Release Date:

8/13/2024

Version:

Security-only update

Windows Server 2008 SP2 Extended Security Updates (ESU) third and final year ended on January 10, 2023. Additionally, Extended Security Updates on Azure only support ended on January 9, 2024. For more information, see Extended Security Updates for Windows Server overview.

We recommend that you upgrade to a later version of Windows Server. For more information, see Overview of Windows Server upgrades.

Summary

Learn more about this security-only update, including improvements, any known issues, and how to get the update.

Note As of July 2020, optional non-security releases for this operating system are no longer offered. Operating systems in extended support have only cumulative monthly security updates.

Verify that you have installed the required updates in the How to get this update section before installing this update.

For information about the various types of Windows updates, such as critical, security, driver, service packs, and so on, see Description of the standard terminology that is used to describe Microsoft software updates. To view other notes and messages for Windows Server 2008 SP2, see Windows Server 2008 SP2 update history.

Improvements

The following is a summary of the key issues that this update addresses. The bold text within the brackets indicates the item or area of the change we are documenting.

  • [NetJoinLegacyAccountReuse] Removes this registry key. For more information, see KB5020276.

  • [BitLocker (known issue)] A BitLocker recovery screen shows when you start up your device. This occurs after you install the July 9, 2024, update. This issue is more likely to occur if device encryption is on. Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Device encryption. To unlock your drive, Windows might ask you to enter the recovery key from your Microsoft account.

  • [Domain Name System (DNS)] This update hardens DNS server security to address CVE-2024-37968. If the configurations of your domains are not up to date, you might get the SERVFAIL error or time out.

For more information about the resolved security vulnerabilities, please refer to the Deployments | Security Update Guide and the August 2024 Security Updates.

Known issues in this update

Symptom

Next step

After installing this update and restarting your device, you might receive the error, “Failure to configure Windows updates. Reverting Changes. Do not turn off your computer”, and the update might show as Failed in Update History.

This is expected in the following circumstances:

  • If you are installing this update on a device that is running an edition that is not supported for ESU. For a complete list of which editions are supported, see KB4497181.

  • If you do not have an ESU MAK add-on key installed and activated.

If you have an ESU key and have encountered this issue, please verify you have applied all prerequisites and that your key is activated. For information on activation, see the Obtaining Extended Security Updates for eligible Windows devices blog post. For information on the prerequisites, see the How to get this update section of this article.

For the current status of any past Known Issue, see the Windows Server 2008 SP2 Known Issues page. 

How to get this update

Before installing this update

We strongly recommend that you install the latest servicing stack update (SSU) for your operating system before you install the latest Monthly Rollup. SSUs improve the reliability of the update process to mitigate potential issues while installing the Monthly Rollup and applying Microsoft security fixes. For general information about SSUs, see Servicing stack updates and Servicing Stack Updates (SSU): Frequently Asked Questions.

If you use Windows Update, the latest SSU (KB5039341) will be offered to you automatically. To get the standalone package for the latest SSU, search for it in the Microsoft Update Catalog.

Language packs

If you install a language pack after you install this update, you must reinstall this update. Therefore, we recommend that you install any language packs that you need before you install this update. For more information, see Learn about adding a language pack to Windows.

Install this update

To install this update, use one of the following release channels.

Available

Next step

No

This update is not available from Windows Update. See the Update Catalog or Server Update Services release channel.

Available

Next step

Yes

To get the standalone package for this update, go to the Microsoft Update Catalog website.

To download updates from the Update Catalog, see Steps to download updates from the Windows Update Catalog.

Available

Next step

Yes

This update will automatically sync if you configure Products and Classifications as follows:

  • Product: Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2

  • Classification: Security Updates

For more information about configuring in WSUS, see Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).

For more information about configuring in Configuration Manager, see Synchronize software updates.

Reminder If you are using Security-only updates, you will also need to install all previous Security-only updates and the latest cumulative update for Internet Explorer (KB5041770).

File information

For a list of the files that are provided in this update, download the file information for update KB5041847.

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