Exchange 2003 Service Pack 1, Installation and Overview Installation Tips, Tricks, and Potential Hiccups Ryan Smith
Installation
One hiccup we found while installing SP-1 was the need for a hot fix to be installed that is not mentioned anywhere in the release documentation. If it is not installed, the following error message is generating during the SP-1 installation process.
This hot fix also requires a server reboot, so ensuring it has been downloaded and completely installed prior to starting an SP-1 installation is important.
As is typical for Exchange service packs, the installation file is contained in the \setup\i386 directory and is update.exe. Why the Microsoft Exchange group can't put a simple installation program in the root of the extract data is baffling.
Installing the service pack is very straightforward. However, there is one important item to note:
Exchange 2003 SP-1 cannot be uninstalled.
So, if possible, perform a test deployment in a lab environment before deploying SP-1 on production Exchange servers to ensure you have a good backup.
Overall, Exchange 2003 SP-1 offers a useful collection of fixes and new features for Exchange 2003. The few problems we've experienced or heard about with SP-1 relate either to setup problems with the e2kdsn.dll file failing to register successfully (which can usually be resolved by manually registering the .dll) or to problems with e-mail no longer sending after SP-1 has been installed. This is typically due to an application, such as anti-virus or anti-spam software, that does not allow the Store itself to unload during SP-1 installation. Disabling the software and reinstalling SP-1 should resolve this problem.
Before installing SP-1, we recommend checking with any of your software vendors whose products interact directly with Exchange 2003 to determine if the products will conflict with it. Symantec, TrendMicro, and GFI are often quick to report when their products conflict with service packs. A quick check of their websites is simple and can often save countless hours troubleshooting a failed SP-1 installation.
The other major complaint we've heard is that Outlook Web Access now requires users to enter their domain and username in the logon field. A workaround for this is available here.
Overall, we recommend Exchange 2003 SP-1 for anyone currently running Exchange 2003. Organizations migrating from Exchange 5.5 should be sure to reference the updated deployment guide as well.
