I don't have a problem, but since you mentioned SFC, I thought I would
ask about something I had wondered about: If your installation CD for
Windows XP is older than all the updates installed since the original
installation, what would happen if it finds a newer version file while
running sfc.exe /scannow? Will it advise you that a later version
already exists, or try to install the old version of that file?
And if you choose to install the old version of that file, is there a
way of knowing which updates are needed in order to bring it to the
latest version?
I have an XP CD that is a few years old and always wondered what would
happen if I ever had to try to use it for something serious since I
now have SP3 installed...
I made a new bootable XP CD with SP3 slip streamed into it, so it is
as up to date as you can be (I reckon). At least it is better than my
old original.
I found an easy tutorial on how to create the new bootable
installation CD and it worked the first time I tried it. There seem
to be many methods and suggestions, but I am not into the - guessing
it should work, it might work, if it doesn't work, etc. I want
something I know will work.
So if I ever need to run sfc (never have so far), I will use my new CD
with SP3 built in and not worry about it copying old files onto my SP3
installation.
It does not seem logical to boot on an SP1 or SP2 CD to try to fix a
system with SP3 on it.
Even if you go out and buy a new XP CD, it will only have SP2 on it (I
think) and you will have to download and install SP3, so it made sense
to me to just make a new installation CD with SP3 built in. No more
downloading/installing SP3 (which of course always works perfectly).
If you need to expand anything from your CD, it is easy.
For example, if you need Task Manager (taskmgr.exe), find it on your
CD as taskmgr.ex_ the command would be something like:
expand d:\i386\taskmgr.ex_ c:\Windows\system32
Another good thing about making your own CD is that you can include
any other files you think you might like to have or already expanded
versions of files.
If you don't have Recovery Console installed on your system (you
really should consider it), but have previously installed SP3, you
will not be able to install RC from the CD because it is only SP 2 (or
1) - another good reason to have an installation CD with SP3 built in,
then install RC on your hard disk as a boot option.