[prathapml]

Now, i know many people are sighing relief over this -
somewhere there was info that SP2 beta1 integrates WMP9 and so on.

I don't know what else is updated, so could you people fill it in please ?
does it have dX9b, movie maker 2 and such ?

MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION FOR ME:
does it contain the MS JVM. If so which, ver.3810 ?

Cheers !!!

[prathapml]

come on everybody, you can't let a thread go completely empty for such a long time. enough people would want to know about this topic quite soon.

[RyanVM]

DX9b - yes
WMP9 - yes
MM2 - dunno

[Shark007]

DirectX 9.0b and Windows MediaPlayer 9 are included.

Windows Movie Maker 2 is included.

A popup killer is integrated into Internet Explorer.

The builtin firewall has been improved.

IE has been 'hardenned' somewhat. You may need to lower the security settings to browse active x enabled pages.

I suggest using Sun Java. If you use Microsoft VM you'll have alot of difficulties loading Java enabled web pages.

Thats about all i can add here.

By the way, i am currently running SP2 b2055 clean installed from an intigrated update to my WinXP Pro CD.

All works fine for me. I'll be leaving this service pack installed.

Shark007

[prathapml]

wonderful, shark.
that was exactly the kind of info I wanted.
And there weren't too many people using winXP slipstreamed with SP2 who report back.


I can't afford to have my main machine down, so my friends are testing SP2 build 2055 for me. And generally they say they don't see any difference to what they had (they don't have access to the Internet on their home computers). Is that the opinion of most people here ?

I mean, there might be a few UI and Internet Explorer induced errors, but nobody has (as yet) reported crippling errors/bugs (like, maybe it is unable to read your second Serial ATA HD's partition table, and therefore re-initializes it automatically causing you to lose data).

Hmmmmm......
So what do you people say?
Any serious problems somebody has encountered on this beta ?

Is it worth using as my primary OS?
Can I slipstream it into my unattended CD?
(maybe the space-saving on the updates itself will drive me to do it).

The verdict is ?


Thanx for your views in advance

[Shark007]

After slipstreaming SP2 b2055 into your WinXP CD, replace the UXTHEME.DL_ in the \i386 dir with this one

Shark007

patched file originated from vorte[x]
cab'd and modded by me to replace the installation dl_

[likuidkewl]

See this tread for bugs:
http://www.MSFN.org/...showtopic=12546

[prathapml]

thanks, testing the patched uxtheme now.

[baliktad]

Below are my experiences with Beta 1 of Service Pack 2 for Windows XP. I have slipstreamed a gold Windows XP Professional source with the SP2 files.

Movie Maker 2 is not included. Please reference the image below as there have been statements to the contrary.

Edit: image link removed to spare my bandwidth

The Microsoft Java Virtual Machine is not included. You can make yourself a one-step installer (install build 3810) as detailed in this thread. Details still being worked out for a completely unattended/silent install due to new security restrictions.

Dxdiag reports DirectX version 9.0b as others have stated.

Windows Media Player reports version 9.00.00.3086, and it's still a hassle to run the first time. Privacy options, file types, more options before you can start and it still opens in Media Guide instead of Now Playing.

mplayer2.exe is still included - version 6.4.09.1128.

[Alanoll]

mplayer2.exe is included as the "Entertainment" options in Windows XP. Its not really a part of WMP.
You can find it without WMP installed by going to Start Menu>>Program Files>>Accessories>>Entertainment.

i say its not part of WMP because i don't have WMP install with my windows, and yet mplayer2 is still here

[baliktad]

I mentioned mplayer2 not as part of WMP9 but because I know some people dislike the bloat that the later "skinnable" (7.0+) players carry. It's nice to know XP still ships with the older player which has most of the functional capabilities of its older sibling.

On a side note, I prefer the latest version of Media Player Classic for all my media playing. Add the codecs to your system you need (DivX, XviD, QTAlternative for QuickTime, RealAlternative for Real, MPEG2 for DVD's, etc.) and you'll never use anything else. No annoying license agreements, no DRM hassles, it doesn't try to take over your system or file types, no memory-resident loader, doesn't auto-update, no ads, doesn't need to be installed, it's only a single (small!) .exe, and best of all it's free! (Did I mention I'm a huge fan?)

[prathapml]

wow,
you people are taking this thread through exactly the route i wanted.

let's leave the multi-processor and COM+ issues to other threads.
here, we want to know the UI and version issues/changes (because these are what most people come into contact in day-to-day normal usage).


Cheers !!!

[Weed]

umm i have integrated wmp9 and dx9 to my winxp sp1 cd
i think alot of pplz have integrate some things to winxp cd
will be then there a problem when we just slipstream sp2?
cuz the txtsetup.sif file and maybe other files?! when slipstream SP2 does it overwrite the txtsetup.sif file?

[X-Ecutioner]

In my opinion its best to keep your original version of xp as a backup. That way when sp2 comes out, you can slipstream sp2 cleanly and not worry about all the changes you have to go back on like dosnet and svcpack. Thats what I do.

[Alanoll]

it would probally be wise to use an unaltered WinXP disk.
you can slipstream over SP1, but don't sliotream if you've also slipstreams hotfixes after wards. who knows what might happen.


as for Media PLayer Classic. Oh yes. All the way. I made a custom installer for it, so it also sets associations like i like em.

[Weed]

hmm then i must remove all my drivers again
and integrate my SATA controller again,...
that sucks but ok
thanks

[baliktad]

It looks like the BITS components have been upgraded as well to something post-1.5. Windows XP Gold included BITS 1.0, SP1 upgraded to 1.2. Version 1.5 was included in Windows Server 2003 and is also available as a redistributable download. The MSDN Library has the full version history and comments.

If we follow the version schema Microsoft is using, then BITS_VERSION = FILE_VERSION - 5.0. For example, XP SP1 boxes should have qmgr.dll version 6.2, or 6.5 if the 1.5 redistributable has been installed. Below is the version information for qmgr.dll included in SP2 beta 1, which we could probably say represents BITS version 1.6.

--a-- W32i   DLL ENU   6.6.2600.2055 shp    350,720 12-16-2003 qmgr.dll
        Language        0x0409 (English (United States))
        CharSet         0x04b0 Unicode
        OleSelfRegister Disabled
        CompanyName     Microsoft Corporation
        FileDescription Background Intelligent Transfer Service
        InternalName    qmgr.dll
        OriginalFilenam qmgr.dll
        ProductName     Microsoft« Windows« Operating System
        ProductVersion  6.6.2600.2055
        FileVersion     6.6.2600.2055 (xpsp_sp2_beta1.031215-1745)
        LegalCopyright  ⌐ Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

        VS_FIXEDFILEINFO:
        Signature:      feef04bd
        Struc Ver:      00010000
        FileVer:        00060006:0a280807 (6.6:2600.2055)
        ProdVer:        00060006:0a280807 (6.6:2600.2055)
        FlagMask:       0000003f
        Flags:          00000000
        OS:             00040004 NT Win32
        FileType:       00000002 Dll
        SubType:        00000000
        FileDate:       00000000:00000000

bitsadmin.exe included in the XP/2003 support tools can still be used to manage your BITS jobs in XP SP2.

[baliktad]

Update for SP2 build 2082:

IE: 6.0.2900.2082
MSJVM: not included
DirectX: 9.0b (4.09.0000.0903)
WMP: 9.0.0.3124 (still painful to start)
Movie Maker: 2.1.4010.0 (now uses the standard Windows component about box a la notepad, calculator, et al.)
.NET Framework: not installed by default. See note below on the cmpnents directory.
Windows Update components: Windows now ships with several WU components installed locally as .exe and .dll files in %systemroot%\system32 (no more "do you want to install and run... boxes!). All appear to be version 5.4.3790.2082. This is in stark contrast to most other Windows components that are in the 5.1.2600.xxxx line. Since version numbers indicate code lineage more than anything, we can infer that these components come from the Windows 2003/Longhorn codebase and have been moved up to the XP SP2 branch. Interestingly, if you have AutoUpdate=Off in your unattend.txt/winnt.sif, these WU components are not installed and you will be directed to the WU v4 site. If you do later install the AutoUpdate component, WU will take you to the v5 test site where you can download all the beta patches.
Remote Desktop Connection: 5.1.2600.2082 (the standalone installer in \SUPPORT\TOOLS\MSRDPCLI.EXE is untouched by the service pack and remains at 5.1.2600.0.)
BITS: 6.6.2600.2082 (BITS version 1.6)
XML Parser: 8.50.2132.0 (msxml3.dll - by following the pattern described in KB269238, we can surmise that this represents MSXML 3.0 SP5.)
MDAC: 2.81.1112.0. Most MDAC components have this version, and this is what is reported in the registry.
Windows Messenger: 4.7.3000
MSN: The MSN 9 stub installer is included and will download the latest MSN 9 components from the web (including MSN Messenger 6.1.0207). MSN 7 is completely gone.
Windows Installer: 3.00.3790.2082. This is the Windows Installer 3 currently in beta testing for the 2000/XP/2003 codebase.

Anything I missed?

It's been reported that this service pack weighs in approximately 100 MB bigger than the last build (2055). This is largely due to the addition of the Media Center PC components. The root of a slipstreamed XP CD now contains the \cmpnents directory. Included herein are the mediactr\i386 (77 compressed files, 92.7 MB), netfx\i386 (netfx.cab, 12.1 MB, probably .NET Framework 1.1 or later), and \tabletpc\i386 (87 compressed files, 13.0 MB) directories. No word yet on whether these are just for testing purposes, but my guess is they'll be included in the final release of the service pack.

Edit: Added information on Windows Installer.

[GreenMachine]

If Baliktad keeps that up, I'm going to have to retire my own pen in shame!

Thanks once again for the update, and clear, precise reporting. Any success on the silent MSJVM integration?

[prathapml]

Lots of thanks to baliktad.

@GreenMachine -
Hasn't MS effectively declared their MS-JVM dead?
I have the SP2 build 2055, and the Sun JVM works perfectly (and integration into silent install is easy too).