As a Windows XP power user, I have been really disappointed with Vista – but that’s a story for another time (personally I view it as what XP SP3 be and not a new OS, but I digress). I had really high hopes for XP Service Pack 3 (XP SP3). I was really hoping that Microsoft included some great additions just like they did with Service Pack 2. I really wanted Windows File System (WinFS) and Unix Integration, so when I stumbled onto Hack Attack : Get Windows XP SP3 Through Windows Update, I flipped out! Image may be NSFW.
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Download XP SP3
The first step is to edit a Registry key in your system. Karthik Kastury has made it easy, he created a command file that does the work for you.
Warning: You should always be careful when downloading a command or batch file from the web. Upon clicking my link below, Firefox users will be able to see the code before downloading it. Internet Explorer users will be prompted to open or save the file. After you save it to your desktop, right-click and select “Edit” to view the contents. Never trust anyone!
- Download the XP Service Pack 3 Registry Hack.
- Save it to your desktop as a command file (.cmd extension) and double-click it to run the file.
- Run Windows Update.
What’s Going On
What you are doing is adding a Registry Key that the Windows Update site reads. This key tells Windows Update that your machine is a beta tester and allows it to download SP3 before the official release, which is slated for release sometime in 2008. The version of SP3 (as of this writing) is Release Candidate 1.
Image may be NSFW.
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Select the update and click “Install Updates”. The download should begin!
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When the download is done, the Software Update Installation Wizard should launch.
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Agree to the license agreement.
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Installation should begin!
Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.
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When installation completes, you will need to restart your machine.
Image may be NSFW.
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When the machine boots, you can check your system properties by hitting the Windows Key+Pause/Break
Image may be NSFW.
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SP3 Review
I must say that I am completely disappointed. First off, when Service Pack 2 was released there were a lot of improvements to the operating system: Wireless Zero was massively overhauled and the Windows Security Center was new and shiny – and that’s just two of them – and, in addition, it included all of the security patches. I was really hoping that Microsoft would include some new features into SP3 and I haven’t found a single new program. I’ve looked everywhere that I can think of and haven’t seen anything new. Microsoft has been very tight lipped about what will be included in SP3 and it is entirely possible (though not likely) that the there are different versions of SP3 on the Windows Update server and this is just the “security version” – hopefully there are new features on the official release….
Honestly though, I doubt it. With the poor adoption rate of Windows Vista, I really doubt that Microsoft would include any “wiz-bang” features into XP as that would just keep people from upgrade to Vista. Hopefully, Vista SP1 will as much as an improvement as XP SP2 was. Image may be NSFW.
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Bonus
You might have noticed that I have a “Black” theme. You can read about it and download the Microsoft Royale Noir Theme for yourself!