XP Service Pack 3...

[Boerseun]

So, I installed XP Service Pack 3, as recommended by Microsoft.

Apparently, it's a cumulative patch, and includes all the updates served in SP2, as well. All good.

Well, that was a while ago. And now, all of a sudden, my Remote Desktop Connection fails. I use Terminal Services quite extensively in my network, and all I get now when trying to connect, is:

"The pre-release version of Remote Desktop Connection has expired. To download the full version of Remote Desktop Connection, go to Windows Update or contact your system administrator."

And that's it.

I downloaded a fully working copy of Remote Desktop Connection from Microshaft, and upon installation, got the following:

"Installation cannot continue because an installed version of Remote Desktop Connection was detected."

There is also no way to uninstall the previous version, and the new version is oblivious to the fact that the installed one has expired, and instructed me to install the downloaded one.

I have now resorted to banging my head against the wall.

I also can't uninstall SP3, because I've installed a heck of a lot of stuff after applying the patch, and uninstall tells me that the registry will be modified on uninstalling SP3, rendering all programs installed after applying the patch, unstable. I don't want to take that chance on the short term - I don't really have enough time for that right now.

So - any fellow hypographites had the same issue with XP SP3 and RDC?

I really, really dislike Microsoft right now.

[Tormod]

You need a Mac my friend.

[Boerseun]

Just followed a Technet article I found on MS by pasting the entire text string into Google search.

Apparently, RDC in SP3 has intentionally been "timebombed" to expire on April 7 due to "testing time constraints".

Which means they've made one hell of a cock-up - millions of servers are remotely managed via RDC! There are loads and loads of forums with admins fuming about this, also bitching about rollback to SP2 not being an option in around 90% of the cases.

I'm sure Microsoft can be massively sued via class-action for this, because although they said SP3 was beta at the time, nowhere did they state that any particular part of it was time-bombed.

I'm sure they've costed the computing world millions through unplanned maintenance and support since the 7th.

The slimy bastards.

[alexander]

ROFL, switch to linux and use a linux rdp client, :P

do you have rdp 5 or 6? you may be able to upgrade and trick it that way?

[Kayra]

Just plop VNC onto all the servers and you are good to go.

[alexander]

Yeah, except it does not always work. I don't know your work experience, but a lot of times, that is simply not a solution. If you are dealing with big corporation, a datacenter or simply a state server, you are many times not allowed to install any non-approved programs. To get a program approved, you need to send it up stream, and it may take anywhere from a month to forever to get it approved. So simply installing another piece of software is not always a solution...

Having that said, TightVNC or RealVNC work pretty damn well...