KB828026 WMP WU Thinks It's Not Installed and more

[Eck]

Thanks to MDGx's website's updates I have Windows Me purring as well as WinMeDos's PureDOS running 98SE's Ms-Dos Mode with my SbLive dos drivers. Don't you love this hybrid OS stuff?

I had a few quirks turn up. For one, I'd like to be able to inform Windows Update that all the files it is, according to it, successfully installing over and over again from the KB828026 WMP update are older than the files that are on the system. So, I'd like to say to Windows Update, I don't need your KB828026 update and you've successfully installed it enough times already!

Article 319109 tells me to delete the WU registry entries related to the update that thinks it isn't installed and install it again. However, I checked the inf after extracting the manually downloaded update. The registry entries it is supposed to install to the Windows Media Player Update registry key are not in my registry. The files, like wmp.dll, etc that exist on my system are all newer versions than the ones the update tries to install.

I'm thinking that perhaps since I have newer files there, Windows automatically stops the update from installing the older versions. But for some reason WU keeps saying the update successfully installed! And when I have it check for updates, it still says I need it as a Critical Update.

Do I just leave it alone and accept the fact that everytime I go to Windows Update it will want to install the thing? Or, do I somehow add the entries that the inf is supposed to add myself and that will fix the problem? If so, how exactly do I add them? I've run .reg files written by others and also have added keys by following someone's instructions but do not want to go that route alone. I'm also not sure that in this case it is correct to add these entries if those files aren't the versions actually on my system. I don't want to mess it up!

Or, perhaps I should manually do the whole thing and install the older versions using the CoolKill trick and disabling System Restore and stmgr to do it.

What do you think? (Especially MDGx.)

Also, regarding my installing the updates from the MDGx site I had problems during the VS6SP6 Full Manual install. The extracted cab files did not include all the updated dll files listed, and many had different version numbers than those directed to install by the Essential Add-Ons instructions. Between that VS6SP6 file, and the Unofficial OLE Update file, I did the best I could to replace as many of then as were there.

Following my running of the Unofficial OLE Update I rebooted to Windows Me informing me that it found inconsistancies in system file versions and I should reboot to have Windows repair it. Well, seeing no choice in the matter I rebooted and Windows Me did whatever it thought was right with my files! But of course I have no clue whether that stuff is really installed correctly. Things are working fine though.

The other problem that turned up is I found that anytime I exited from an html help file I was recieving an error box saying that the file did some no no and would be closed. The system would run fine following this.

In order to try to repair it, I reinstalled the HTML Help Update. And sure enough that fixed the problem. I don't know what had gone wrong since I followed the order specified in MDGx's instructions regarding the HTML Update, the IE cum update, then the msxml updates. Whatever the cause, the help files no longer cause crashes when they exit since I reapplied the HTML Help update.

Having 98SE's Ms-Dos Mode running as a program without messing with Windows Me's dos is cool! I can use emm386 to run the sblive sound, as this is Ms-Dos 7.1! I even get the Windows 98 logo.sys splash screen when I run CDStart to boot into it. It's pretty wild seeing that!

[Eck]

Awww shucks, folks don't like me anymore.

Things are working fine except for the Windows Update of that WMP security update, but like I said I have a feeling I already have that and even newer file versions of it. But, I don't really know. Perhaps I'm supposed to have the older file versions because they're more secure? Ya got me. I just wish I could get Windows Update to shut up about it. I don't see it unless I go there as I keep Automatic Updates off, but still.

Oh! One other thing is a little unnerving. The Microsoft Windows Me registration site is perpetually "too busy right now," and it keep saying to,"try registering again." I know I'm legal as it's my retail boxed cd of Windows Me. And it's only installed on this computer. So go figure. I've been trying to finish registration on it for days now and the reg site is, I guess, always busy.

Ya know, Windows Me actually checks for better drivers on the internet when installing stuff like joysticks. I've been using my N64 Gamepad with the Boom USB adapter and it wouldn't show up on 98SE even with the provided "Monster Gamepad" driver listed as being installed and working properly. On XP, it installs with an XP driver for a "4 Axis-16 Button Gamepad." But then it sometimes has a problem with recognizing it on restarting Windows. On Windows Me, I was all ready to install the provided driver that hadn't worked on 98SE but instead ZoneAlarm asked me for permission for the OS to access the net and then Windows Me magically found the "4 Axis-16 Button Gamepad." And, it always is working properly (since I calibrated it, anyway) with every reboot! Windows Me also got an updated Sidewinder Gamepad Pro USB driver from the net after I had installed the Sidewinder 4.0 software for it and hooked the pad to the USB port.

Strangely, although the gameport Sidewinder Gamepad had been working with the Sidewinder 3.02 software when it was the only gamepad installed, as soon as I installed the Sidewinder Gamepad Pro USB it would be "not connected" no matter what I did. So I uninstalled the 3.02 software and just hooked up a Sidewinder Gamepad USB (the one that is virtually the same as the older gameport version). That works fine and is the one I use for most stuff.

I won't go on an adventure with the Saitek gamepad software at this point. That always mucked up 98SE and I really only need it for MVP 2004 which I'm not playing at the moment.

Hey, whatever happened to the mitchellovision Windows Me project? Did he do such weird stuff that his posts got removed? I wasn't about to download the thing until folks around here reported it worked okay and was legally okay, but it was interesting to read about.

So, what did I say? Or is everybody just occupied elsewhere and my little questions got passed over?

[MDGx]

Personally, I gave up Windows Update (WU) a long time ago, they only have a few old patches anyway.

If u installed a newer version of [let's say] WMP.DLL on your own, which is not available from WU, then whenever afterwards u go to WU, it will probably prompt u to (re)install the older WMP.DLL patch they have.

And I don't think that depends on what registry strings/values/keys u have, since the WMP.DLL build u have doesn't match the 1 from WU.

So IMO it's ok to leave alone the reg settings after installing patches unavailable at WU, it probably won't make any difference. But if u wish to clean up your registry and delete obsolete keys/values as much as possible, then u should delete those obsolete WU keys [i did, but I never use WU anyway].

If I use WU, I only d/l manually the newest fixes from:

http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/catalog/

so I can install them myself, and also keep a copy on my HD.

To rebuild your SFC database to include all newer files [and get rid of annoying SFC messages] u installed after the last time SFC updated itself [no matter where u installed those newer files from], just run this command line from a DOS box or from a BATch file:

%windir%\SYSTEM\SFC.EXE /a:%windir%\SFCSYNC.TXT

To "fake" your Windows registration [which is not necessary anyway] and d/l files successfully from WU, please see this tip:

http://www.mdgx.com/98-2.htm#REGUSER

Just my 2 ¢

Hope this helps.

[Eck]

Okay then. Actually I noticed on 98SE that Gape's Service Pack does that regdone entry. I used to change it back so Welcome To Windows would register through its interface and get rid of the Register Windows link in it. I do find it strange that the Microsoft registration site is perpetually busy when I try to register Windows Me, but like you said it doesn't really matter. I've never had Windows Update refuse to update me even when I hadn't registered, but perhaps it hasn't refused that way in a long time and I always used to register first in the old days so I never saw that.

After using nearly all of your updates on the Critical, WMP, WinMe Add-Ons, Direct X, and IE pages, Windows Update did still have a few there to install. Funny though, the one's it listed were all things I had already installed. I guess they just hadn't registered in the WU database so Windows Update wasn't aware I had done them already.

Since I'm on Windows Me now, I only have an SFC.DLL in the System folder and no sfc.exe. But that's a handy fix for me to print out for future 98SE installs.

I not only have all your updates for Me downloaded and burned to cdr, but all the WU Catalog ones too, as I had done that first before going and seeing how I wanted to do my Window Me install. Once I checked out your setup on the website I redownloaded the updates from your links just so I would have them organized to go along with your instructions.

So, I guess the best way to proceed would be to keep checking in occasionally on your site to see if there are any new critical updates relating to security, etc. Microsoft does say that, for now, they are continuing to release security updates. But it's nice that you keep an interest in these things as some of those released for newer OS's can be manually installed on 9x/Me as long as after testing they don't muck up anything.

Darned good OS, this Windows Me. It's a shame it was released in such a beta form and before hardware, software distributors had a chance to test things enough to work out compatibility with some of its changes. It got a bad rep because it was rushed out like that. Even IE 5.5 and WMP 7 weren't really finished on the version included in Windows Me. I've always found that after doing some updating the OS is able to deal with management of different software installing their own file versions and what not much better than previous 9x versions. Memory management can be tweaked a little, then that works fine as well.

Thanks for all your assistance!

[MDGx]

Eck:

You're welcome.

Please note that all WU + WU Catalog patches are also listed at my site at various pages:

http://www.mdgx.com/web.htm

Glad I could help.

Best wishes.