Windows Update Site Incorrectly Identifies Windows 2000 Retail as Beta

When you attempt to use the Microsoft Windows Update Web site from a retail copy of Windows 2000, you may receive the following message:

The Windows Update Web site detects Beta builds of Windows 2000 by checking the product ID (PID) for validity. If the test is not successful, the Windows 2000 version is assumed to be pre-release (or Beta).

This behavior can occur if the PID is missing or has become corrupted. This may occur when you upgrade a Beta or Evaluation build to a release build, or because of registry damage.

The easiest way to correct this issue is to reinstall Windows 2000 and retype the PID when you are prompted.

You can automate the updating of the PID by using a Setup answer file with the following lines: Insert your PID on the "Product ID=" line, and then copy this file (as a text file only) with the name Unattend.txt to the root folder of drive C. Insert your Windows 2000 CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive, click Start, click Run, and then type the following line: NOTE: This articles assumes that the CD-ROM drive is drive D. If this is not the case, change the drive letter at the beginning of the command as appropriate. This runs the installation of Windows 2000 automatically, correcting the PID. No other changes are made.

If you are applying this fix to more than one computer, make sure that the Unattend.txt file contains the correct PID for each computer to avoid license violations.