“Microsoft has published guidelines in its Knowledge Base to warn corporate administrators on how to ward off the imminent update of Internet Explorer to version 7…”
Microsoft has warned corporate administrators that it will push a new version of “Internet Explorer 7” their way next month, and it has posted guidelines on how to ward off the automatic update if administrators want to keep the older (IE6) browser on their companies’ machines.
“Companies wishing to remain with IE6 have been offered guidelines explaining how to prevent the automated update taking effect.”
The software giant intends to mark the update on 12 February as an Update Rollup package, which means that it will automatically be distributed and installed on corporate networks whose WSUS servers are configured to auto-approve such packages.
“Users of Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) — Microsoft’s software-update service for businesses — who are currently using Internet Explorer (IE6) will be automatically upgraded to (IE7) on that date, Microsoft announced on its manageability team blog on 14 January.”
The IE7 upgrade scheduled to roll out via (WSUS) was announced last October, when Microsoft said: “it would no longer require users to prove they owned a legitimate copy of Windows XP” before they were allowed to download the newer browser. Microsoft explained that the move was prompted by security concerns.
“Because Microsoft takes its commitment to help protect the entire Windows ecosystem seriously, we are updating the IE7 installation experience to make it available as broadly as possible to all Windows users,” said Steve Reynolds, an IE program manager, on a Microsoft company blog in early October. “Internet Explorer 7 installation will no longer require Windows Genuine Advantage validation and will be available to all Windows XP users.”
Many companies have not yet updated from IE6 to IE7: some have critical, often locally developed, business applications that do not work or have limited functionality with the newer version of the browser.
However, “If you have configured WSUS to “auto-approve” Update Rollup packages, Windows Internet Explorer 7 will be automatically approved for installation after February 12, 2008, and consequently, you may want to take the actions below to manage how and when this update is installed,” Microsoft warned in a support document posted to its site.
“Companies that are willing to stuck with IE6 must take action, Microsoft said, or IE7 may be automatically downloaded and installed to their workers’ PCs.”
The Microsoft Knowledge Base article explains how administrators can prevent the automatic update from taking place. First, they have to disable automatic approval of Update Rollups and then synchronize the WSUS servers with the Microsoft servers.
After the 12 February, Internet Explorer 7 will then appear in the list of non-approved updates. According to Microsoft, the option to automatically approve Update Rollup packages can then safely be reinstated.
“Microsoft recognized that it needed to protect IE6 from replacement even before it released IE7 in the fall of 2006; prior to the browser’s launch, the company posted a free set of tools administrators could use to block the automatic downloading and installation of the new browser.”
“The advice, available in greater detail on Microsoft’s support site:”
(http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B946202&x=15&y=14)
Only applies to those users who do not want to upgrade from IE6 to IE7, and who use computers based on Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) or Windows Server 2003 SP1.
“Users of Windows Vista are already tied to IE7, as it comes as a component of that operating system.”
More than one in every three people still relies on IE6, according to data gathered by Web metrics vendor Net Applications. During December 2007, IE6 accounted for 35 percent of the browsers that visited the 40,000-some sites monitored by the company.
Although a similar WSUS server option caused some problems last October when Microsoft marked the optional desktop search as the latest version of an update, with the result that this software was automatically installed on large numbers of corporate PCs.
But it is unclear what impact, if any, the IE7 rollout via WSUS will have on users who have applied the “Blocker Toolkit” to keep that browser off their systems. Although asked to expand on the support document — which did not mention the tools — Microsoft was not able to provide any additional information Tuesday.
“Microsoft wishes to prevent a reoccurrence of last year’s confusion and has issued a warning to administrators in order to allow them to prepare for the IE7 update.”