[thundernetbr]

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

--ThundernetBR

[Biohead]

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?

This post has been edited by Biohead: 09 August 2007 - 09:16 AM

[prathapml]

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...?)

[newsposter]

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

[jcarle]

newsposter, on Aug 9 2007, 02:40 PM, said:

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.

[dexter.inside]

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.

 productkey.jpg (111.84K)
Number of downloads: 266

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!

This post has been edited by dexter.inside: 09 August 2007 - 01:33 PM

[ricktendo64]

nm

This post has been edited by ricktendo64: 19 August 2007 - 11:02 AM

[prathapml]

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].

This post has been edited by prathapml: 10 August 2007 - 05:02 AM

[clavicle]

Which directx version is contained in sp3?

[dexter.inside]

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.

[prathapml]

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?

[dexter.inside]

prathapml, on Aug 10 2007, 02:56 PM, said:

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.

[prathapml]

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

This post has been edited by prathapml: 11 August 2007 - 06:35 AM

[ricktendo64]

prathapml, on Aug 10 2007, 07:56 AM, said:

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?

I thought it was nLite bypassing this Nice find

[dexter.inside]

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.

prathapml, on Aug 11 2007, 03:34 PM, said:

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

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

This post has been edited by dexter.inside: 11 August 2007 - 09:08 AM

[Legolash2o]

i cant wait for SP3

[prathapml]

dexter.inside, on Aug 11 2007, 08:16 PM, said:

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

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.

[dexter.inside]

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.

[MrCobra]

dexter.inside, on Aug 11 2007, 11:47 PM, said:

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.

[dexter.inside]

obviously.