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Ärende: Another XP SP3 Problem
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XP Service Pack 3 blocks .NET security patches

Susan Bradley         By Susan Bradley

Installing SP3 on Windows XP eliminates the operating system's ability
to install important security patches for Microsoft's .NET technology
and possibly other software.

This problem forces XP SP3 users to apply patches manually to complete
vital updates.

The new error is the latest in a long series of glitches relating to
XP's SP3, which Scott Dunn described in his Sept. 11 Top Story. The
issues include spontaneous rebooting of systems based on AMD chipsets,
as documented by Jesper Johansson in a blog post from last May.

To determine whether your XP SP3 system has a version - or multiple
versions - of the .NET Framework installed, open Control Panel's Add or
Remove Programs applet and look for it among the list of currently
installed programs. If you don't see any .NET entries, you don't have
the framework installed on your system and needn't be concerned about
the update problem.

If you do see a listing for Microsoft .NET Framework, you need to use a
third-party update service such as Secunia's Software Inspector
(described below) to patch the program.

A Sept. 16 post on the Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) blog
disclosed that .NET 3.0 would not be offered to XP SP3 users. On Sept.
23, Microsoft Knowledge Base article 894199, which tracks changes in the
company's patches, indicated that .NET 3.0 and .NET 3.0 Service Pack 1
should be offered to XP SP3 workstations as optional patches.

However, when I tested this on various Windows XP SP3 configurations, I
wasn't offered .NET 3.0 as an optional patch. Things got really dicey on
my first attempt to install .NET on a Windows XP SP3 machine. During
that test, updates for .NET 1.1 and .NET 2.0 failed midstream. I had to
use the Windows Installer CleanUp Utility (which is described in KB
article 290301) and Aaron Stebner's .NET Framework cleanup tool
(download page) to uninstall the partially installed .NET frameworks.

Ultimately, I had to install .NET 3.5 SP1 in order to get any .NET
framework loaded onto the test XP workstation. While the latest version
of .NET 3.5 is a cumulative patch and thus could be installed in place
of prior versions of .NET, what invariably occurs is that
line-of-business applications require and install earlier versions of
.NET.

For example, one of the programs I use regularly is QuickBooks, which
includes .NET 1.1 in some versions and 2.0 in the 2008 and 2009
releases. I recommend against removing various versions of .NET if the
frameworks were installed by your applications.

On my second and third tests of Windows XP SP3 machines, Windows Update
did not detect .NET 3.0 as an optional update, but the frameworks were
installed without error just the same. However, to manually update the
XP systems, I first had to install Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage
tool, which is described in KB article 892130.

Next, I had to upgrade the installer program, as described in KB article
898461. After installing these two programs and returning to the Windows
Update service, the XP SP3 machine was offered .NET 1.1 and .NET 2.0 as
optional updates but not .NET 3.0 as a patchable item.

Windows Update skips .NET 3.0 for XP SP3
Figure 1. Windows Update fails to offer Windows XP SP3 the most recent
.NET 3.0 framework.

When I attempted to update a system running Windows XP SP2, I was
offered .NET 3.0 as an optional update, as shown in Figure 2 below.

On a PC running XP SP2, Windows Update does offer .NET 3.0
Figure 2. On a PC running XP SP2, Windows Update does offer .NET 3.0.

I recommend that you install any version of the .NET framework only when
your applications need it. However, Microsoft security bulletins dated
as recently as Nov. 25 indicate that XP SP3 machines should be offered
.NET 3.0. Clearly, XP SP2 PCs are prompted to install .NET 1.1, 2.0, and
3.0, while XP SP3 users are offered only .NET 1.1 and 2.0.

A full three months after Microsoft's WSUS support blog disclosed that
PCs using XP SP3 aren't offered .NET 3.0 as an optional patch, the
problem still has not been fixed. If you rely on Windows Update or
Microsoft Update for your patching needs, use Secunia's online Software
Inspector service to ensure that you're getting all the updates you
need.

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