There are several situations where an ISO image with all Windows XP updates might come in handy. It is for instance possible to install Windows XP updates to a computer system prior to going online with the system. Another reason is easier distribution. Think of multiple computers in a computer network. Instead of downloading and installing the Windows XP updates multiple times (once for every computer system) they could be downloaded once in form of the PatchMate XP iso and applied to all computer systems.

The download and installation is also faster. Users who downloaded and installed updates from Windows Update in the past have most likely noticed how slow the downloads and updates would be commenced even on modern computer systems with broadband connections.

Patchmate XP (via Technix Update) can be downloaded as an ISO image from the developer’s website. It can then be burned to CD or DVD to be executed right from within the Windows XP operating system. The user interaction has been reduced to a minimum.

Patchmate XP will detect the Windows XP Service Pack and install the Windows XP updates based on the detection. Only post service Pack 3 updates would for example be installed on a computer system running Windows XP Service Pack 3.

The patches will be installed even if they are already present on the computer system. A restart is required at the end of the update.

An option to exclude updates from being applied would be helpful to cope with scenarios where updates cause problems on a computer system. Another useful feature would be the creation of a system restore point prior to installing the Windows XP updates.

Windows XP Updates can also be applied by programs like Offline Update, Autopatcher or Windows Updates Downloader.

Autopatcher has been closed down by Microsoft. There is an alternative, a great one that can be used instead. It is called c’t Offline Updater. It supports Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, windows Server 2003, 64-bit editions of XP and Server 2003 as well as Windows Vista. Besides the operating systems it also supports Office 2000, Office XP, Office 2003 and Office 2007. As you can see from the screenshot below lots of different languages are supported as well.

The user has the option to exclude service packs and to create iso images, either one CD iso for every operating system or Office edition or one DVD iso that contains all the patches. A click on start begins the download process which can take some time. When the download finishes you find the created iso(s) in the /iso subdirectory.

You can then burn the iso and start it directly in Windows. Several options are presented when you execute UpdateInstaller.exe. The script asks if you want to create backups, install Internet Explorer 7, automatically reboot and recall or show the log file.

A click on start begins the update process. The Offline Update is an excellent way to download all patches for your operating system in one go.