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Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 - Can't Find Server and other upgrade woes

It's this kind of thing that makes upgrades so traumatic for users.

When you have your system working properly and you install a Service pack, you at least expect it to respect your settings or at least TELL you that something major has changed and here's where to go to fix it.

I just hate the thought of what else may come back up and haunt me later on. I'm sure I'll hear about it though.

My Story so far ---
OK - so I was the good citizen and immediately installed Windows 2003 SP 1.

I restarted my machine and what happened? First message: Windows Cannot run in this configuration, Windows will use a previously used config.

Did some research. Nope - nothing really tells me what SP1 really did to my system so it's hard to know.

"OK - I'll restart again for good measure. " - Restarted.
Hmm... everything seems ok. Let's try and browse the Internet. No problem there. Maybe I should try my LOCAL server since that's where I have my bug tracking systems, etc.

"Cannot connect to server." - But it's my local server. Let's try Localhost.

Local host worked fine. What happened? Let's see if MS Support has anything.

Hey look! Windows 2003 Service Pack isn't even listed on the Service Pack page. More searching for stuff. Maybe I should try a remote connection.

Hmmm. Server does not exist or is not accepting connections.

This must be a firewall. Look under Network connections.

Ok. So SP1 installed Windows Firewall. Wonder if that has anything to do with anything. I mean, I was previously using ICS so I would expect that the SP1 installer would respect those settings.

Pulled up Windows Firewall. (remember there was NO notice of what SP1 actually did to my system - I just couldn't use my system).

Windows Firewall is ON. Let's look at the Exceptions.
Well, I can see that Remote Desktop is listed but not checked, so I'll reset that. But what about users on my network accessing my server? SURELY, it realized by the fact that I had IIS installed that I was sharing access.

Nope. I had to manually provide access to Port 80.

A VERY little thing but something that I can imagine many techs having to go through as they install this "recommended" update to Windows 2003 server, an otherwise GREAT product.


Frequently Asked Questions About Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hi,
Same experience here.
After installing i couldn't get internet connection by other PC on my network. I turned off firewall but still no connection. i looked at properties of the cable modem and there is NO ICS enable option to set. i checked to see that ICS service is up. I restarted it although it was started. none.

I removed SP1
David
Anonymous said…
Exact same problem, but even after disabling firewall and enabling port 80 for the sake of it, I still cannot get any connection to the Internet from clients. Could this be DNS related?
Anonymous said…
I am having the same problem. I had to completely remove SP1 from one of my w2k3 servers for ICS to show up again. I can't find anything on the MS site about this.
drc
Anonymous said…
Me too. It kept telling me ICS was enabled however I could not find an option for it anywhere. I too uninstalled SP1 and went on my merry way.
Anonymous said…
Exactly the same here, after some research I found that SP1 removes support for ICS - recommended to switch to IIS - I spent an hour trying to configure that but as I have users I ended up reverting back to previous version.

Tried phoning microsoft and they told me that "Server is not a supported product".
Anonymous said…
Hi;

Same problem here too.
ICS option not found. Client could not get Internet.
In services it shows ICS and firewall service running.
Basically applied SP1 to correct SQL error with MSsearch.exe i.e. Indexing service which terminated in an unusual way. Indexing works but ICS not seen anywhere.
No option other than to remove SP1.
Any suggestions?

Damodar
Anonymous said…
I have right now a serveur 2003 french enterprise with sp1 installed after as a service pack and i found on a web site a patch for the ICS to show his butt and it work fine but now i cannot find anoymore the file on the web and on my hd :((( so it exist just need to find it :\
Anonymous said…
I'VE FOUND IT HAHAH HERE THE LINK TO THE FILE ENJOY :D i knew it was somewhere on the web :PPPPP
http://www.mdgx.com/ws3toy.htm

i have choose the ICD + active directory error..... and now i see the sharing and im using windows 2003 R2 Enterprise English :D

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