Recent SMS Support Issues in the Knowledge Base

Today I’d like to bring you attention to three recently released Knowledge Base articles which address some common issues SMS support has seen as of late.

The first involves the Patchinstall.exe program and how it may be successfully invoked. This article should help you spot a potential incorrect call of Patchinstall.exe which results in the patch install failure. This issue commonly manifests in Operating System Deployments where an action to install patches outside of the SMS clients ITMU Scan and Patch process is undertaken:

· KB 926732 When you run the SMS 2003 PatchInstall.exe program to install updates on client computers, those updates may not be installed

The second issue also involves Patch failures and is seen when the Automatic Updates service is not functional on the client. This service is an integral part of the process but may have been disabled leading to this problem:

· KB 925640 Client computers are not updated with advertised packages, and exit code 1058 is generated, after you configure the Inventory Tool for Microsoft Updates (ITMU) in SMS 2003

Finally the last involves Database Growth after the upgrade to SP2 for those customers who are also using System Center Reporting Manager:

· KB 926731 The SMS database may unexpectedly increase in size after you install SMS 2003 Service Pack 2

I hope raised awareness of these common problems will speed you back to a healthy and functional site - and save you a support call!

Brent Dunsire

Supportability Program Manager - Systems Management Server