Updating Installed Applications

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

In order to update previously installed applications, you obtain updates (.msp files) from the software manufacturers or from the internal developers of the original program. You can update an existing application without removing the product. This approach preserves the customizations of the installation and can lower the cost of making the change. The update might change only a few bytes of a single application file. It is more efficient to distribute those few bytes than to remove and redeploy the whole product.

Note

  • An update might change all of the files and registry keys in a product.

After you apply the update, it is cached on the user’s computer, this allows the user to:

  • Perform any installation on demand.

  • Reinstall the application.

  • Repair the application.

  • Remove the application.

The updating information in this chapter applies to those organizations that have deployed software by using the software installation extension of Group Policy.

A update package (.msp) does not include a database as a regular installation package does. Instead, it contains, at a minimum, one database transform that adds update information to the database of its target installation .msi package. For an application to perform maintenance operations, such as adding, removing, or repairing the installation, the package codes for both the installed application and the source must match.

Important

  • To remove an update after applying it, you must remove the entire application, and then reinstall it without the update. There is no way to roll back the changes made by an update.

  • Do not deploy an update to an application that might add 64-bit components to a 32-bit application. This can cause failures on 32-bit clients because they cannot run the 64-bit component.

For more information about applying updates by using command-line options, see the Windows Security Collection of the Windows Server 2003 Technical Reference (or see the Windows Security Collection).

For step-by-step instructions for updating applications, see Help and Support Center for Windows Server 2003.