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Microsoft uses many different self-extracting file formats to create software updates for different products. These updates automatically run a Setup program that is inside the update package. Different types of Setup programs support different switches. Therefore, you may see inconsistent behavior when you try to distribute an update package to an SMS 2003 client. To determine the Setup program that an SMS 2003 software update uses, follow these steps:
- Download and then expand the SMS 2003 update package to a folder on your computer.
- Right-click the SMS2003-RTM-KBxxxxxx-X86-ENU.exe file, click Properties, and then click the Version tab.
- In the Other version information area, click Installer Engine.
Newer SMS 2003 software updates use Update.exe. These updates use a custom .dll file to address requirements that are specific to SMS 2003. The standard text files that are typically installed by Smsupdate.exe have been replaced. The information in these text files are now outlined in the Knowledge Base article for the update. For update packages that use a Microsoft SQL script such as Update.sql to update the SMS database, the article includes steps that you can use to apply the script.
The SMS 2003-specific custom DLL is used to reset sites. The DLL is also used to start the Advanced Client Software Updates Deployment Assistance Wizard. If you use the
/Quiet or
/Passive command line switches to run Update.exe in silent mode, the site is reset. However, SMS packages and programs that are typically created by the Updates Deployment Assistance Wizard are not created. Success and failure status Management Information Format (MIF) files are created when you distribute an SMS 2003 software update package.
SMS 2003 software updates that use Update.exe are registered in the following registry location, where
SPx is the service pack level and
kbID is the update article number:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Updates\Systems Management Server 2003\<SPx>\<kbID>
SMS 2003 software updates are also registered in the
Add or Remove Programs Control Panel item. By default, SMS 2003 Hardware Inventory collects data from
Add or Remove Programs. If the software update can be removed, you can click
Change/Remove in
Add or Remove Programs. You can also use the Resource Explorer to view updates that are installed on an SMS 2003 client. To do this, follow these steps:
- Start the SMS Administrator Console.
- Expand Site Database\Collections.
- Click the collection that contains the client that you want to view.
- Right-click the client, point to All Tasks, and then click Start Resource Explorer.
- Expand Hardware, and then click Add/Remove Programs.
Installer log files are generated during the installation of an update or service pack. These files contain status information and other useful information related to the installation. For every service pack or update that you install, a new log file is generated and named for easy identification. For example, if you installed the update associated with Knowledge Base article 824146, the log file would be named KB824146.log. Installer log files are located in the Windows root directory (%windir%). Note that the location of this directory is different from the previous location of \sms\logs. To view a sample installer log file that has detailed annotations about what is logged, see "Appendix D - Sample Install Log" of the white paper that is described in the following paragraph.
For more information about Update.exe, see the "Inside Update.exe - The Package Installer for Windows and Windows Components" white paper. To obtain this white paper, visit the following Microsoft Web site: