Reinstalling Service Pack 2

Based on the problems I identified in my previous post, the resolution is to re-install Service Pack 2. However, Windows Server doesn't let you re-install an SP - or remove it from Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs.

To reinstall SP2 for SPS do the following
1. Extract the hotfix package using Winzip.
2. Run:msiexec /p full path to the V2SP2Packlet.msp REINSTALLMODE=VAMUS /l*v c:\filename.log /qb!+

This will force all files to be reinstalled, regardless of checksum or version. It will also log all actions in the c:\filename.log file.

To reinstall WSS SP2, run
stsadm -o upgrade -forceupgrade
from the command line

SP2 - Object reference not set to an Instance of an Object

Recently I installed SharePoint Portal SP2 and then when I tried to create a new portal (SharePoint Central Admin > Create a Portal Site) I immediately got the following error message "Object reference not set to an instance of an object. "
on page /sps/portalcreate.aspx.

At the same time the following waslogged in the Event Log
Event Type: Warning
Event Source: SharePoint Portal Error Reporting
Event Category: None
Event ID: 0
Description: W3WP.EXE: System.NullReferenceException @Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.ServerAdmin.PortalCreatePage.Page_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e)

Apparantly, when you install SharePoint SP2 it is meant to update the Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.dll along with changes to a number of files. In certain instances, while the update says its successfully installed, it doesn't update all the files. In my case portalcreate.aspx wasn't updated, and a entire section was missing.

The solution, from Microsoft, was to reinstall SP2 and check to see if the lines above exist. The error message might be different for different users, based on the pages that weren't updated - but the solution is still the same. Reinstall SP2 and hope for the best.