Poledit.exe Does Not Get Updated During Windows NT Service Pack 3 Installation (172124)

SYMPTOMS

After you apply Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 3 (SP3), you find that the file Poledit.exe has not been replaced as documented in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

162774 Policy Editor Crashes When Using Large Custom ADM Files

CAUSE

The file Poledit.exe is listed under the section [MustReplace.System32.files] in the Service Pack 3 Update.inf file. Whereas poledit is actually installed in the SystemRoot directory by default.

Poledit.exe should go under the [SystemRoot.files] section in the Update.inf file.

The service pack is designed to only replace files that are currently installed on the system, since Update.exe looked for the Poledit.exe file in the System32 directory and was not found, it did not copy it.

RESOLUTION

Expand the Windows NT Service Pack 3 Update.exe file in a separate directory using the /X Switch: NT4SP3_I.EXE /X
Copy Poledit.exe from the folder created in step 1 to the %SystemRoot% folder.

NOTE: Alternately, you can modify the SP3 update.inf file and move the file poledit.exe from the [MustReplace.System32.files] to the [SystemRoot.files] section. This will allow future SP3 installation to correctly replace the Poledit.exe file. To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows NT 4.0 or Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

152734 How to Obtain the Latest Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Windows NT 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. This problem was first corrected in Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition Service Pack 4.