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Block installation of Windows XP SP3 and Vista SP1

Martin Brinkmann — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:45:19 +0000

Several users encounter problems and difficulties during and after installation of the two new Windows service packs that Microsoft released earlier this year. Both service packs will be automatically downloaded later this year to computers that have automatic updates enabled which could prove disastrous for companies who cannot afford that they computers stop working after the update.

A solution would obviously be to disable automatic updates but that’s probably not a preferred solution by many as well. The easiest way to block the automatic download and installation of both Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is a Registry key that has to be added to the Registry that prevents the installation for twelve months.

The update problems should be sorted out by that time and if they have not been it is still possible to disable automatic updates. To add the entry to the Registry do the following. Press Windows R, type regedit, hit enter.

The Registry opens and we need to navigate to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate and create a new DWORD named DoNotAllowSP there. The value of the DWORD has to be set to 1.

An alternative would be to create a new text document, paste the following three lines into it and rename the document to block.reg afterwards.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate] "DoNotAllowSP"=dword:00000001

A double-click creates the new Registry key automatically. The block can be removed by either deleting the Registry key again or by setting the dword value to 0 instead.

Standalone Windows XP SP3 Download List

Martin Brinkmann — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:58:29 +0000

The Service Pack 3 for Windows XP has finally be added again to Windows Update and the Microsoft website and every user has the opportunity to download and install it. I never liked Windows Update and prefer to download the patches, which includes the Service Pack 3, as a direct download so that I can burn it once on a CD or DVD and distribute it to every computer that needs the update.

To make it easier for you I have collected the download links for the most important language versions of Windows XP Service Pack 3. A complete list can be found at Tip and Trick.

The ISO is provided for system administrators who have to distribute the Service Pack to several computers. There should not be a problem however to distribute the executable version of the service pack to multiple computers as well as long as they are all using the same language version.

Windows XP SP3 English EXE
Windows XP SP3 English ISO

Windows XP SP3 Chinese Simplified EXE
Windows XP SP3 Chinese Simplified ISO

Windows XP SP3 German Simplified EXE
Windows XP SP3 German Simplified ISO

Windows XP SP3 Russian Simplified EXE
Windows XP SP3 Russian Simplified ISO

Windows XP SP3 Spanish Simplified EXE
Windows XP SP3 Spanish Simplified ISO

Windows XP SP3 French Simplified EXE
Windows XP SP3 French Simplified ISO

Windows XP SP3 Dutch Simplified EXE
Windows XP SP3 Dutch Simplified ISO

Windows XP SP3 Swedish Simplified EXE
Windows XP SP3 Swedish Simplified ISO

XP SP3 and Vista SP 1 available through Windows Update

Daniel Pataki — Wed, 07 May 2008 05:24:11 +0000

I awoke to find that the new service packs for Windows XP and Vista are available through Windows Update Center. This will make installation much easier, although for XP users there’s less in it than there is for Vista people who could experience a significant speed boost.

The XP SP3 brings a lot to the table that has already been released as fixes or other Windows updates. Some features that are totally new are that activation is not required, Network Access Protection, Black hole router detection and a few more. Most of these are backports of Vista, but if you do have XP, why not download it?

Vista SP1 contains all kinds of updates, with solutions to many problems, additions and other fixes. For a full, detailed list read the Microsoft white paper on Vista SP1 and get downloading!

Official Windows XP Service Pack 3 Download Links

Martin Brinkmann — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:31:44 +0000

The Windows XP Service Pack 3 will be released to the public tomorrow. A lot of users have already downloaded the service pack from various unofficial locations like download portals and the Bittorrent P2P network. Many users however were very cautious and decided to wait until the service pack would be available through official Microsoft channels. Tomorrow users can download the service pack by using Windows Update.

Downloads will surely be rather slow after the release and it does make sense to download the service pack 3 for Windows XP early. Cautious users will be delighted to know that the official download links of service pack 3 have been revealed and that it is as of now possible to download the Service Pack 3 directly from Microsoft servers. (Thanks to Tip and Trick)

Available are service pack releases for various languages. All for 32-bit systems only though. The languages that are available are English, German, Russian, French, Japanese and Simplified Chinese. All downloads are directly from Windows Updates. If you have been wary before downloading the service pack there is nothing more to fear by using this official download.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 English
Windows XP Service Pack 3 Simplified Chinese
Windows XP Service Pack 3 German
Windows XP SP3 French
Windows XP SP3 Russian
Windows XP SP3 Japanese

Download speed is fine. I’m getting about 330 Kilobyte per second currently.

Ask the Readers: Windows XP Service Pack 3 Experience so far ?

Martin Brinkmann — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 16:09:48 +0000

Delayed by more than a year the final service pack for Windows XP is already spreading like fire on the Internet although it won’t be available through official Microsoft channels before April 29th. Several major software portals like Softpedia and Major Geeks are already hosting the service pack along with your friendly pirates from The Pirate Bay and other Bittorrent sites. Supply is there and I’m pretty sure that some of you have already installed the new service pack for Windows XP.

I would like to know about your experience with it. Did the service pack install fine, did it throw up errors, did you encounter errors after restarting the system ? What is your experience working with the service pack. Did you notice any changes, additions, odd behavior afterwards ?

I had some troubles downloading it from various websites. I’m not giving up though but two downloads so far did not complete successfully. Now it’s your turn to let me know what you think of Windows XP Service Pack 3. Was it worth the wait or a complete waste of time ?

Windows XP Service Pack 3 leaked

Martin Brinkmann — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:57:17 +0000

Some decisions that Microsoft makes are hard to understand, at least for me. Take the monthly patch days that provide security updates to various Microsoft operating systems and applications. Sometimes those patches are known weeks before they are released and that makes me wonder why it takes so long to release them. If Microsoft knows about security vulnerabilities the chance that criminals know them is at least feasible.

The same can be said for Windows XP Service Pack 3. Instead of distributing it to everyone at once Microsoft decided to supply it to users and manufacturers over the course of weeks. Is there any reason why this is done that way ? Interestingly though “pirates” get those releases more often than not earlier than other users. Why do pirates come first most of the times ?

Windows XP Service Pack 3 has been leaked and is now available on various Bittorrent websites and surely on ftps and other P2P networks as well. Why is it that honest users always seem to be at the end of the chain ? One could argue that companies can distribute their products any way they want and while this is surely right it will disappoint at least some of their customers.

Microsoft is releasing Service Pack 3 for Windows XP on April 29th to all customers.

Windows XP SP3 Release Date announced

Martin Brinkmann — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 07:07:56 +0000

Who would have thought that Microsoft would be able to finally release the third service pack for Windows XP. This service pack, long awaited by many, was delayed so many times that it seemed it would be never released. Many users suspected that the delay was directly related to the release of the first service pack for Windows Vista, a clever marketing move so to speak to make Windows Vista more appealing to the users who were still using Windows XP.

Windows Vista does need all the help it can gets in my opinion with many users sticking to Windows XP, switching to Linux or waiting for the new incarnation of the Microsoft operating system codenamed Windows 7.

~~Microsoft was finally able to publish~~ The release dates of Windows XP Service Pack 3 leaked to Neowin who published them on their website. Still no official word from Microsoft about them which further proves the point in my opinion. End users will have to wait another 13 days before they are able to download Windows XP Service Pack 3 from Windows Update or the Microsoft website.