Microsoft is planning to reissue the Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 Update rollup that it first launched in late June.

While the company did not specify a reason for the planned reissue, a number of Windows 2000 users who have installed the download have been complained of a variety of problems, ranging from incompatibility with third-party security applications, to network-printing issues.

Windows 2000 is still the operating system of choice for a number of businesses, especially those in the small and midsize business (SMB) space, according to industry watchers. Microsoft ended mainstream support for Windows 2000 client and server on June 30.

Right before cutting the non-paid support cord, Microsoft issued the Windows 2000 rollup of more than 50 patches and fixes, in lieu of a Service Pack 5 update. The Rollup includes security- and non-security-specific updates for Windows 2000 issued between the release of Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 in November 2003, through April 30, 2005.

A Microsoft spokeswoman said Microsoft is planning to roll all of the hotfixes it has issued for the Rollup into the re-released version, and make the new version available via the Microsoft Download Center and Windows Update sites. While there is no specific date available for the re-launch, Microsoft recently posted a note to its Web site noting its intentions.

"We plan to reissue Update Rollup 1 for Windows 2000 SP4 soon. Several hotfixes will be integrated into the new version of Update Rollup 1 for Windows 2000 SP4," said the company on the Windows 2000 Rollup Web page.

On its Web page, Microsoft says the problems with the Rollup are "isolated" and "affect few customers." The company is advising users who have experienced problems to not install the Windows 2000 Rollup until the corresponding hotfixes for specific problems are available and/or until it re-releases the updated Rollup.

Since the Rollup roll-out, users have been reporting problems with Sophos, Panda, RealSecure and BlackICE security products. There also have been reports of compatibility problems between the rollup and Citrix Systems' MetaFrame product, for which Citrix has since introduced hot fixes.

Application incompatibilities aren't the only bugaboo. The Rollup prevents users from being able to save Microsoft Office files to a floppy disk, for one. Some users are reporting problems with Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 after installing the Rollup.

One Windows 2000 consultant said one of his customers had problems with the Rollup related to systems running old driver versions.

"If the systems are not running current drivers, the systems may blue screen and the uninstall process for the rollup will not be available," said Keith Colvin, president of Everyday IT, a systems and networking consultancy. "They indicated that they best way to get around this was to install the rollup update in safe mode."

Another Windows 2000 user said he had experienced network-printing problems attributable to the Rollup.

"Even after uninstalling the Rollup, the servers wouldn't process network print jobs. Extensive Google searches for print problems related to the July Rollup turned up nothing. It wasn't until we made our search more general that we found … a referenced Microsoft Support Article 832219."

After following the steps outlined in the Knowledge Base article, the printing problems were resolved, he said.

Microsoft has had "several million downloads" of the Update Rollup 1 for Windows 2000, said Peter Houston, Senior Director of Windows Serviceability.

"We're seeing some issues with a small fraction of the downloads," Houston said. "They are effecting few customers, and we have good information and prescriptive guidance available in a KB (Knowledge Base) article linked to the Update Rollup download on Windows Update, so we are not taking this off of Download Center and Windows Update. Concurrently, we're fixing the issues and are currently looking to post updated packages as soon as they are available."