How to Use the SPCheck Tool to Determine the Service Pack Level of Components

This article describes how to use the SPCheck tool to determine the service pack level of installed components on a file-by-file basis.

Description

You can use the SPCheck tool to determine the service pack level of installed components on computers that are running either Windows NT Server 4.0, Windows 2000 Server, WIndows XP, or Windows Server 2003. The SPCheck tool generates a report that lists the origin of each file for each installed component.

SPCheck reports on the current service pack level of the following components.

Windows NT 4.0-Based Computers

• DHCP Server
• DNS
• Remote Access Service (RAS)
• Routing and Remote Access service
• Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
• WINS
• Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
• NWLink (IPX/SPX)
• Exchange Server 5.5

Windows 2000-Based Computers

• DHCP Server
• DNS
• Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
• WINS
• Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
• NWLink (IPX/SPX)
• Exchange Server 5.5
• Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server

SPCheck examines each component one file at a time. Because of this, SPCheck must run under a security context that is equivalent to the local administrator account. If SPCheck is not run in this security context, files may be reported as missing, even though they are installed on the computer. SPCheck searches for files by using the "PATH" environmental variable. If files are reported as missing (although they can be found on the target computer), ensure that the folder or folders which the component is installed in are included in the PATH environmental variable.

How to Obtain the SPCheck Tool

The following files are available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:


Windows Server 2003
Download W2K3.exe now (http://download.microsoft.com/download/c/5/6/c56eb418-9b8a-4ced-b077-998b662c807c/w2k3.exe)

Windows XP:
Download Xpspchk.exe now (http://download.microsoft.com/download/6/e/0/6e0b8c10-a71b-44f1-99d5-27f6fc535f5c/xpspchk.exe)

Windows 2000:
Download W2kspchk.exe now (http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/7/6/57622a9c-d6b4-47bb-9f37-008a8b1405c8/w2kspchk.exe)

Windows NT:
Download Nt4spchk.exe now (http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/c/4/5c426317-7403-4e05-8183-7f370c383017/nt4spchk.exe)

Exchange Server 5.5:
Download Exchange55.exe now (http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/8/8/1882bcc6-c940-4904-8330-8aa1faabfe5e/exchange55.exe)

Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2000:
Download Isaspchk.exe now (http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/8/a/28a889cf-6880-4b97-b7e8-12ccf5fa8d74/isaspchk.exe)

How to Install the SPCheck Tool

To install SPCheck, view one of the following sections, depending on your operating system.

Windows Server 2003

Extract the W2K3.exe file to a folder on your hard disk, and then follow the installation instructions that are listed in the Readme.txt file.

Windows XP

Extract the Xpspchk.exe file to a folder on your hard disk, and then follow the installation instructions that are listed in the Readme.txt file.

Windows 2000

Extract the contents of the W2kspchk.exe file to a folder on your hard disk, and then run Spcheck.exe.

Windows NT

Extract the contents of the Nt4spchk.exe file to a folder on your hard disk, and then run Spcheck.exe.

Exchange Server 5.5

Extract the contents of the Exchange55.exe file to a folder on your hard disk, and then run Spcheck.exe.

Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server

There are specific instructions on how to install and run SPCheck on ISA Server. For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

How to Use the SPCheck Tool

SPCheck requires the following three files to work correctly:

• Spcheck.exe
• Dbghelp.dll
• Spcheck.ini

Copy these three files into any folder on the target server. By default, the Dbghelp.dll file is included with Windows 2000, so you do not need to copy the file to the target computer.

You can use the following switches with SPCheck:

• Use the /i switch to specify the name of the .ini file that is used. If this switch is not specified, Spcheck.ini is the default .ini file that is used.
• Use the /r switch to specify the name of the report file that is generated when the tool is run. If this switch is not specified, the default report name "Spcheck.rpt" is used.

By default, the report is created in the same folder that SPCheck was run from, and the report has the following format, where Missing indicates that the file was not found on the target computer, and Unknown indicates that the file was found on the target computer, but did not match any of the files that were recorded in the .ini file: Some files are identical in more than one service pack. For example, "SP0-3" indicates that the file was not changed in any of the first three service packs. As long as the service pack that should be installed on the computer is included in the range that is reported for a file, the file can be considered consistent with that particular service pack. Consider the following example report: If the target computer was supposed to have Service Pack 1 (SP1) installed on it, this report shows that SP1 is within the ranges that were specified for each file. Because of this, the target computer contains RAS-related files that are consistent with the service pack that is installed. SPCheck may also report a Q article number instead of a service pack number. This indicates that a hot fix has been installed. Query the Q article number in TechNet for details about the particular hot fix that was installed. Note that SPCheck only detects a very small number of hot fixes. Because of this, hot fixed files may be reported as unknown files.

The SPVerify tool can be used to simulate the installation of a Windows service pack or a Windows hotfix, and to obtain other information about a Windows service pack or a Windows hotfix. For additional information about the SPVerify tool, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: