When did Micro$oft stop providing updates for XP-SP2?

[XP Guy]

I have a cloned image of an XP hard drive that was last updated in June
2006. This is SP2, not SP3.

I recently booted the drive and activated automatic updates.

I was presented with 3 (three) updates. One was Genuine disAdvantage
(which I've declined in the past and I declined again), the second was
XP-SP3, and the third was Malicious software removal tool (June 2014).

So I was somewhat surprised to be offered a June version of MSRT (did we
know that MS was continuing to offer those beyond April 2014?).

But my main question is - wasn't (or didn't) MS offer updates to SP2 for
some time even after SP3 was released? And have they now withdrawn
those updates?

Or did MS stop ALL updates, fixes and patches for SP2 the minute that
SP3 came out?

 

[Bruce Hagen]

I have a cloned image of an XP hard drive that was last updated in June
2006. This is SP2, not SP3.

I recently booted the drive and activated automatic updates.

I was presented with 3 (three) updates. One was Genuine disAdvantage
(which I've declined in the past and I declined again), the second was
XP-SP3, and the third was Malicious software removal tool (June 2014).

So I was somewhat surprised to be offered a June version of MSRT (did we
know that MS was continuing to offer those beyond April 2014?).

But my main question is - wasn't (or didn't) MS offer updates to SP2 for
some time even after SP3 was released? And have they now withdrawn
those updates?

Or did MS stop ALL updates, fixes and patches for SP2 the minute that
SP3 came out?

SP2 updates ended July 13, 2012.

 

[Bruce Hagen]

SP2 updates ended July 13, 2012.

Excuse me. That should read: SP2 updates ended July 13, 2010.

 

[Bruce Hagen]

So why wasn't I offered a shit-load of update choices for SP2?

I should have seen 4 years worth according to you.

No, there were no more updates for SP2 after July 13, 2010. The next update
would be SP3.

 

[XP Guy]

SP2 updates ended July 13, 2010.

So why wasn't I offered a shit-load of update choices for SP2?

I should have seen 4 years worth according to you.

 

[Mayayana]

I would second Bill's vote: There's no reason I know
to skip SP3. There were some surprises in SP2, such
as extreme restrictions in IE and DEP, which broke some
software. But I don't think there's anything like that
in SP3. (And in general the SP2 changes, while disruptive,
were security improvements.)

 

[Zaky Waky]

So why wasn't I offered a shit-load of update choices for SP2?

I should have seen 4 years worth according to you.

Probably because you are a moron and the upgrade process detected that and
knew you coudn't handle it.

 

[XP Guy]

No, there were no more updates for SP2 after July 13, 2010.
The next update would be SP3.

Try to follow this.

I had a hard drive with XP-SP2 that was last powered-up and updated in
June 2006.

You say that there were no more updates available for SP-2 after July
13, 2010.

Which means any updates that were made for SP-2 should remain available
for download after that date?

A few days ago I power up the hard drive and see NO SP-2 updates being
made available to me.

Where are all the SP2 updates that were being offered between June 2006
and July 2010?

I presume there were some.

(moving from SP2 to SP3 is a separate issue and does nothing to answer
my questions here)

 

[Bruce Hagen]

Try to follow this.

I had a hard drive with XP-SP2 that was last powered-up and updated in
June 2006.

You say that there were no more updates available for SP-2 after July
13, 2010.

Which means any updates that were made for SP-2 should remain available
for download after that date?

A few days ago I power up the hard drive and see NO SP-2 updates being
made available to me.

Where are all the SP2 updates that were being offered between June 2006
and July 2010?

I presume there were some.

(moving from SP2 to SP3 is a separate issue and does nothing to answer
my questions here)

Since SP2 has not been supported by Microsoft for four years, why would they
keep the needless updates available for downloading. I know you don't want
SP3, but it contains all the SP2 updates you are looking for.

 

[BillW50]

Try to follow this.

I had a hard drive with XP-SP2 that was last powered-up and updated in
June 2006.

You say that there were no more updates available for SP-2 after July
13, 2010.

Which means any updates that were made for SP-2 should remain available
for download after that date?

A few days ago I power up the hard drive and see NO SP-2 updates being
made available to me.

Where are all the SP2 updates that were being offered between June 2006
and July 2010?

I presume there were some.

(moving from SP2 to SP3 is a separate issue and does nothing to answer
my questions here)

I believe this machine has just SP2 original and nothing else except
KB909095, which addresses hibernating with more than 1GB of RAM. And
according to Belarc Advisor, this machine lacks the following updates.
Maybe this list would help you.

Q873339 Important Microsoft security update (KB873339)
Q885835 Important Microsoft security update (KB885835)
Q885836 Important Microsoft security update (KB885836)
Q888302 Important Microsoft security update (KB888302)
Q890046 Moderate Microsoft security update (KB890046)
Q890859 Important Microsoft security update (KB890859)
Q893756 Important Microsoft security update (KB893756)
Q896358 Critical Microsoft security update (KB896358)
Q896423 Critical Microsoft security update (KB896423)
Q899587 Moderate Microsoft security update (KB899587)
Q899591 Moderate Microsoft security update (KB899591)
Q900725 Important Microsoft security update (KB900725)
Q901017 Important Microsoft security update (KB901017)
Q901190 Important Microsoft security update (KB901190)
Q901214 Critical Microsoft security update (KB901214)
Q902400 Important Microsoft security update (KB902400)
Q905414 Moderate Microsoft security update (KB905414)
Q905749 Important Microsoft security update (KB905749)
Q908531 Critical Microsoft security update (KB908531)
Q911280 Important Microsoft security update (KB911280)
Q911562 Critical Microsoft security update (KB911562)
Q911564 Important Microsoft security update (KB911564)
Q911927 Important Microsoft security update (KB911927)
Q913580 Low Microsoft security update (KB913580)
Q914388 Critical Microsoft security update (KB914388)
Q914389 Important Microsoft security update (KB914389)
Q918118 Important Microsoft security update (KB918118)
Q918439 Critical Microsoft security update (KB918439)
Q920213 Critical Microsoft security update (KB920213)
Q920670 Important Microsoft security update (KB920670)
Q920683 Critical Microsoft security update (KB920683)
Q923191 Critical Microsoft security update (KB923191)
Q923561 Important Microsoft security update (KB923561)
Q923980 Important Microsoft security update (KB923980)
Q924270 Low Microsoft security update (KB924270)
Q924667 Important Microsoft security update (KB924667)
Q925398 Critical Microsoft security update (KB925398)
Q925902 Critical Microsoft security update (KB925902)
Q926255 Important Microsoft security update (KB926255)
Q926436 Important Microsoft security update (KB926436)
Q927779 Critical Microsoft security update (KB927779)
Q927802 Important Microsoft security update (KB927802)
Q928255 Important Microsoft security update (KB928255)
Q928843 Critical Microsoft security update (KB928843)
Q929123 Important Microsoft security update (KB929123)
Q930178 Critical Microsoft security update (KB930178)
Q931261 Critical Microsoft security update (KB931261)
Q932168 Critical Microsoft security update (KB932168)
Q937894 Moderate Microsoft security update (KB937894)
Q941569 Critical Microsoft security update (KB941569)
Q943055 Critical Microsoft security update (KB943055)
Q943460 Critical Microsoft security update (KB943460)
Q944653 Important Microsoft security update (KB944653)
Q945553 Important Microsoft security update (KB945553)
Q946026 Critical Microsoft security update (KB946026)
Q946648 Important Microsoft security update (KB946648)
Q950749 Critical Microsoft security update (KB950749)
Q950762 Important Microsoft security update (KB950762)
Q950974 Important Microsoft security update (KB950974)
Q951376 Critical Microsoft security update (KB951376)
Q951748 Important Microsoft security update (KB951748)
Q952004 Important Microsoft security update (KB952004)
Q952069 Important Microsoft security update (KB952069)
Q952954 Critical Microsoft security update (KB952954)
Q954155 Critical Microsoft security update (KB954155)
Q954157 Unrated Microsoft security advisory (KB954157)
Q954430 Important Microsoft security update (KB954430)
Q955069 Critical Microsoft security update (KB955069)
Q956572 Important Microsoft security update (KB956572)
Q956802 Critical Microsoft security update (KB956802)
Q956844 Critical Microsoft security update (KB956844)
Q958470 Critical Microsoft security update (KB958470)
Q958644 Critical Microsoft security update (KB958644)
Q958869 Critical Microsoft security update (KB958869)
Q959426 Moderate Microsoft security update (KB959426)
Q960225 Important Microsoft security update (KB960225)
Q960803 Critical Microsoft security update (KB960803)
Q960859 Important Microsoft security update (KB960859)
Q961501 Moderate Microsoft security update (KB961501)
Q969059 Important Microsoft security update (KB969059)
Q970238 Important Microsoft security update (KB970238)
Q971032 Important Microsoft security update (KB971032)
Q971468 Important Microsoft security update (KB971468)
Q971657 Important Microsoft security update (KB971657)
Q971961 Critical Microsoft security update (KB971961)
Q972270 Low Microsoft security update (KB972270)
Q973507 Critical Microsoft security update (KB973507)
Q973540 Critical Microsoft security update (KB973540)
Q973815 Critical Microsoft security update (KB973815)
Q973869 Critical Microsoft security update (KB973869)
Q973904 Important Microsoft security update (KB973904)
Q974112 Critical Microsoft security update (KB974112)
Q974318 Moderate Microsoft security update (KB974318)
Q974392 Important Microsoft security update (KB974392)
Q974571 Important Microsoft security update (KB974571)
Q975025 Critical Microsoft security update (KB975025)
Q975560 Critical Microsoft security update (KB975560)
Q975561 Important Microsoft security update (KB975561)
Q975562 Critical Microsoft security update (KB975562)
Q975713 Critical Microsoft security update (KB975713)
Q977816 Critical Microsoft security update (KB977816)
Q977914 Critical Microsoft security update (KB977914)
Q978037 Important Microsoft security update (KB978037)
Q978338 Moderate Microsoft security update (KB978338)
Q978542 Critical Microsoft security update (KB978542)
Q978601 Critical Microsoft security update (KB978601)
Q978695 Critical Microsoft security update (KB978695)
Q978706 Moderate Microsoft security update (KB978706)
Q979309 Critical Microsoft security update (KB979309)
Q979402 Critical Microsoft security update (KB979402)
Q979482 Critical Microsoft security update (KB979482)
Q979559 Important Microsoft security update (KB979559)
Q979683 Important Microsoft security update (KB979683)
Q980195 Critical Microsoft security update (KB980195)
Q980218 Important Microsoft security update (KB980218)
Q980232 Critical Microsoft security update (KB980232)
Q981349 Important Microsoft security update (KB981349)
Q2229593 Critical Microsoft security update (KB2229593)
Q2538242 Important Microsoft security update (KB2538242)
Q2596843 Important Microsoft security update (KB2596843)
Q2687499 Critical Microsoft security update (KB2687499)

 

[BillW50]

Since SP2 has not been supported by Microsoft for four years, why would
they keep the needless updates available for downloading. I know you
don't want SP3, but it contains all the SP2 updates you are looking for.

So how do you unfix the OE6 bug contained in SP3 that causes folders.dbx
file in use error when compacting? And the rumors on the street is
Windows didn't contain any back doors until 2007 updates. So if you have
any updates from 2007 or later, you probably have those back doors
installed. Also I bet you always fix things that isn't broken, don't
know? I don't know why anybody would be foolish enough to risk screwing
up something that already runs flawlessly!

 

[Bruce Hagen]

So how do you unfix the OE6 bug contained in SP3 that causes folders.dbx
file in use error when compacting? And the rumors on the street is Windows
didn't contain any back doors until 2007 updates. So if you have any
updates from 2007 or later, you probably have those back doors installed.
Also I bet you always fix things that isn't broken, don't know? I don't
know why anybody would be foolish enough to risk screwing up something
that already runs flawlessly!

So how do you unfix the OE6 bug contained in SP3 that causes folders.dbx
file in use error when compacting?

</QP>

Compact manually.

 

[Mayayana]

| Try to follow this.
|
| I had a hard drive with XP-SP2 that was last powered-up and updated in
| June 2006.
|
| You say that there were no more updates available for SP-2 after July
| 13, 2010.
|
| Which means any updates that were made for SP-2 should remain available
| for download after that date?
|
| A few days ago I power up the hard drive and see NO SP-2 updates being
| made available to me.
|
| Where are all the SP2 updates that were being offered between June 2006
| and July 2010?
|
| I presume there were some.
|
| (moving from SP2 to SP3 is a separate issue and does nothing to answer
| my questions here)

I don't think you're going to get what you want through
normal venues. If you want only SP2 with select SP3
patches you're getting into obscure hobby territory.
You might find what you want at mdgx.com, or through
links found there. The site owner has been providing
extensive tweaking tools and links since the 90s.

 

[BillW50]

</QP>

Compact manually.

But that isn't what it was designed to do. It was designed to do both
manually and/or automatically. Where I come from, this is known as a bug
introduced by SP3. I don't know why people are so willing to install
bugs on their machines for? Are they bored or something and need more
excitement in their lives or something?

 

[XP Guy]

| Where are all the SP2 updates that were being offered between
| June 2006 and July 2010?
|
| I presume there were some.

I don't think you're going to get what you want through normal
venues.

If Macro$haft was still creating patches and updates for SP-2 during the
years 2006 through 2010, then I presume they simply didn't yank those
updates from the WU server in August 2010.

But hitting the WU server today with SP-2 (using custom option, not
automatic) does not result in me being offered what MS created during
those 4 years.

But it's not like MS totally turned it's back on SP-2 because it *IS*
offering me something (the 3 items I mentioned previously).

So when exactly did MS yank it's inventory of SP-2 updates from the WU
servers? (there really was no technical reason they had to do so).

 

[Bruce Hagen]

But that isn't what it was designed to do. It was designed to do both
manually and/or automatically. Where I come from, this is known as a bug
introduced by SP3. I don't know why people are so willing to install bugs
on their machines for? Are they bored or something and need more
excitement in their lives or something?

I am not sticking up for Microsoft. However, all development for OE ended in
June, 2006. SP3 went RTM on April 8, 2008, so there was no one from the OE
team left to fix it.

It never bothered me because I compacted manually once a week "on my terms".
I never wanted to see the compact prompt.

I guess you could call Vista's Windows Mail a bug too. Development for that
email client ended the same day as OE did and Vista was still in beta.

 

[BillW50]

If Macro$haft was still creating patches and updates for SP-2 during the
years 2006 through 2010, then I presume they simply didn't yank those
updates from the WU server in August 2010.

But hitting the WU server today with SP-2 (using custom option, not
automatic) does not result in me being offered what MS created during
those 4 years.

But it's not like MS totally turned it's back on SP-2 because it *IS*
offering me something (the 3 items I mentioned previously).

So when exactly did MS yank it's inventory of SP-2 updates from the WU
servers? (there really was no technical reason they had to do so).

I checked the first one of Belarc Advisor list that was the updates I
never installed and Microsoft still has that one and it was from 2004.
Funny it wasn't already in SP2. Anyway I have seen this in the past with
MS Office 2000, Windows 2000, 98, etc. And Microsoft will drop them from
their updates, but you can still get them manually, if you know what you
are looking for. How long that will continue for, I do not know? As some
seems to disappear now and then.

 

[Mayayana]

| If Macro$haft was still creating patches and updates for SP-2 during the
| years 2006 through 2010, then I presume they simply didn't yank those
| updates from the WU server in August 2010.
|

Why not? As far as they're concerned, SP3 suprercedes SP2.
SP3 presumably contains all of those patches. MS defines SPs
as versions. It's common to see software requirements that say
things like "requires XP SP3, Vista, Windows 7". Software
developers know what to expect with a SP. As someone who
apparently wants specific patches without getting others, you're
in a tiny minority of tweakers.

| But it's not like MS totally turned it's back on SP-2 because it *IS*
| offering me something (the 3 items I mentioned previously).
|

Those aren't exactly patches. One is spyware. One is anti-malware.
The 3rd is SP3. You're arguing your own logic out of frustration. That
won't change anything. If you *really* want to get only specific
patches and not others than you'll just have to roll up your
sleeves, so to speak, and figure out the details.

 

[BillW50]

I am not sticking up for Microsoft. However, all development for OE
ended in June, 2006. SP3 went RTM on April 8, 2008, so there was no one
from the OE team left to fix it.

This is called abandonware. It doesn't mean the software is no longer
useful or anything. It just means the manufacture just could careless
about it. I use quite a few abandonware software and they still work
fine today.

It never bothered me because I compacted manually once a week "on my
terms". I never wanted to see the compact prompt.

I don't find the need to ever compact. I am not sure why my machines
runs fine without, but they do. I just want it to work in case I ever
find the need too.

I guess you could call Vista's Windows Mail a bug too. Development for
that email client ended the same day as OE did and Vista was still in beta.

There is only one version of Windows Mail and that is it? No updates or
anything? If so, very interesting. Windows Mail is already on my list to
checkout since I heard it is more like OE than Windows Live Mail is. If
true, I might actually like it. ;-)

 

[Bruce Hagen]

This is called abandonware. It doesn't mean the software is no longer
useful or anything. It just means the manufacture just could careless
about it. I use quite a few abandonware software and they still work fine
today.


I don't find the need to ever compact. I am not sure why my machines runs
fine without, but they do. I just want it to work in case I ever find the
need too.


There is only one version of Windows Mail and that is it? No updates or
anything? If so, very interesting. Windows Mail is already on my list to
checkout since I heard it is more like OE than Windows Live Mail is. If
true, I might actually like it. ;-)

Yes, just one version. I'm using it for news on Win7 and TB for mail. Since
you're running Win7 Pro, you could us OE in an XP virtual environment if you
wanted to.