Windows 7 (KB976902) to enable future updates.

Anonymous
2010-10-27T01:37:32+00:00

Today I saw an update on my windows 7 laptop with kb 976902.  It said that it is to allow future updates to install correctly and that after it was installed, I could not remove it.  I looked on Knowledge Base for the article about it and it comes back with no results.  I have read at some places that it is used by SP1 beta.  I do not have SP1 Beta installed on my system.

Does anybody know what this update is for?

Thank you in advance,

vader95

Windows for home | Other | Windows update

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Anonymous
2010-10-27T09:45:34+00:00

This isn't SP1 or beta software or even malware (perplexed9, use some common sense). It's an update that readies the system for when the service pack is released. This occured with the service packs for Vista too.

However this update should not have been released without proper documentation so it wouldn't surprise me if people hold off until there are notes available.

*UPDATE* - Documentation has been released - http://support.microsoft.com/KB/976902

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Anonymous
2010-10-29T13:17:02+00:00

We have publiced the corresponding KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/976902

KB976902 is the update to the servicing stackcomponent, same purpose with this update: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/937287

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Joshua Tu, MCSE/MCSA +Sec, MCITPPartner Online Technical Community

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-10-28T01:12:34+00:00

    I've already seen several problems being encountered since the updates from yesterday. Whether or not the problems are even related is yet to be seen. Re-installing my Operating System is not as easy as most. The OS is on a 60 GB SSD and my user file is on another HDD to save space. Also my games are on a mounted HDD nested in Program Files(x86). On top of everything else my Windows7 is an upgrade so I have to install Vista first. Just thinking about Vista makes me want to wretch. Then I have to manually edit the Registry to redirect my User Files, about 15-20 entries. After that I have to try and mount the Games drive again. I did all of this before there was any User data or Games installed, so if I have to do a re-install it might be a real adventure. So, I think I'll wait awhile. I now worry what installing larger file versions on a SSD that can't be defragged will do to performance. This whole thing feels like an accident waiting to happen.

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-10-28T01:45:15+00:00

    I've already seen several problems being encountered since the updates from yesterday...

    This thread isn't about all of the updates released on 26 October, just one of them: KB976902. Did you install KB976902 and only KB976902 yesterday?

    ~Robear Dyer (PA Bear) ~ MS MVP (IE, Mail, Security, Windows & Update Services) since 2002 ~ Disclaimer: MS MVPs neither represent nor work for Microsoft

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-10-28T01:55:34+00:00

    **Original Title:**What is Windows update 976902, aka the "Black Hole Update"?

    On Tuesday, October 26th, a Windows update listed "Important" was issued along with three other updates.  It was at least for Windows 7 x64, but probably other Win versions, too.  The update stuck out because of its description, something about being uninstallable and required for future updates, but I can't remember it all anymore.  The KB article link led to a 404, hence the name it has been given various places around the Internet: "The Black Hole Update."  I believe the size of the update was >10 and <11 MB.

    Speculation raged as to what the update did.

    • Some older posts on various sites related it to installing Win7 SP1 Beta.
    • The folks running a site called techarp were claiming that 976902 installed a heuristic scanner to the machine that turned on whenever the machine went idle, and searched all attached storage devices for "terrorism-related" information, then alerting "somebody" over the Internet.
    • Some posters thought Microsoft had been hacked, and the update was really some kind of malicious third-party code being sent out to infect all Windows machines.
    • But most rational people agreed that 976902 was just some WGA-style thingy.

    Even though my Windows copy is genuine, I opted not to install it yet, to wait until more information was available.

    That was yesterday.  Today, 976902 is gone.  It is not in my recently installed updates, it is not waiting to be installed on my taskbar like it was yesterday, it isn't waiting silently inside windows update, it isn't a hidden update.  It's gone.  And I'd like to know what it is and where it's gone to.

    Microsoft...?

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