Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 released to the web today.
PRODUCT PAGE:  http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsserver/sp2.mspx

NOTE TO AUTOMATIC UPDATE USERS 
The big deal about SP2 is the fact that on June 12, 2007, Service Pack 2’s going to be pushed out as a critical update through Automatic Update, so if you have a server that uses Automatic Update to pull down it’s patches, be aware that this is going to happen in June.  It is possible to block this push and delay the implementation of SP2 on servers by applying a blocking tool available here – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=FC145B0B-C148-445A-82BA-9B2F3AEF6E60&displaylang=en – however this blocking tool will expire March 13, 2008.
(There’s some discussion about this on the Windows Server Blog.)

WHAT CAN IT BE APPLIED TO
Service Pack 2 can be installed on NT5.1 x86, x64, IA64, Web, Std, Ent, and DC installations and/or permutations of the following:
– Servers with Original Windows Server 2003 installations
– Servers with Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 already installed
– Servers with Windows Server R2 installed (which is basically a WS2003 SP1 installation and a bunch of other services
– Servers using Windows Storage Server 2003 or R2

WHAT’S IN IT?
There’s two elements of Service Pack 2 to be concerned about:
– New functionality (See note below about the new WDS component)
Documentation on the new functionality incorporated into Service Pack 2 is located here:
http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServer/en/library/cda7d603-fdd6-4a48-b045-89adac6e519e1033.mspx?mfr=true
– Patches/Hotfixes
The list of regression tested fixes included in SP2 are listed on this support page:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914962

NOTE:  One of the drastic changes in functionality for Windows Server 2003 SP2 is the replacement of Remote Installation Services (RIS) with the Windows Deployment Services (WDS).  This is a over-the-network system imaging technology that enables the installation of Windows systems (desktop or server) through network boot & WIM image files.  There is no further development being done on either RIS or Automated Deployment Services (ADS), the predecessors to Windows Deployment Services.

DOCUMENTATION
There’s installation & deployment documentation available for Service Pack 2 available for download here:
http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServer/en/library/c050419b-98a2-4802-b719-629a33a332391033.mspx?mfr=true 

SLIPSTREAMING SERVICE PACK 2
Slipstreaming or integrating the service pack files into an existing source file install point on a drive or on the network involves using the "/Integrate:Path" command line instruction.  Detailed instructions for slipstreaming SP2 into Windows Server 2003/R2/SP1 directories are available here:
http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServer/en/library/0ed8bcf4-3edf-4295-bfab-896224dde9371033.mspx?mfr=true