How to extract Cumulative Updates and Service Packs

At the moment I’m preparing for a new initial installation and I know it’s smart to slipstream the service packs, cumulative updates and language packs. So below you find the switches on how to extract the files.

Steps

1. Extract the downloaded service pack or cumulative update to an easy folder in the root. Like, C:\abc
2. make a folder in abc like unpacked (C:\abc\Unpacked).
3. Open a command prompt, go to the easy folder (source) and type

   PackageName-KB12345-x64.exe /x:C:\abc\Unpacked

4. or if it doesn’t work (it depents on the CU or SP)try this.

   PackageName-kb12345-x64-fullfile-en-us.exe /extract:C:\abc\Unpacked

5. A small window will popup show the package is extracting.
6. Now you can copy the *.msi’s to the update folder inside the setup binary files or run it by hand.

    

    

How to modify the default index location search

Normally when you configure the SSP on MOSS 2007 the default path is set to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Servers\12.0\Data\Office. Only in some occasions you would like to change this path, for example if you want to put it on a different volume with cheaper storage (not like a D:\ partition on the same disc).

I came a cross a portal where they managed to split the default indexing location on drive C:\index and D:\index both on the same disk. I wonder how, the why I don’t even dare to imagine.

To do this I did the following steps 

1.  I checked the Windows search service, for the account and if it was started.
2. Same for the Office SharePoint Search Service in the Central Admin Console.I made some screen shots just in case. Now I know what I’m up to here are the ingredients.
3. The index location has to be set on to different places the OSEARCH and the SSP. Below you find the STSADM commands. Don’t forget the little quotes sometimes you need them and sometime not.

   stsadm -o osearch -defaultindexlocation “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Servers\12.0\Data\Office”

   stsadm -o editssp -title Sharedservices1 -ssplogin DOMAIN\account -ssppassword <xxxxxxx> -indexserver <HOSTNAME_SERVER> -indexlocation “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Servers\12.0\Data\Office”

4. After all this I performed an iisreset /noforce and checked my handy work and if the portal was still doing all her cool stuff.

Hell yeah, yet another dragon slayed !!