You can apply SP2 without shutting down services. If you do not shut down services, you will be prompted to reboot when Setup is complete. Without rebooting, the services will fail to start. You can apply SP2 without restarting your computer by stopping the following services and applications before applying the service pack: Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MS DTC) and the Microsoft Search and MSSQLServerOLAPService services. MSSQLServer and SQLServerAgent services for the instance being upgraded (for example, MSSQL$NamedInstance). Microsoft Component Services, Microsoft Message Queuing, and Microsoft COM Transaction Integrator. MSDE only? ---------- If you create your own CD-ROM for installing SP2, the volume label on the CD-ROM must be SQL2KSP2. If you are an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) creating a CD-ROM for distributing the Desktop Engine as a component of your application, the CD-ROM volume label must be identical to the VolumeLabel property in the Media table of the Windows Installer Package (*.MSI). If Desktop Engine was originally installed from a CD-ROM or from a network share that has been moved, copy the MSDE subdirectory from the SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine Service Pack 2 CD-ROM to your hard drive or the network share and run Setup.exe. If you need to apply Service Pack 2 directly from the CD-ROM, you must first upgrade Windows Installer to version 2.0.2600.0 or later. This process will require that you reboot your computer. To upgrade Windows Installer: Make a note of the complete path of the original installation. Run InstMsi20.exe. Enter the complete path of the original installation in the text box. Setup.exe is located in one of the following places: The MSDE subdirectory that is in the directory containing the extracted service pack files from SQL2KDeskSP2.exe The location on your hard drive or the network share to which you copied the MSDE subdirectory from the SQL Server 2000 SP2 CD-ROM. 4.0 Unattended Installations Database Components SP2 can be applied to an instance of SQL Server 2000 running on a computer in unattended mode. The Database Components SP2 CD-ROM contains ISS files that can be used to perform unattended SP2 setups. These files are located in the root directory on the CD-ROM and can be used to perform different types of installations: sql2kdef.iss is the unattended setup file used to apply Database Components SP2 to a default instance of SQL Server 2000 running on the Windows 2000 or Windows NT 4.0 operating system. The corresponding batch file to use is Sql2kdef.bat. sql2knm.iss is the setup file used to apply Database Components SP2 to a named instance of SQL Server 2000 running on the Windows 2000 or Windows NT 4.0 operating system. You must change the instance name in the ISS file to identify the instance that is being upgraded. sql2ktls.iss is the setup file used to apply Database Components SP2 to a tools-only installation. This file can be used for installation without any modifications. sql2k9x.iss is the setup file used to apply Database Components SP2 on a computer running the Windows Millennium Edition or Windows 98 operating system. The instance name will need to be changed to identify the instance being upgraded. sql2kcli.iss is the setup file used to apply Database Components SP2 to a client components installation on a computer running the Windows 95 operating system. msolap.iss is the setup file that stores the list of parameters for running an unattended setup of Analysis Services SP2. NOTE: During an unattended installation, if Setup detects any non-writable databases or filegroups, that information is written to the Setup log and the unattended installation continues. If any of the non-writable databases listed in the Setup log are members of a replication topology, you must make those databases writable and reapply SP2 Setup to that instance of SQL Server 2000. For more information about making a database writable, see Section 3.12 Applying SP2 to non-Writable Databases or Filegroups. To learn more about reapplying SP2, see Section 3.14 Reapplying SP2. 4.1 Redistributing SP2 Data Access Components This service pack includes a self-extracting file, Sqlredis.exe, and a version of Redist.txt. These files are in the Database Components SP2. By default, when Sqlredis.exe is executed, it: Executes the Mdac_typ.exe from Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) 2.62. This installs the MDAC 2.62 core components and the versions of the SQL Server and Desktop Engine client connectivity components that ship with this service pack. Installs Microsoft Jet ODBC drivers and connectivity components. You can redistribute the Sqlredis.exe file under the terms and conditions noted in the Redist.txt file that accompanies this service pack. Note by Alex: sqlredis.exe (MDAC 2.62) contains files that are newer in date but older in version than MDAC 2.7 RTM / WinXP (WinXP IS supported by SQL 2000)