Determining when your system will check for XP SP2 Updates

I have a theory for determining when the next scheduled update attempt will
begin on your system. I believe I have located the registry keys that
Windows Update v5 is using to decide when to check for update availability.
Key path: HKLM/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/WindowsUpdate/Auto
Update
The two keys are:
DownloadExpirationTime [and same path] NextDetectionTime
By setting the detection time key to a time in the near future and
restarting the Automatic Updates service, you can observe the network
activity at the appropriate time. After the activity you will see that the
key has been set to a time in the future (24 hours approx?).
I have also experimented with setting both the expiration time to a past
time and the detection time to a near future time with similar results: a
spike in activity on the net and then the keys are reset to a future
date/time.
Another interesting key value is the ODFFileURL key. On my system it is set
to:
http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/odf/wuodf.xml
When pasted in my browser, I get this response from Microsoft:
- <OperationalDirectives>
<DownloadRegulation AcceptanceRate="100" />
</OperationalDirectives>
I am assuming that this response is keeping me from starting (or restarting)
my download of SP2.
The Internet seems to be void of information on these registry keys. I
think this is due to placement in the registry by the new Windows Update v5.
Even if you don't like mucking around in the registry, these keys might give
you a hint as to when to look for the future restart of your SP2 download.
--
Mike B

Mike B wrote:
> I have a theory for determining when the next scheduled update
> attempt will begin on your system. I believe I have located the
> registry keys that Windows Update v5 is using to decide when to check
> for update availability. Key path:
> HKLM/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/WindowsUpdate/Auto
> Update The two keys are:
> DownloadExpirationTime [and same path] NextDetectionTime
> By setting the detection time key to a time in the near future and
> restarting the Automatic Updates service, you can observe the network
> activity at the appropriate time. After the activity you will see
> that the key has been set to a time in the future (24 hours approx?).
> I have also experimented with setting both the expiration time to a
> past time and the detection time to a near future time with similar
> results: a spike in activity on the net and then the keys are reset
> to a future date/time.
> Another interesting key value is the ODFFileURL key. On my system it
> is set to:
> http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/odf/wuodf.xml
> When pasted in my browser, I get this response from Microsoft:
> - <OperationalDirectives>
> <DownloadRegulation AcceptanceRate="100" />
> </OperationalDirectives>
> I am assuming that this response is keeping me from starting (or
> restarting) my download of SP2.
> The Internet seems to be void of information on these registry keys.
> I think this is due to placement in the registry by the new Windows
> Update v5. Even if you don't like mucking around in the registry,
> these keys might give you a hint as to when to look for the future
> restart of your SP2 download.

I concur with your observations. I noticed similar behavior on 1 of my pc's last Thursday & Friday.
What I also noticed is that it took a while ( a few days after Monday) for an actual scheduled download to appear in registry.
--
Maurice N
MVP Windows - Shell / User
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