Slip-Streaming a Service Pack

On many occasions I have had the need to integrate a service pack into a Windows source directory.  Here’s how you do it:

Copy the Windows source i386 directory from the installation CD to a folder on your server.  (e.g. C:\support\i386)
Download the service pack that you just installed to a different directory on the server. (e.g. C:\temp\win2k3sp2)
The service pack that you download will be a compressed .exe file.  Extract this to the the folder that was just created. (C:\temp\win2k3sp2)
This can be done with 7-zip or Winrar, etc.

After you have extracted the service pack you can integrate it with the i386 source on your C:\support\i386 directory.
To do this open a command prompt and type the following:

c:\temp\win2k3sp2\i386\update\update.exe -s:c:\support

Note: You do not need to add the i386 portion of the path into this command

A dialog box will open up stating that an update of the source files has occurred.
Once complete, you can now safely add Windows components, such as IIS without having to re-apply the service pack afterwards.

Re-Registering ASP .NET

If IIS was installed on a server after .NET 2.0 was installed, you must re-register ASP.NET 2.0 for IIS to have the Web Service Extensions.  You can manually create the web service extension, but this way is much easier.

1. Open a command prompt.
2. Navigate to %WINDIR%\Microsoft.net\framework\V2.0.50727
3. Type aspnet_regiis.exe –i to re-register ASP.Net 2.0

These instructions are valid for ASP .NET 2.0, but the process is the same for .NET 3.0, just navigate to the appropriate .NET folder and run the command.

Optus GPRS Settings

I have had a number of mobile phones over the years and most of them were bought outright…  As I need to be able to access the web and emails I find that I am always scouring the web for the Optus MMS and GPRS settings.  I find this to be very counter productive so I fonally got off my behind and wrote them down.

For any of you that are with Optus and need the GPRS and MMS settings, here they are:

EDGE/GPRS
APN: Internet
Username: (blank)
Password: (blank)

MMS
APN: mms
Username: (blank)
Password: (blank)
MMSC:mmsc.optus.com.au:8002
Proxy: 61.88.190.10:8070