WDS update revision follow - up

Hi Folks - 

I wanted to get back to you with more information and guidance around the Windows Desktop Search (WDS) issue and the results of our investigation today.   

As you know, Windows Desktop Search was published last February 07, as an optional update that was only applicable to systems which had WDS previously installed. Then on Tuesday of this week we revised that update package to be applicable (but still optional) to Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003 SP1+ systems which did not have WDS installed. Unfortunately, in revising this update, the decision to re-use the same update package had unintended consequences to our WSUS customers. Namely many of you who had approved the initial update package for a limited number of machines, had Tuesdays' WDS revision 105 automatically install on all clients because of the expanded applicability scope and because by default, WSUS is set to automatically approve update revisions. We sincerely regret the inconvenience this has caused and extend a sincere apology to all impacted customers.

For those of you who want to uninstall the WDS update revision released Tuesday of this week, this can be done via

1. Add/remove programs

2. Invoking spunisnts: %windir%\$NtUninstallKB917013$\spuninst\spuninst.exe /q /promptrestart

3. Using System Restore on Windows XP (not available on Windows Server 2003). This option will leave some software on the machine, but the invocation effectively removes WDS 3.01. This should only be used for conditions where the /noback switch was used.

I want you to know we are working now to correct the issue and have temporarily suspended the distribution of the Windows Desktop Search through WSUS. The current package will remain available through the Microsoft Download Center. We will make a new package available for WSUS in the near future, but not as an update revision, so that you can rely on predictable update behavior with auto-approval settings. We are also working on improving our internal publishing processes to ensure this does not happen again in the future. 

Again, our sincere apologies for this publishing process error. 

Bobbie Harder

Program Manager, WSUS