Seeking information about some lost Windows Millennium updates

[iMic]

I'm currently compiling an archive of the updates and hotfixes that Microsoft officially released for Windows Millennium Edition during its short life. I'm sure several people will ask "Why?", given that there's already community efforts to integrate these fixes along with a bunch of other community-produced unofficial patches into Cumulative Updates and Unofficial Service Packs.

In addition to tinkering with old Windows and dabbling in retro-computing, I do a lot of work toward software preservation with different groups. And I've committed to the task of cataloguing and preserving these files for Windows Millennium Edition specifically, since it's one of the more overlooked versions of Windows, compared to a lot of preservation and documenting efforts that surround Windows 98, 2000, XP and so on. Of course, once this is done, I'm happy to make my archives open to the public and the Internet Archive for everyone to benefit from.

I've managed to account for over 100 updates and hotfixes - probably closer to 150 by now - but there's a couple that I haven't been able to track down information about, find their files, or even their purpose. So I'm turning to the community to shed any light on these select few in the hopes that someone, somewhere out there might know something - or even have a file kicking around on an old CD or hard drive somewhere.

(And yes, I've extensively searched the web and even these forums.)

 

The Mysterious VMOUSE Update

I know there isn't anything particularly mysterious about it - it's just a Microsoft hotfix that was released without a title, a known purpose, or any kind of documentation. Included as part of the IntelliPoint 4.1 and 4.12 software suites, and known by many names:

• 98VMOUSE.EXE (Windows 98). Contains VMOUSE.VXD 4.10.0.2225.
• 98FMOUSE.EXE (Windows 98). VMOUSE.VXD contained within differs from 98VMOUSE by only one byte - a switch from 08 to 0A at offset 0x3525. I'm no expert in x86 assembly, but according to W32Dasm, it seems like it's a compare between two operands, and the 08 / 0A is one of the comparison values (08 being 8 and 0A being 10, respectively).
• 98JMOUSE.EXE (Windows 98). Japanese version?
• MEVMOUSE.EXE (Windows Me). Contains VMOUSE.VXD 4.90.0.3003.
• MEFMOUSE.EXE (Windows Me). VMOUSE.VXD contained within differs from MEVMOUSE by only one byte - a switch from 08 to 0A at offset 0x2519. See information for 98FMOUSE above.
• MEJMOUSE.EXE (Windows Me.) Japanese version?
• Q318307.EXE and ME318307.EXE on MDGx' Website. Identical to 98VMOUSE.EXE and MEVMOUSE.EXE, respectively.
• "VMouseForWin98" and "VMouseForWinMe" inside the IntelliPoint MSI installation bundle that calls them.

According to the INF files inside each, 318307 appears to be the QFE / KB number. It doesn't correspond to any public-facing knowledge base article however, available on the modern web or via the Wayback Machine.

Strangely the update also creates a registry entry:

;Enable Q318307 
HKLM,"System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\VMD","Enable Q318307",0x00000001,01

Which I can confirm is referenced from inside VMOUSE.VXD, so it must do something. I thought for a while it may have something to do with smoother cursor motion, polling or refresh, etc... but nothing conclusive.

If anyone can provide any information on what this fix does, or if it may have ever been linked with an article number, that would be appreciated.

 

"Cannot Wake Computer from Standby with USB" (264386)

(Internet Archive Link.) This one may have only ever existed in the Japanese market, as it seems to mainly affect Fujitsu and NEC branded computers. It contains USBD.SYS 4.90.3001.1 and USBHUB.SYS 4.90.3001.1 in the Japanese version; the US release probably contained 3001 versions as well.

"264386JPNM.EXE" was the Japanese filename, and the only known location for it online now is inside a password-protected archive at this link:

http://radioc.web.fc2.com/column/w98lib/mefix/wme_hidden_fix.htm

The password hint is "PASS is the name of the person who said "It's nice weather today" on page 26 of the Windows Me Quick Start Guide". This doesn't appear however in the English version of the Quick Start Guide, so I assume it's limited to the Japanese one, which I don't have and haven't been able to find.

EDIT: The password for this archive ended up being "satoru".

Anyway, if anyone has the Japanese version of this file, knows more about it, or can surprise me with an English / USAM, etc version of this update, that would be fantastic.

 

"Computer Suspends After Resuming with Keyboard Power Key" (281921)

(MS FTP Mirror Link.) Contains CONFIGMG.VXD 4.90.3002 and VPOWERD.VXD 4.90.3004. The Japanese version filename is known - "281921JPNM.EXE" - but the English version is nowhere to be found.

Unlike 264386 above, I know an English version must have existed at some point, as I've found the CONFIGMG.VXD 4.90.3002 standalone file that would have been contained in it, but not the update itself.

Although VPOWERD.VXD was replaced by several newer Windows Millennium Edition updates, this is the only one I'm aware of that contained a newer CONFIGMG.VXD file. Although I have this file, I'd like to eventually find the package it was contained in, as presumably it also contained a Security Catalog file needed to pass Windows' System File Protection on a standard install.

 

"WMI Scripts Generate "Permission Denied" Error Message" (282949)

(Internet Archive Link.) Contained a newer version of WMEMPROX.DLL. The Knowledge Base article confirms that it was released for Windows 95, 98 and Millennium Edition. I have been able to locate the Windows 98 version of this update, titled "q282949_win98.exe" from the source I located it from, but I'm unsure if that was its original title. Unfortunately that same source did not have the update for Windows Millennium Edition, and the 98 version does not install on Windows Me.

 

"Windows Me Help and Support Update, November, 2000" (278497)

This update contained an issue that would cause the computer to hang while installing it, and so it was pulled and replaced by Microsoft soon after with update 299014 "Help and Support Update Hangs During Reboot". It contains HELPCTR.EXE 4.90.3002 and HCUPDATE.EXE 4.90.3002. The filename is currently unknown, however the 299014 update that replaced it has the filename "Q299014.EXE".

Q299014 almost completely replaced it, but Q278497 would have contained a Setup INF file that created a registry entry in Active Setup with a unique GUID. As this GUID is currently unknown, it continues to appear in Windows Update v3 (via sites like Windows Update Restored), as these sites check for a specific registry key containing this GUID. So I would like to find it, so I can integrate this GUID into a global "ignore list" for Windows Update.

For reference, 299014's GUID is "{ce3a4089-cd35-4358-b5c7-36625717011b}". It'll look something like that, but a different combination of alphanumeric characters separated by dashes.

I have also tried the inverse - presumably Windows Update Restored may have the necessary files somewhere that contain this GUID, but it's not included in whatever files are downloaded from the server. Attempting to download the update through there also fails - it appears to be one of the missing ones on the server end, so although it appears in the updates list, it fails every time.

EDIT: It looks like this update in Windows Update v3 might be referring to Q299014 after all, but it's missing an additional file - wuwmupd1.cab - which is downloaded and installed alongside it.

 

Cheers,

iMic.

Edited October 7, 2024 by iMic
Added Japanese archive password. Prev; Added Note to 278497, Updated 281921.

[WULover]

Hello! Regarding the updates you're looking for, you can get in touch with us on our Discord server or MSFN thread. We might have them, as our database is quite big now xD

 

Cheers,

WULover, founder of Windows Update Restored

[iMic]

Still researching these updates, if anyone has any information about the ones in the first post, it would certainly be appreciated.

Also looking for some information on a couple more, in descending order of priority:

 

A Memory Leak May Occur When You Use a VML Shape Element on a Web Page in Internet Explorer 6 (883586)

After some searching I was able to track down the Windows 9x version of this update, found on MDGx' site under the filename IE883586.EXE. However for preservation and cataloguing purposes, I would like to find out the original filename of this update package from Microsoft.

https://ftp.zx.net.nz/pub/archive/ftp.microsoft.com/MISC/KB/en-us/883/586.HTM

I can see other Internet Explorer updates follow the "IE6.0sp1-KB000000-x86-ENU.exe" naming convention, however I suppose it could also follow the "IE6.0sp1-KB000000-Windows-98-ME-x86-ENU.exe" naming scheme as well. I know the Windows XP version of this file was originally named "WindowsXP-KB883586-x86-ENU.exe" too, which does give me some clues, but nothing definite.

If anyone knows what the original name of this Windows 9x update was, I'd love to know.

 

Unknown WUPDMGR.EXE Update

Windows Update Restored distributes an updated version of WUPDMGR.EXE (5.3.220.1000 / 5.3.220.1001) as part of Windows Update v4, included in IUCTL.CAB. I can however see this was added later by WUR- the original IUCTL.CAB file from Microsoft did not contain this updated version of WUPDMGR.

If anyone knows where it came from, I'd be interested to know.

UPDATE: Found this post from 2004 that suggests it may have been downloaded from Windows Update as part of the Windows XP Upgrade Advisor package.

On 12/8/2004 at 10:43 AM, CLASYS said:

I have additional files for patching other apps, such as early versions of Kazaa-lite [version 2.43 corrected the problem!], Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.00 and 6.01, and an obscure MS release of WUPDMGR.EXE much newer than that provided by 98SE that was distributed by MS as part of the XP release disk check-for-upgrade-to-XP-worthiness program. [You got the file from Windows Update, not on the CD itself; current Windows Update no longer does this, but I have the file from when they did this, and yes, it has to have a patched version for SLEEK [V1], etc.]

 

Internet Explorer quits intermittently and unexpectedly after you install the Q323734 hotfix (822755)

Contains an updated version of ACTXPRXY.DLL (6.0.2800.1248) for Internet Explorer 6. (https://www.betaarchive.com/wiki/index.php?title=Microsoft_KB_Archive/822755)

This was a "Hotfix by Request", and now appears to be extremely difficult to find.

 

Open/Save As Dialog Box Does Not Appear with NetScape Version 4.x Client Installed (309378)

Contains an updated version of PLUGIN.OCX (5.50.4910.3100) for Internet Explorer 5.5. (https://ftp.zx.net.nz/pub/archive/ftp.microsoft.com/MISC/KB/en-us/309/378.HTM)

This was a "Hotfix by Request", and now appears to be extremely difficult to find.

Self-Scheduled Job in MSTASK.EXE Stops Running (327391)

This update contained a newer version of MSTASK.EXE (MSTA95.EXE, 4.71.1973.1) for Windows 98. (https://www.betaarchive.com/wiki/index.php?title=Microsoft_KB_Archive/327391)

No Windows Millennium Edition version is recorded, however the MSTASK file contained in this update is newer than the version that ships with Windows Millennium Edition (4.71.1964.1). If I can find this update somewhere, I would be able to do some testing to see if the issues addressed in Windows 98 by this update are also applicable to Windows Me.

 

XSL requests in Internet Explorer do not use the client-side cache correctly (811045)

Unsure if this update applied to computers running Windows Me. Contained an older version of MSXML3.DLL (8.20.9816.0) which was replaced by MSXML 3.0 SP7, but it also contained newer versions of MSXML3A.DLL and MSXML3R.DLL (8.20.9816.0) that were not included in MSXML 3.0 SP7.

https://ftp.zx.net.nz/pub/archive/ftp.microsoft.com/MISC/KB/en-us/811/045.HTM

This was a "Hotfix by Request", and now appears to be extremely difficult to find.

Update to MS04-023 for HTML Help programs (873343)
Contained an updated version of ITSS.DLL (5.2.3790.196) for Windows Millennium Edition. The later 896358 update replaced it, but for cataloguing purposes I would still like to either find this one, or find out more information about it (such as filename, etc) to try and track it down.

 

Edited October 17, 2024 by iMic
Added WUPDMGR Note