Microsoft Preps Windows XP Service Pack 2 Beta For Release Within Next Week

Service Pack 2, or SP2, expected to be delivered in finished form during the first half of 2004, is considered a significant Windows update because it offers enhanced security features and rolls up all the security patches and updates that have been released since the last service pack shipped in September 2002.

Sources familiar with the Service Pack 2 beta said the update offers Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) turned on by default, better patch detection and management features, changes in the way e-mail attachments are handled and support for the Security Configuration Wizard, planned for the first Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 due in the second half of next year, partners said.

Microsoft has, for instance, made it possible for users to configure and manage the firewall using the Group Policy features of Active Directory, so that, for instance, an administrator can turn on the ICF for laptops used remotely and turn it off when they used within the office, sources said.

That way, a company can have multiple configurations for different user scenarios and manage it from one location.

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In addition, the update includes changes to the remote procedure call (RPC) to limit the amount of damage that can be done by a hacker. By narrowing the set of permissions and privileges to the user level, virus and worm writers would be restricted.

Microsoft would neither confirm nor deny this report. However, a spokesman indicated the company is briefing industry observers about SP2 this week.

At Microsoft Momentum in October, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer described the planned update as a service pack on "steroids."

Many solution providers and customers are keenly interested in SP2 because of the severity of attacks on Windows in recent months by viruses such as MSBlaster and SoBig.F, which spawned billions of dollars worth of damage.

Observers are very interested in getting Microsoft to improve the way security updates, bulletins and patches are deployed to the desktop as Software Update Services 2.0 is prepped for the Windows Server 2003. SUS 2.0 is due to go into beta testing in February, according to Microsoft.

Sources said, for instance, that SP2 integrates client code from SUS 2.0, Windows Update and Baseline Analyzer to enable enhanced detection of what patches are needed and provide better installations. It also enables the client to deliver more configuration and setting information to the Windows server.

"There are a lot of clients in a corporate network, and often it's tough to tell what is installed on [each] machine, and Windows to date hasn't helped you with that," said one source familiar with SP2. "This enhances the [Windows] client's ability to tell server and software distribution systems what software it has installed so it can respond better to patch management."

Microsoft is now in the 11th hour of final testing for the SP2 beta and aims to deliver it by Friday, sources said. However, Microsoft will hold off on the beta until late next week if the internal testing process uncovers a conflict, sources added.

Partners familiar with the beta code also said it offers improvements to the Windows Update function. For instance, Windows Update will now be able to collect and collate all known fixes and patches for single download.

"It's a module in the XP code, a downloadable add to Windows and has a completely new system to build a new image and ISO file and do an in-stream update rather than a piece at a time," said one source familiar with the SP2.

The Service pack also changes the manner in which e-mail attachments can be accessed and saved to prevent potential damage. For example, users may be allowed to open an attachment with few privileges--such as the ability to read-only as opposed to running an executable file, sources said.

Partners say it will take a long time to test this beta code due to the variety of new security features and other new instant messaging, peer-to-peer (P2P) and video features introduced in SP2 beta. "This is big," one partner said of the update.

SP2, for instance, also features new support for Microsoft's P2P technologies, Microsoft Live Communications Server for corporate instant messaging and improves upon compression/decompression performance for video, said sources familiar with the beta.

One provider in the licensing arena said some service packs can be overlooked but probably not this one.

The SP2 beta is being prepped just as Symantec and others warn about potential exploits in the Windows Messenger Service instant messaging system. It's not clear how Microsoft plans to respond to the latest threats. SP2 does incorporate support for new P2P and instant messaging technologies developed by Microsoft.

"Security is of importance to every service provider out there today," said John McGrath, senior software licensing specialist at Bell Tech.logix, Indianapolis.