XP SP3 blocker tool needed

From Patch Management Mailing List

To: Patch Management Mailing List
Cc: WSUS Mailing List
Subject: XP SP3 blocker tool needed

HI all,

We are not ready for SP3 to hit our desktops anywhere. It would need to
be thoroughly tested (the full release not the RC's) on a wide range of
hardware and software configurations before it could be allowed to hit
our desktops. We have a couple thousand stations that are not pointed
to WSUS at all but rather to windows automatic update. Unless a blocker
is deployed to those stations they will get SP3.

So my question was, has M$ released or will M$ release a blocker for SP3
in the same vein as the IE7 blocker. The answer is YES. At this link
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=d7c9a07a-5267-4
bd6-87d0-e2a72099edb7&displaylang=en&tm you will find a service pack
blocking toolkit. The only caveat with this is it appears to block any
service pack but only for 12 months following official release. I
think that means the stations will still download and install XP sp2 if
they need it. If you run it on Vista SP1 will be blocked for 12 months
from its's release date.

I thought this might be useful for others. I'm going to make our
community aware of this tool over the coming days and encourage it's use
on any stations not using WSUS until we have validated and approved SP3
in our environment.

Regards,
Blaine

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