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Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit
January 1, 2008
As big a believer as I am in making sure a
system is up to date with Service Packs and other updates,
I'm an equally big believer that absolutely no updates of
any kind should be introduced into a system without the
users permission. This is especially relevant now with
Service Pack 3 for XP being released in the near future. In
spite of the folly of doing so, I know that many users, if
not the majority, have Windows Update set to automatically
download and install updates, and that will include Service
Pack 3. That's just giving Microsoft carte blanche to
install whatever they deem necessary on your system. I'm
simply not comfortable allowing that to happen, and I know a
lot of users feel the same way. Theoretically you can set
Windows Update so you are prompted before updates are
downloaded and then be prompted again before they are
installed, but after the 2007 incident where the Windows
Update settings were ignored and an update installed in
spite of user preferences, I simply don't have any faith my
preferences will be respected.
That brings us to the
Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit, a blocking tool
available for organizations that would like to temporarily
prevent installation of Service Pack updates through Windows
Update. The blocker tool will not prevent SP3 from being
installed via CD/DVD or the stand-alone download package of
SP3, but it does prevent it from being installed via Windows
Update. The only caveat I'm aware of is the tool is only
valid for 12 months following the general availability of
Windows XP Service Pack 3.
Installing the Windows Service Pack
Blocker Tool Kit
Installation is very straightforward, but I'll run
through the steps here so you can decide if you want to go
forward with the installation. Obviously the first step is
to obtain the tool kit. Go to
Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit and download the
file SPBlockerTools.EXE. It can be saved anywhere on the
system that's convenient. Once you have the file;
- Navigate to where you saved the file and double
click SPBlockerTools.EXE
-
Three files will be extracted to the
folder. Since I used the same folder I used for the
download, the SPBlockerTools.EXE file is also present.
All three extracted files do essentially the same thing.
Which one you use to set the blocking depends of your
organization. For this tutorial I'm going to use the
signed executable file, SPBlockingTool.exe, which is
best suited to home and small business users.
That's it. As long as you see the screen
above, the Service Pack Blocking Tool has been installed and
SP3 will be blocked from being downloaded and installed
automatically via Windows Update.
Uninstalling the Windows
Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit
That's all well and good for the
installation, but what actually happened when the tool was
run and what happens if you change your mind and want to
reverse the process so SP3 can be installed via Windows
Update.
If you read the
Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit page it explains
that when the executable is run it creates a registry key
that blocks or unblocks the SP3 update. The screen capture
below shows he registry before the executable is run.
After the executable is run, you can see in
the screen capture below a new key named [WindowsUpdate] has
been added along with a Binary Value called [DoNotAllowSP]
with the value set to 1. This value of '1' is what actually
blocks SP3 from being automatically downloaded.
Let's say you change your mind and want to
allow SP3 to be downloaded via Windows Update. The easiest
way to reverse the process is to manually delete the
[DoNotAllowSP] binary entry in the registry. You don't need
to delete the [WindowsUpdate] key created earlier. Just
leave it there; it won't hurt anything. If you're a command
prompt maven and want to reverse the process that way, just
make the SPBlockingTool.exe entry with the /U switch, as
shown below.
Whichever way you decide to go, the screen
capture below shows the end result after the process has
been reversed.
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