SP1 Project Pro w/ SP2 Project Server 07

[Andrew]

I recently installed SP2 on Project Server 07 and Project Pro 07.
However, while Project Server SP2 was approved by my company's change
control board, Project Pro SP2 was not. They have now ordered me to
remove Project Pro SP2 from the client machines. Is it okay to
connect Project Pro SP1 to Project Server SP2? If not, is it easy to
remove SP2 from Project Server?

 

[Stephen Sanderlin [MVP]]

Andrew,

Regarding your first question: according to Brian Smith
(http://blogs.msdn.com/brismith/arch...2007-service-pack-2-sp2-is-now-available.aspx),
"t is not mandatory [to install Project SP2 on clients if you install
Project Server SP2 on the servers]. The only guidance regarding minimum
versions is that a change in behavior was made to fixed duration tasks.
This change was just prio [sic] to the Infrastructure Update and
included in the IU and every CU since. This was contained in both a
client and server hotfix (952000 & 952067), so as long as both client
and server are a higher release that this things will be good."

He further states that: "SP2 DOES contain the (KB952000 and KB952067).
A better description of the relationship would be that as SP2 for the
server contains the server hotfix KB 952000, you should ensure the
clients have at least KB 952067 if you are not intending to patch
clients to SP2 immediately. Likewise if you are patching the clients
first to SP2 then the server should have at least KB 952000. This is
really advice for customers not updating both clients and server
together - and upgrading from SP1. (. . .) f your live environment
does not have at least KB 952000 on the server then patched clients
would be best not to connect if you use fixed duration tasks. I should
also add that ALL CU's and SPs are cumulative - and these KB's have been
included since the Infrastrucure [sic] Update."


Please be aware that the standard guidance is that clients and servers
should be patched together and kept at the same SP/CU level, so please
do not interpret the above advice as a guarantee that you will not
encounter any problems.


Regarding your second question: you cannot remove these patches; the
download pages for WSS SP2
(http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...82-C13F-44C1-BDC1-D0447337051B&displaylang=en)
and Office Servers SP2
(http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...90-5FC6-4347-89B0-A80DEB27A082&displaylang=en)
both have a section entitled "To remove this Download" that states:
"There is no uninstall feature for this download. For more information,
see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 873125
(http://www.support.microsoft.com/kb/873125)."

Unfortunately, if you are not comfortable working with a production
environment with disparate patchlevels the only thing I can suggest is
rolling back to the server image(s) and database backups you (hopefully)
took prior to deploying this service pack and any CUs you installed
along with it.

You should also take care to ensure that when removing SP2 on the
clients you do not roll back farther than intended; there are several
known issues with the Service Pack Uninstall Tool for the 2007 Microsoft
Office suite documented in KB954914
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/954914), including an issue where
"[a]ll shared files are unexpectedly reverted to RTM instead of SP1
after you uninstall the 2007 Office suite SP2. This issue occurs only if
you have a [sic] both of [sic] RTM and SP1 on a computer, then you
install and uninstall SP2 later."

Hope that helps,
Steve

--
Stephen Sanderlin, Project MVP
VP of Technology
msProjectExperts

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