Service Pack for Windows ME

[the_guy]

Thank you erpdude8. I was told that yesterday by microsoft.

1 more known issue: Setup will say that a couple of files couldn't copy. Please just click retry and it should work. This was on a Virtual PC, so it may not be so.

the_guy

[erpdude8]

What is the difference between 98 and ME causing that many files from NT4 version of 835732 fix can be used with Windows 98 (SE) and not with ME?

the "crypto" files [cryp32.dll, cryptdlg.dll, cryptui.dll, schannel.dll, wintrust.dll, etc.] from the NT4 KB835732 update are incompatible with WinME and ME has higher versions of those files.

Question to the_guy:

Did you exclude the opkfix.cat file from alpha 3 of ME service pack? I asked this earlier and I will keep on asking & nagging this question until you respond to it.

-erpdude8

Edited January 4, 2006 by erpdude8

[the_guy]

That file has been removed. I took it out as soon as a2 was released

PS. check your inbox. I sent you an email.

the_guy

[erpdude8]

That file has been removed. I took it out as soon as a2 was released

PS. check your inbox. I sent you an email.

the_guy

thanX! I was able to downoad A3 of the ME service pack. it was ok. yet it's far from foolproof. the ME pack again did NOT prompt a WinME user to first disable System File Protection before proceeding with the installation of updated files from the ME pack. Not all WinME users are smart enough to know that SFP (and also the System Restore utility) have to be disabled first before installing the ME pack. When running the ME pack and SFP is enabled many of the updated files from ME SP will be rejected by SFP. and after installing the ME pack with SFP disabled, WinME users MUST delete the wininit.log (NOT wininit.ini) file from the Windows folder. the wininit.log file is created after WinME reloads [when replacing files that are in use] and contains a list of files that WinME's SFP feature will restore from the WinME setup files. SFP will restore older versions of files listed in the wininit.log file when SFP is active. another reason to shut off WinME's SFP feature.

So in the next alpha release of the ME service pack, I like to see it display a dialog box telling WinME users to disable system file protection and system restore before selecting the installation options for the ME pack. we want to make ME SP as foolproof as possible.

What is the difference between 98 and ME causing that many files from NT4 version of 835732 fix can be used with Windows 98 (SE) and not with ME?

Petr,

perhaps you should try to request the 835732 security hotfixes specifically for Win98 & WinME if they are available. who knows? there might be a chance that MS has 'em. note that MS is only offering non-critical security hotfixes for 98/ME until 6-30-2006 through "typical assisted-support channels" as noted in the Extended Support for Windows 98/ME page:

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifean1

also, see if MS has the Q282949 wbemprox.dll hotfix for WinME. MS article 282949 does mention ME.

Edited January 5, 2006 by erpdude8

[the_guy]

@erpdude8: I am not a coder so therefore I have no idea how to make a box to pop up saying to disable System Restore and SFP. Other than that, there are some bugs which i hope to squash before the final is out (very far from now, probably).

@all: If anyone can, could they code a little message to say that. Maybe I could get someone to modify the popup in infex 0.3beta to say that.

Also, Does anyone have any (within reason) suggestions for the next release? There are almost no updates available for ME's version of WMP and DX.

the_guy

[Gape]

@all: If anyone can, could they code a little message to say that. Maybe I could get someone to modify the popup in infex 0.3beta to say that.

You can easily add a popup message with IExpress.

[the_guy]

Thanks Gape. Just realized how. Will be included in the next version.

Just need suggestions for updates or some ways to fix bugs and the next release will be out ASAP.

the_guy

[erpdude8]

I notice in a3 of the me service pack, the spupdate.inf file mentions the wdmaud.sys file from Q316795. this file was neither included in the sp2.cab file nor the supp.cab file. looks like the latest wdmaud.sys file needs to be included in the next release of the ME SP.

also, I would like to see a dialog box that asks a WinME user whether to proceed with un-installing the ME service pack or not. Like with Gape's 98se Service pack, double-clicking on the un-install ME service pack entry from Add/Remove programs control panel applet performs an immediate uninstall w/out prompting the user to go on with the uninstallation of the pack or not. I know with Win2k, XP & 2003 service packs, they ask whether to uninstall the SP or not when double-clicking on the uninstall SP entry from Add/Remove programs.

[Petr]

Short notes about a3:

These registry entries will correct the problem with showing up updates in Windows Update, please correct Wuinfo.inf accordingly:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{dfb341b5-0389-4479-8b5b-6a55d363240f}]
@="Windows Millennium Edition Q273017 Update"
"Version"="4.90.3000.0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{8d84e56e-fbac-4e09-af5e-6cde8294b998}]
"Version"="4.90.3000.0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{f502aef4-a754-4c82-9f12-a5149f71ea89}]
"Version"="4.90.3000.0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{e6efec7d-797a-45ee-8eb4-afdb90c0d644}]
"Version"="4.90.3000.0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{8e877e70-0313-4578-852e-4b2687a9917e}]
@="Windows Millennium Edition Q323172 Update"
"Version"="4.90.3000.0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{A0C51F80-12E9-4434-A7DB-8EAD52104135}]
"Version"="4.90.3000.0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{5cc28b05-024f-4194-aa40-9aaca85e93b3}]
"Version"="4.90.3000.0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{96ff9e49-fb06-487a-8387-1104b13ac161}]
@="Windows Millennium Edition Q329115 Update"
"Version"="4.90.3000.0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{C5973BFE-8891-4c24-903E-3907A15AC223}]
"Version"="4.90.3000.0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{bddca085-1928-4215-aa65-c6af5eee8ef6}]
@="Windows Millennium Edition Q812709 Update"
"Version"="4.90.3000.0"

The main problem is that sometimes the version is "4.90.3000.0" and not "4.90.0.3000" Minor problem is misspelling the word "Millennium" - it has double n. Also in license screen should be corrected.

As erpdude already noted, WDMAUD.SYS is missing.

For unknown reason files 1394bus.sys and vmm.vxd are not found for the first time.

One update is missing completely - Q293818, crlupd.exe. It is not needed if IE60SP1 is installed (i.e. for WinME with original IE5.5 or with IE5.5SP2).

Q888113 update will show up always for WinME with original IE5.5, no known workaround. It shows up even if I use Windows Update only (no mesp202).

Some files are not copied to various folders although original fixes copy them. For example:

C:\WINDOWS\INF\QFE\273017\DELAY2.REG

C:\WINDOWS\INF\QFE\273017\DELAY4.REG

C:\WINDOWS\INF\QFE\273017\DELAY8.REG

C:\WINDOWS\INF\QFE\273017\NODELAY.REG

C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS\HHCTRLUI.DLL

C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS\DUNZIP32.DLL

C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS\DZIP32.DLL

C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS\ZIPFLDR.DLL

C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\INSTALL\DUNZIP32.DLL

C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\INSTALL\DZIP32.DLL

C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\INSTALL\ZIPFLDR.DLL

C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\INSTALL\HH.EXE

C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\INSTALL\HHCTRL.OCX

C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\INSTALL\HHCTRLUI.DLL

C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\INSTALL\HHSETUP.DLL

C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\INSTALL\ITIRCL.DLL

C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\INSTALL\ITSS.DLL

and maybe more.

getver %winbootdir%\system\SHDOCVW.DLL | find /i "5.5">NUL
if not errorlevel 1 %winbootdir%\VERINST.EXE q279328>NUL

is not good because it adds q279328 update infor even for IE 5.5SP2. I would change it to:

getver %winbootdir%\system\SHDOCVW.DLL | find /i "5.50.4134">NUL
if not errorlevel 1 %winbootdir%\VERINST.EXE q279328>NUL
getver %winbootdir%\system\SHDOCVW.DLL | find /i "5.50.4611">NUL
if not errorlevel 1 %winbootdir%\VERINST.EXE q279328>NUL

I'm not sure if this file is replaced immediately or after the reboot so this will handle both scenarios.

It could be useful to detect if stmgr.exe was really killed by e.g. ps utility.

I'm not very familiar with System Restore feature, it looks like even when it is switched off, is is still on???

Does anybody know what does mean the following registry keys?

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\VxDMon]
"SystemFileProtection"="N"
"SystemRestore"="N"
"FirstRun"="N"

It seems that even this setting does not prevent stmgr.exe from running and replacing the files back??

Is it good idea to install Auupd.exe ?

This:

setup.ini, progman.groups,, "Desktop="%49758%""
setup.ini, Desktop,, """Windows Movie Maker"", """"""progra~1\Moviem~1\moviemk.exe"""""",,,,,,""This application allows you to record, organize, edit and share Windows Media on your computer, via e-mail or the Internet."

seems to create wrong %49758% entry in the Start menu.

DWORD registry entries with value 1 can be wrote as

0x10001,1

it os not necessary to use longer notation like:

0x10001,01,00,00,00

0x00010001,1

also killbits can be written as

0x10001,1024

or

0x10001,0x400

(just for uniformity)

I repeat that I never used WinME so these observation are not complete or accurate.

Petr

[the_guy]

Thank you Petr,

all of these fixes should be implemented into the next version.

Some things you mentioned will probably stay, unfortunately:

1394bus.sys and vmm.vxd errors

the moviemk problem

These thing I will keep in:

auupd.exe

How would I go about making sure stmgr.exe is really stopped?

the_guy

[Petr]

How would I go about making sure stmgr.exe is really stopped?

This is one possibility - this is sample .BAT file that will show if stmgr is running:

@echo off
ps | find /i "stmgr">NUL
if not errorlevel 1 ECHO stmgr.exe is running!

Here is shown how it works:

C:\test>ps
 PID	   PRIO	THR  NAME
 ff0fafad  high 13   4  c:\windows\system\kernel32.dll
 ffffe94d  norm  8   1  c:\windows\system\msgsrv32.exe
 fffe0649  norm  8   1  c:\windows\system\mprexe.exe
 fffe63dd  norm  8   1  c:\program files\tv viewer\tvwakeup.exe
 fffe77bd  norm  8   2  c:\windows\system\mstask.exe
 fffe5db1  norm  8   5  c:\windows\system\ssdpsrv.exe
 fffe62b9  norm  8   5  c:\program files\tv viewer\annclist.exe
 fffeea69  norm  8   9  c:\windows\explorer.exe
 fffd68e5  norm  8   1  c:\windows\taskmon.exe
 fffdb545  norm  8   2  c:\windows\system\systray.exe
 fffc2659  norm  8   3  c:\windows\system\wmiexe.exe
 fffd5aa1  norm  8   2  d:\utils\totalcmd\totalcmd.exe
 fffc5d69  norm  8   4  c:\windows\system\restore\stmgr.exe
 fffd319d  norm  8   1  c:\windows\system\winoa386.mod
 fffe8221  norm  8   1  d:\winme\ps.exe

C:\test>stmgrtest
stmgr.exe is running!

C:\test>kill 0xfffc5d69
[kill] PID -238231 (0xFFFC5D69) killed!

C:\test>stmgrtest

C:\test>

Both ps and kill utilities comes from the same package as getver utility.

The best would be to be able to kill the stmgr process by the mesp installer, maybe there is a way how to extract PID of stmgr process and pass it as a parameter to kill utility, or it should be very easy to write simple utility in C that would just kill stmgr.exe process. Unfortunately I'm not a programmer so I can't write it myself. Maybe there is a command line utility that can kill the process of given name? Windows XP contains taskkill command but it is not in WinME.

I tried to Google for possible solution and found simple code:

public void KillProcess(string name)
{
 foreach (Process processToKill in Process.GetProcessesByName(name)) {
   processToKill.Kill();
 }
}

or

SysInternals' PsKill works on NT 4 and higher only.

Maybe http://www.teamcti.com/pview/PrcView.zip could be the right one.

This is sample bat file that seems to work as expected:

@echo off
pv.exe stmgr.exe >nul
if NOT ERRORLEVEL 1 goto FOUND
echo Process stmgr.exe is not running
goto END
:FOUND
echo Process stmgr.exe is running and will be stopped
pv.exe -f -k stmgr.exe
goto END
:END

Petr

[eidenk]

I don't use system restore and system file protection on my ME system so I can't say too much but I am sure the original individual installers don't need an additional particular procedure such as killing stmgr.exe to properly install.

I have not tested the pack yet but I will in Qemu sometimes later or tomorrow. I'll also try to install normal individual updates as to try to see what happens with regards to SFP.

I have found a handy new application launcher for USB keys called Pstart with which I am going to move a set of diagnostic and monitoring utilities in the emulated OS.

PS : Off-topic : For some reason I can't manage to view or use forum properly with either IE5.5 or Opera since the latest maintenance but K-meleon works fine.

[donutbandit]

I've been watching this thread with interest since it's inception. I'm a ME user since 2000, even though I now run W2K uSP5 most of the time. I dualboot ME to run some old games.

As far as ME stability, I have found the following things do wonders. I know this has nothing to do with SP development, but it could be a help to those who use ME.

I found that my frequent video freeups were due to the version of IE 5.5 that shipped with ME gold. As soon as I upgraded to 5.5 SP1, those became a thing of the past.

There is a bug in some versions of ME gold that will not allow upgrade of IE 5.5 to IE 6 if SP1 has not been installed. The cure to this problem is to use IEradicator to completely wipe the system of IE. Then, IE 6 can be installed with no trouble.

Use all the suggestions found at www.burzurq.com/forum/trevtweak.html to tweak up ME.

Use Oppcomme to disable bloat in ME via Windows Setup. This is found at beta10.com. You can safely disable every process shown in the Window Setup window. I leave only WMP 6.4 and 7.0 for obvious reasons.

After you tweak up ME, you will find that you have a blazing fast, super stable OS that makes Windows 98 look like a dinosaur.

Still watching the uSP development.

[Petr]

Some additional comments:

I'd consider to add:

KB892211: The Software Update for Web Folders: January 25, 2005

fp4autl.dll 4.0.2.7523

fp4awec.dll 4.0.2.4715

fpext.msg

msdaipp.dll 11.0.6715.15

msdapml.dll 11.0.5510.0

msonsext.dll 11.0.6715.15

nsextint.dll 11.0.5510.0

pkmws.dll 11.0.5510.0

places.exe (?)

and many registry entries.

Q312586: Support for Euro Currency Characters with a Spanish (Traditional Sort) Keyboard Layout

This keyboard layout can be set in English Windows too, now it has to be considered if it is always better then the original one.

Q281921: Computer Suspends After Resuming with Keyboard Power Key

Since only Japanese version was available, here is English version of Configmg.vxd 4.90.3002.

Q327517: New Dialing Rules in the Czech Republic Effective September 22, 2002

Just registry entry

How to install hotfixes that are included in cumulative security updates for Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1

Just registry entry, necessary for installinq QFE versions instead of GDR versions of IE patches.

Then I'd consider:

wintrust.dll 5.131.2195.6824 (from KB835732)

crypt32.dll 5.131.2195.6824 (from KB835732)

dispex.dll should be used from Windows Script 5.6 for Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition, and Windows NT 4.0 package (45112 bytes).

I'm not sure what powercfg.cpl is better, if the original one (4.90.3000.1) or 5.00.3103.1000 ported from Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 to Windows 98 SE, hotfix Q258680: Screen Saver Activation While Suspended May Result in the Computer to Stop Responding. I see no difference. Maybe somebody with UPS?

Maybe the MS Active Accessibility 2.0 files according to erpdude post could be added.

Maybe WMF patch - either already prepared WMF Patch by Paolo Monti or promissed GRC patch.

Next two hotfixes are not needed in English version of Windows Me:

Q305360: Fault in Module Rnaapp.exe When You Try to Establish a Modem Connection to the Internet

This hotfix fixes problem with long string in Brazilian Portuguese version of Rasapi32.dll, therefore not needed in English version.

Q279469: Unable to Create a Complete Startup Disk with Some Localized Versions of Windows ME

This hotfix corrects wrong translation in Msdos.ilf file, therefore not needed in English version.

One cosmetical change:

In SPUPDATE.INF [AddReg.Hotfixes] the section 811630 should be renamed to 896358.

83 files have not the original date and are dated in the range 16-Nov-05 to 23-Dec-05.

Petr

[MDGx]

NirCmd also kills processes/TSRs from the command line [examples]:

NIRCMD killprocess STATEMGR

NIRCMD killprocess STMGR

NirCmd [freeware]:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.html

Hope this helps.