Fixes Into an Integrated Installation Share Breaks the Share (290074)

SYMPTOMS

The Windows 2000 Service Pack Installation and Deployment Guide that is included on the Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 CD and is also available for download from the Microsoft Web site provides procedures to create a combination installation. You can use these procedures to create a combination installation of Windows 2000 that is integrated with Service Pack 2 (SP2) and post-SP2 (Service Pack 3 or later) fixes.

However, if a fix that is already included in the service pack version is inadvertently slipstreamed into the share point, that fix may break the combination installation share point. In this case, any attempts to install from the share point do not work.

CAUSE

This issue occurs because Windows 2000 SP2 fixes (post-Service Pack 1 fixes) are packaged with a Sp2.cat file. The Sp2.cat file contains the signatures that are necessary for the Windows File Protection system to function properly. If a Windows 2000 SP2 fix is slipstreamed into the share point, the Sp2.cat file from the fix overwrites the Sp2.cat file for the current service pack. This breaks Windows File Protection for all of the service pack files.

WORKAROUND

To work around this issue, only slipstream Windows 2000 SP3 and later fixes into a combination installation share.

NOTE: Although this article describes the Windows 2000 SP2 integrated installation, this article is equally applicable to later service pack releases.

For additional information about the latest service pack for Windows 2000, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

260910 How to Obtain the Latest Windows 2000 Service Pack

MORE INFORMATION

To determine whether you can successfully slipstream a specific fix into an integrated Windows 2000 SP2 distribution share, look at the fix file naming convention.

An example of a typical fix file name is, "Q123456_W2K_SP2_x86_en.exe". Break the file name down to obtain the following information:

Q123456 - The KB article that describes the problem that the fix resolves.
W2K - The operating system on which the fix can be installed.
SP2 - The service pack version in which the fix will be included.
x86 - Processor type on which the fix can be installed.
en - Language version of the fix, in this case it is an English-language fix.

Because the fix in this example is a Windows 2000 SP2 fix, you cannot successfully slipstream the fix in this example into an integrated Windows 2000 SP2 distribution share.