Ok, so finally the REAL service-pack 3 for WinXP (32-bit) shows signs of appearing, and its been only 3 years since SP2, wow!
Its not a hoax, is about ~300+ MB, and reports say that it is pretty stable.
Over 900 fixes, WMP is still v9, and IE6sp3 is included.

It could be called a pre-beta, and is at build 3180 at the moment.
And no, providing links would mean warez, but this news was posted here for the sake of those who want to know.

~332 megs is what i see for the size.

http://bink.nu/photos/news_article_images/...8/original.aspx

They better sure as hell make sure it's surely slipstreamable!

does this mean RyanVM wont need to worry that much over the update pack anymore?
Since this package bridges the gap between SP2 & now, and SP3 should be out in a few more months with (most probably) leaks of new builds all along the way.... With an official pack available, keeping up with making the unofficial one would mean quite some redundant effort, which might be used elsewhere?


Oh, and slip-streamable it surely is. That primarily is one reason I like service packs, for the clean integration.
Same old switches too - extract using /x or winrar, then run "update /integrate:<path>"
Preferably slipstream onto an RTM disc instead of a disc that already has SP2.

I just used nLite and it worked.

Does anyone know what patches and hotfixes are included in this pre-beta? Is there anywhere we can go to find out? I'd like to know if KB921883 is included, and what the latest security updates for IE6 and OE6 are included. I already know that SP3 (at least at this stage) does not include IE7 in the package. Thanks

I hope I will be happy with my XP for years to come!

The best you could do at the moment though, is to visit this page - http://www.ryanvm.net/msfn/updatepack.html
At the minimum, atleast those hotfixes are surely in sp3.

weirdly, its looking like .NET framework is also integrated in a limited way?

What about SATA drivers ? Are them integrated to SP3, or will we still have to deploy the drivers by ourselves ?

--ThundernetBR

As it stands it really just looks like a collection of hotfixes.

Freshly installed XP, installed SP2 as I had problems reading my SD card without it (where I stored SP3), then installed SP3 on top. Went to Windows update and collectively had 3 optional updates to do after installation. .NET 1.1, .NET 1.1 SP1 and .NET 2.0.

Nothing majorly new - but big disappointment not to see WMP11 or IE7. Maybe in the final we will?

thats right, only hotfixes. No new drivers until beta2 atleast is my guess.
(SP2 was 260 MB or so, this is 332 MB & all of the difference in size is purely because of updates...?)

has MSFT ever distro'd new drivers in a service pack??

Yes. A good example of that is SP1 vs SP2 in regards to USB 2.0 support and HDAA (High Definition Audio Architecture) support.

This time the XP service pack is on the hands of the former Windows Server 2003 SP2 Beta Team, that happened to do a pretty good job both in the last year and now, with this SP3 v.3180.

I've been notified yesterday to download my copy and AFAIK this is a compilation of all hotfixes and patches to XP up-to-date. (as in ~900 problems with XP SP2). You can see in the screenshots from Part 5 of my guide that there aren't any visible changes since SP2.

changes

Main impact at this point is for Windows XP Starter Edition, if you have SP2 I'd recommend you slipstream this SP3 now. There are also some minor improvements in Bluetooth and USB support.
There are some new drivers for WDM in ATI and NVIDIA, and AMD K8. Mostly driver improvements that were made available earlier for Server 2003 SP2.

product keys

MSDN and Technet subscribers' keys are available. A lot of retail keys have been blacklisted.


From the looks of PID, I'd say Microsoft is aiming for allowing the installation of XP SP3 without a product key, using a default staged one, that you can change later.

nLite support

As nLite already supports all the hotfixes integrated by Microsoft in this v.3180, I bet compatibility is close to 100% for removal. I tried 3 combinations today and all work.
The only possible bug is that slipstreaming SP3 into SP2 Media Center 3.0 results in SP3 Media Center 2.8. I think they might be rolling back some code for a new Media Center 2008, but it's too early to tell.

priorities

As for the priority of the SP3 Beta, it's quite obviously the last. The delay is perfectly justified because both Server 2003 SP2 and Vista RTM were, are and will be more important than XP.
Microsoft never handled more than 2 concurrent OS beta programs and we've just had:

1) 2003 SP2 Beta -> RC / Vista Beta 2 -> RC
2) 2003 SP2 RC -> RTM / Vista RC -> Vista RTM

Vista RTM codebase becomes Server 2008 Beta 3
2003 RTM codebase becomes 2003 Home Server Beta

3) Server 2008 Beta 2 -> Beta 3 / 2003 Home Server Beta -> RC

and now, we have:

4) Server 2008 Beta 3 -> RC / XP SP2 -> SP3 Beta , with the server taking priority.

I'd say this list pretty much explains the delay If you've tested Server 2008 Beta 3 after testing Beta 2, you already got the general feeling of "codebase sharing"

Enjoy!

nm

If you remember, until SP2 you could actually open unattend.txt & use the key listed there (valid to install as an xp-pro with PID of 012, with the caveat that it wouldn't get activated by the MS clearinghouse). You must change the key after installation to a proper licensed one!
Now it looks like you can get a working key from i386\PID.inf too, using generic keys such as the one listed for [Media02].

Which directx version is contained in sp3?

DirectX 9.0c will be the only DirectX for XP until it goes defunct. XP is not bringing profit to Microsoft so that's why they'd rather terminate support than port new features onto it.
Server 2003 brings profit but there would be no reason to port the WDDM driver schema on it to support DirectX 10.

On the other hand, we will see a new WGA/OGA more unified system to handle all versions of Windows.
Now seriously, think a bit, if somebody were to make DirectX 10 run on NT 5.x that would mean those 10 million gamers that bought a Vista license would have never paid.

My suggestion: if you want a gaming kiosk wait for Server 2008 to RTM (as it will have DirectX 10.1), get a 180-day evaluation version and vLite it. I am very happy with it.

question for those who've slip-streamed into XP gold disc:
Do you notice that the OOBE at first boot seems to have disappeared?
This happens on xp-home & xp-pro (all oem/vlk/retail types).
OOBE was appearing fine with SP2 on the same discs, and I dont think MS intended to get rid of it.
Either something has changed with SP3 or something wrong with the disc?

According to the new Systems Management Server OOBE policy, the OOBE at first boot is optional, not mandatory, depending on the product key you've used. Microsoft merged Retail and Corporate in the same codebase, like on Vista. So, depending on the key, you've got Retail, VLK, OEM, or whatever.

So yes, Microsoft did intend to get rid of it. In a few months the beta program will be available for all MS Connect users to join and they'll publish there the specs.

And as for the keys, is it more of a white-listed set of PIDs than black-listed? Seems that way...

I thought it was nLite bypassing this Nice find

Like I said, we TAP members are supposed to test it before it gets to Connect

Last minute edit: There will be a release of SP2c , a subset of this SP3 v.3180 just for Professional Edition, to be released to manufacturing. It seems Microsoft believes the beta for SP3 will be long and painful, I haven't seen such a measure since NT 4.0 SP6a. Thus, XP SP2c Pro goes RTM in September 2007; the others don't.



I think you all know how it goes with Vista installed without entering a key. This is exactely the same.

i cant wait for SP3

Hmm, that looks interesting. But in my tests, setup doesnt go ahead without a key (clean installs booted from CD). I can imagine this behaviour changing over time, but as of now its nothing except hassles for the layman (as its probably meant to be, so thats probably not an issue)!

As for SP2c, I dont see it solving any customer issues, since it has no new hotfixes. Its likely meant to tighten control over keys & activation procedures.
About SP3, its probably not so much about long & painful, as it is about 100% thorough testing for the last ServicePack of the largest selling OS..... And MS isn't likely to include ie7 or wmp11, or indeed any other new features, simply because a large proportion of users currently on XP dont want those updates (plus, offering those separately as feature-packs helps to motivate a few more people to go genuine). Also, since win2k, MS has pledged to keep ServicePacks plain & simple, with only patches, and any extra features would have to be obtained separately - and this has almost never been violated - some servicepacks since then do seem chock-full with new stuff but that is only a relative measure.

Either way I'm not very optimistic about the future of XP. Clean and simple are two very relative notions, for example to nLite users that means one thing and for Microsoft a totally different thing. Keeping the project line of XP Fundamentals for Legacy PCs just for OEMs is the proof.

I still remember the evolution of the NT 4.0 SP line, as I never used Win 95/98 on my computers. And I believe I am seeing the public impact of discontent caused by the aging product when it reached the milestone XP is now aiming towards. Sure, my customers need XP, but I wouldn't use it for myself. I did not use it when it was Gold back in 2001, and I wouldn't use it now. I've been using server products for 7 years now, and I am very happy with them. Even more now, as Server 2008 got Aero...

So, good luck for the poor guys at Microsoft trying to rollup a 5-year old codebase to today's requirements. They sure need it.

What do you think was done with Vista and Server 2008? Both of those are essentially rollups of a previous code base.

obviously.

Hi ive just slipstreamed pre sp3 to xp all worked untill installing the P-Key has been changed and not accepting my cor key.

i had to use the default key on disc but as you would probly know its an 30 day activation job.

i was reading a post from "ricktendo64" stating that he had to mod some files to accept the cor key.

can anyone give me an idea as to how this can be done?

matt121@optusnet.com.au

thanks.

its possible but not sure July Updated Direct X 9.0c

Nope, there are no directX updates, its the same old dX9c from early 2004.

matt121, no this is not supposed to be done, and any posts related to this can be considered warez.

I got some questions regarding this SP3 beta and the final SP3 (whenever that'll be...)
Once this "beta" or "final" version becomes "available" for the "public". Will it, or should I say... It seems that this beta release is already supported with the current Nlite release(s).
So what I'm wondering is... Would if be safe to slipstream SP3/SP3beta untop a SP2 slipstreamed Gold CD? Or..
Should I use my Gold CD to slipstream this beta or final version, and forget about SP2? Or should I just slipstream SP2 and then SP3?

I've read about that SP3 holds the current hotfixes dated back to SP2, so should it be safe to use RyanVM's Post-SP2 Update Pack (which will probably be renamed to SP3...) untop this SP3 beta or final release? I mean.. wont it interfere with the SP3 hotfixes that are already intergrated when slipstreamed?
This is of course common sense that it would, but since im not sure whatever Ryan's Post-SP2 Update Pack holds all hotfixes dated back prior (I assume it does) to SP2?

I'm also wondering if anyone knows if this goddamned SP3 will contain .NET Framework 2/3?

Edit: I assume that this will be the same case as it was with SP1 > SP2.

Firstly, SP3 is unlikely to contain any version of dotnet framework or IE7 or WMP11, or any other *NEW* features. It is all going to be security & stability patches, that is all.

As for the slip-streaming, you should preferably do that on top of your Gold CD.
Why is that? because SP3 contains all updates released previously (including SP1, SP2, and everything from the post-SP2 updt pack). So using a non-Gold-CD as a starting-point, will result in a mess (a mess consisting of XP+SP2+SP3+useless CAB files + orphan leftover junk....)







In short, yes you can forget about SP2. But this beta may not be fully ready for the general public yet, what with its CD-key problems and all....

Hi could someone pls advise me where i can download win xp sp3 every link i have tried seem to be disbled

cheers

mcmuzzy

The beta for XP SP3 is still private, so legally you would have to be part of the private beta (usually being a beta Microsoft customer) or a Technet or MSDN customer, and you would then download it directly from MS. Please don't ask for links to download this, thank you.

YAY MSDN!!!

Yup, MSDN/Technet this month.

So when is the final build going to be released, any news on this?

Seriously, Microsoft should have released this a while ago. Too busy on Vista I guess.

Probably when it's done, I'd guess. Seriously, though, a service pack just can't screw things up (like, say SP4 for NT4), so this has to bake as long as it takes (as with any release from Microsoft now) until it "just works". Even then it is sometimes not enough, but you can only be so careful I guess with projects this big. As to releasing it earlier, there are some reasons for this (and yes, Vista is one).

hi, it was a long time i was written here.

now, i successfully download this pre-beta of sp3

but could not install on a german system

is there a german sp3 at msdn ??

imho, what i missing in this pre-beta of sp3 is, amdk8 processor driver.

i know that ms will only include security updates but it was nice when the processor drivers included.

here is a reply from dosnet.inf



greeeetzz

it's really a nonsense to release sp3 without IE7 and WMP11
they are the two biggest improvements since SP2

thats true but dont forget that gold cds available where sp2 included.

i also have a gold cd called "enthält (included) servicepack 2".

like this

http://oem.microsoft.com/downloads/product...m/WinXPHome.htm


i wish ms brings a gold cd with sp3

or i hope i can borrow a non sp included xp version



greeetz

Ermm... In the sub-culture of the crowd that would be interested in these kind of things, a "GOLD" release usually refers to a non-beta, RTM, Gold disc delivered to manufacturers for replication. In other words, gold = SP0 (service pack zero, that is the initial release)

"Gold" also refers to "RTM", or release-to-manufacturing, as this is the name of the actual build tree these binaries come from (you can see it on the advanced file properties of system files in the file version string, it is usually in a format something like "<some.file.version.number>_RTM_<some.date.here>".

ive used this pre sp3 on my current XP install off an original XP pro cd i believe. everyting appears to be fine.

would this work ok if i used it on a sp2 cd? would it figureout what i needed and only install those files or would it mess things up?

Indeed, as mentioned above by cluberti as well. So an XP+SP3 disc released by MS wont be called "GOLD" as such.

@nycste
Yes you can slip-stream on top of an SP2 disc, but then you'll be left with orphan files from SP2 on your resulting CD. Prefer the gold disc any day. Also, considering that the SP3 builds currently are just a very little slower in performance (debug turned on?), you might want to wait it out for just a few weeks, the betas will arrive soon enough...

More than likely, yes, they're "checked" and are going through all kinds of assert routines that the RCs and release will not.

i know what you wanted to say but for me was GOLD-CD not a RTM.

its clear now.

i suggest also integrate sp3 from rtm.

therefore that was why i wanted to say that ms released a new xp version which sp3 included or

i can borrow a rtm cd from my friends (hope)

edit: and that was why i bought a new xp cd with sp2

greetz from austria