Microsoft offers more ways to block SP2 updates

Microsoft has offered yet another way for businesses to block the automatic update of Windows XP to the big-deal Service Pack 2 (SP2) upgrade.

The software giant has posted a copy-and-paste script to its TechNet Web site that lets administrators block or unblock specific PCs from receiving SP2 via Windows Automatic Update or the Windows Update Web site.

The script, said Microsoft, used uses the StdRegProv class of the Windows Management Instrumentation Registry provider to enable or disable access to SP2 via either of those update mechanisms.

Administrators must create a comma-delimited file that lists each desktop or server, by name, along with a "b" for block or "u" for unblock, to use the script.

The script code, available in the US, can be copied from and pasted into Notepad, then run as a .vbs file.

Microsoft had already published a set of guidelines and tools for disabling SP2 updating. Last week, it offered advice on how to throttle back SP2 so that

Software Update Services servers reportedly aren't overwhelmed and enterprise network traffic isn't affected by clients downloading the massive upgrade.