SMS: Programs Installations May Not Work After You Install the Office 2000 SMS 1.2 Hotfix (274592)

SYMPTOMS

After you install the Systems Management Server (SMS) version 1.2 hotfix for Microsoft Office 2000 distribution on computers that are running Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition, or Microsoft Windows Mellinnium Edition (Me), packages that spawn child processes do not finish and you may receive the following error message:

Unable to open self-extracting EXE

CAUSE

This problem occurs when the SMS package, or program, that is called by Pcmuncw9 requires another process to be spawned and closes the parent process handle. Package Command Manager (PCM) then interperets that the program is finished which causes PCM to close the mapped drive for the program; however, the program is not finished.

RESOLUTION

A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that is described in this article. Only apply it to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next SMS service pack that contains this hotfix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the fix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support

NOTE: In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The typical support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

The English-language version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:

   Date       Time      Version         Size     File name     Platform
   --------------------------------------------------------------------
   4/10/2001  5:39:46  1.2(Build 786)  16,256b  Pcmuncw9.exe  Intel

NOTE: Due to file dependencies, the most recent hotfix or feature that contains the above files may also contain additional files.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, use one of the following methods:

Revert to the previous version of Pcmwin16.exe because the original Service Pack 4 (SP4) version of Pcmwin16.exe did not call Pcmuncw9.exe, which causes the Office environment variable to not be set.

-or-
After you apply the hotfix, use a batch file that calls %pcmunc%\%1 %2 %3 %4 and so on, and then modify all of your package commands to call this batch file with each designated program and the program's arguments. This procedure does work but you may need to modify hundreds of package command which may be unreasonable.

MORE INFORMATION

To install this hotfix across your organization, replace the existing version of the Pcmuncw9.exe file on the SMS site server, and then open and save the System.map file in the SMS folder. The Pcmuncw9.exe file is in the following folder:

Sms\Site.srv\Maincfg.box\Client.src\X86.bin

For additional information about this procedure, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

166771 SMS: How to Force Site-Wide Client Updates

For more information about this problem, view the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/2000/appndx/toolbox.htm#smsinfo