XP support

[RB]

MS has announced it will end support for xp in the near future.
What exactly does this include ?
Will web updates still be available afterwards ?

 

[Percival P. Cassidy]

I am a little confused, if sp2 support ends this year but sp3 goes until
2014, I am wondering how this actually plays out on a reinstall of a
sp2 cd. In other words could I just install the cd and then set the updates
to automatic or would I have to manually download and install the sp3
first before automatic updates would work (after sp2 end date).

I don't know how M$ intends this to work, but you could create an
installation CD with SP3 (and a bunch of drivers and other updates)
"slipstreamed" into it. You can incorporate your License Key as well and
eliminate the prompts, so you can simply walk away and let the
installation do its thing. You'll still have to activate it when it's
finished. I assume (I know, I know) that you could even download all the
updates and hotfixes right up until the time that support ceases and
create an "XP Final" installation CD.

Check out the nlite program, which makes this relatively painless.

Perce

 

[Bruce Hagen]

MS has announced it will end support for xp in the near future.
What exactly does this include ?
Will web updates still be available afterwards ?

Where did you see that announcement? Got a link?

Support = updates & patches. XP with Service Pack 3 will be supported
until April, 2014. Support for XP with SP2 only ends this July, I believe.

 

[FrankV]

Microsoft Lifecycle Support is here:
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifesupsps

Frank

 

[RB]

Well I can't seem to pull up a link, but I did see somewhere that it was
supposed to end this year (seems like July of 2010) but maybe I misread
the context.

 

[RB]

I am a little confused, if sp2 support ends this year but sp3 goes until
2014, I am wondering how this actually plays out on a reinstall of a
sp2 cd. In other words could I just install the cd and then set the updates
to automatic or would I have to manually download and install the sp3
first before automatic updates would work (after sp2 end date).

 

[Bruce Hagen]

Well I can't seem to pull up a link, but I did see somewhere that it was
supposed to end this year (seems like July of 2010) but maybe I misread
the context.

That would be correct for SP2, but you have SP3 and are good until 2014.

X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.5843
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.5579

 

[Bruce Hagen]

I am a little confused, if sp2 support ends this year but sp3 goes until
2014, I am wondering how this actually plays out on a reinstall of a
sp2 cd. In other words could I just install the cd and then set the
updates
to automatic or would I have to manually download and install the sp3
first before automatic updates would work (after sp2 end date).

If you had to do a reinstall, and ended up with SP3 installed, you're good
until 2014. If your installation CD is SP1a, you don't even need to
reinstall SP2. SP3 contains SP2 in it.

If you ever have to do this, you can download SP3 here.

Download Windows XP Service Pack 3 here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...A8-5E76-401F-BE08-1E1555D4F3D4&displaylang=en

You could actually download it now and Save it. Burn a copy of this and
keep it with your other XP disks. Then you can delete this download to
save space.

 

[RB]

Well actually I have found a sp3 CD that I bought some time ago,
(this is not an XP install cd, but rather the sp3 only cd )
Could I use this one sp3 cd to update any and all of my XP
licenses, for future reinstalls ?

 

[Bruce Hagen]

I believe so. I don't know of any EULA for a service pack CD.

 

[RB]

Thanks, that solves that issue. It is a bonafide MS sp3 cd ordered directly
from MS about 6 months ago.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Well actually I have found a sp3 CD that I bought some time ago,
(this is not an XP install cd, but rather the sp3 only cd )
Could I use this one sp3 cd to update any and all of my XP
licenses, for future reinstalls ?

Yes. What you do is "slipstream" SP3 into your CDs. Read here:
http://forum.aumha.org/viewtopic.php?t=7262
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/slipstream.htm

The word "slipstreaming" was originally used to refer to the practice
of many software manufacturers of including updates to their product
on the distribution CD without any real announcement of what they were
doing or differentiation of the various kind of CDs. It was always a
disparaging term because it was poor practice. It was used as a way
for the manufacturer not to have to print a different box, manual,
etc. for the updated version, and to sell older stock that didn't
appear to be outdated, but actually was. That saved them money, but it
left the customer unable to tell whether he was buying the new version
or the old.

Somewhere along the line, people started creating their own updated
versions of some software, by merging the update files with the
original CD. Someone got the bright idea to call it by the same name
"slipstreaming," without realizing that the name was originally used
in a disparaging way.

The term stuck. I dislike the use of the word this way, but the
original meaning has been lost, so I long ago gave up trying to fight
it. Since everybody now uses it simply to mean a version with the
upgrade incorporated in it, I reluctantly go along.

So these days a slipstreamed copy of XP simply means an installation
CD that you've made yourself that incorporates an upgrade, such as
SP3.

 

[RB]

Wow, thanks for that bit of history, but from what I have read
I can not do that since I have an OEM disk for at least two of
my machines.

 

[LD55ZRA]

Oh yes you can. You can do almost anything with an OEM CD as you can with a
Retail CD.

hth

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Wow, thanks for that bit of history, but from what I have read
I can not do that since I have an OEM disk for at least two of
my machines.

If you're replying to me, you're welcome, but in the future, please
quote the message you are replying to (as I did to your message above)
so we can all see what and to whom you are replying.