XP SP2 Finally Released

mickeyboymel

Just recieved this email from Techspot alert confirming the release of SP2

Windows XP SP2 available for download
by Julio on 08-06-2004 10:56 PM
Available soon, Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) will bring users the latest security updates and innovations from Microsoft. It will establish stronger security settings that help defend against viruses, hackers, and worms and will provide unique new security features designed to make it easier for you to protect your PC.

Microsoft has finally made available XP's Service Pack 2 this morning however the update is currently not available as a stand-alone download or through the Windows Update website, instead it's been made available through Automatic Updates and to beta testers only, we assume this has been done in order to control the popularity of the file somewhat.

I wonder though, wouldn't it be about time bittorrent (or something similar) is used even by a big corporation like Microsoft to ease patch availability? Service Pack 2 weights in at 266mb.

Here are a few useful links:
Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) Support Center (thanks Rick).
Order Windows XP Service Pack 2 on CD.

More information from Activewin:
Final testing is complete and at 10:08am this morning we signed off on build 2180 as Windows XP Service Pack 2, releasing it to manufacturing. The final build will be available to beta sites immediately at http://windowsbeta.microsoft.com/download/dl3.asp. You will find both English and German versions there, Japanese will follow early next week. Next week the service pack will be available on the Microsoft Download Center for general download. In the interim we're making the update available to you via the beta web site. If you are running RC2, or any other build released to beta sites, we invite you to turn on Automatic Updates, and starting on August 10th your system will automatically download the express version of Windows XP SP2. For typical home users this is about a 75 MB download; for those on RC2 it should be less than 30 MB.

bizmark

is this thing stable ? meh not that it matters seeming

You cannot view this page at this time.

Reason: Insufficient Credentials

Töpher

bizmark wrote:

is this thing stable ? meh not that it matters seeming

Get the same message. Ugh. I was holding back from getting this till it was ready for release incase of any stability issues, now the bloody website its from seems anything but that! Lol.

Kur4mA

Just thought a few people would be after this... waiting on new mirrors tho

http://www.neowin.net/comments.php?id=23138&category=main#comments

SirLemonhead

It's only available to beta testers at the moment.

Stephen

those neowin mirrors are getting hammered

L5

yeah they are, ill wait until its available for download next week ,i wouldnt trust to download it off a mirror i think. Its supposed to be a security service pack after all!

Moriarty

http://www.filemirrors.com/search.src?file=xpsp2_RTM_ENU.exe&size=278920704

list of mirrors ^

Kur4mA

http://www.filemirrors.com/search.src?type=begins&file=WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe&action=Find

apparently this is the correct filename^

and if you are planning on d/loading before the official release from Microsoft i would recommend using the MD5 checker posted on Neowin .

Download Windows XP SP2
Posted by Tom Warren on 08 Aug 2004 - 17:10 | 691 comments


Neowin has managed to find a few working mirrors that are simply just SP2 RTM and without any patches or dodgy torrents

We ask members not to post links to any torrent files or any files that are over the MB (266) of the final as these could contain warez/trojans etc. If you do have any working mirrors with just the RTM on then feel free to PM me on Neowin (creamhackered) and I will add them to this post.

Please ensure you check this file with an MD5 checksum verifier to ensure it's authenticity. The MD5 you should get for the exe is : 59a98f181fe383907e520a391d75b5a7

On a side note, apologies to our members who's posts were moderated in the forum for posting SP2 download links. We have to ensure the links don't contain any warez/trojans and in some cases we removed ones that were genuine.

Cabaal

hmm think I'll wait a few weeks so I can see it f*ck over people's copys of windows because they want "the latest and greatest"

dangerman

check out http://sp2torrent.com/index.php as reported on /.

Though an important point that they updated with :

DO NOT CLICK DOWNLOAD IF YOU ARE UPDATING JUST ONE COMPUTER: A smaller, more appropriate download will be available soon on Windows Update

Cabaal

dangerman wrote:

check out http://sp2torrent.com/index.php as reported on /.
Though an important point that they updated with :

As per /.
this proves P2P can be used for a legitimate purpose!

sceptre

Cabaal wrote:

As per /.
this proves P2P can be used for a legitimate purpose!

Lindows/Linspire have been using p2p for distribution for some time. I'm sure there are other examples.

aidan_walsh

Practially every Linux distro these days is torrented. But besides, as I had pointed out to me, the "smaller, more appropriate" download is most likely just a stub installer that would force you to download the SP again if you ever needed to reinstall XP... I'll be downloading this and burning it to a securely kept disk, me thinks...

Hankster

You can download the full 266 MB version of the service pack here.

dangerman

Legitmate uses for P2P bah!

Go INDUCE!!

Ban VCRs, ipods etc. :rolleyes:

sceptre

doodle_sketch wrote:

But besides, as I had pointed out to me, the "smaller, more appropriate" download is most likely just a stub installer that would force you to download the SP again if you ever needed to reinstall XP... I'll be downloading this and burning it to a securely kept disk, me thinks...

They certainly mean a stub installer for the "smaller more appropriate" download. I'll be doing the same as you. I'm also hoping MS will have the free CD delivery that they did the last time (I ordered five and gave them to friends so they'd have no excuse), even if it takes some time for that (I'll have it installed by then in any case)

Cabaal

sceptre wrote:

They certainly mean a stub installer for the "smaller more appropriate" download. I'll be doing the same as you. I'm also hoping MS will have the free CD delivery that they did the last time (I ordered five and gave them to friends so they'd have no excuse), even if it takes some time for that (I'll have it installed by then in any case)

Why not just download and burn and give the CDR's to friends?

As for Linspire using Bittorrent, yeah I know I actually got a free copy off there site about 3 months back

mickeyboymel

Just downloaded and installed from Microsoft's site as mentioned in Hankster's post with no problems at all,unlike a previous Beta version which was riddled with problems causing me to do a reinstall!

Took me 5 hours on dual ISDN but at least I have it now burned on CD for future reference.

By the way there is a comprehensive review site with screengrabs and details for anyone who might want to have a read up on it before the install,here:http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/windowsxp_sp2.asp

wolfman

Microsoft have released SP2

aidan_walsh

We know

dogs

What an invaluable thread, however I'll leave it open if anyone wants to discuss any security related issues around XP's SP2. Be forewarned this does not include how to fix your firewall if it stops working after the upgrade.

I'd post my own experiences... but I'm a mac user

bizmark

my damn mouse is sticking on the screen every now and again as xp dies for a few seconds interesting update f-ing mircosoft

seanos

I used the most recent beta.
Is norton AV recognised as a virus-scanner for the built in .... bubbles ?

wolfman

doodle_sketch wrote:

We know

Ha ha ha ha

DOH!!!!
Sorry....

astrofool

been working perfectly here. Had a bug after install where windows explorer would crash due to the No-Execute protection (ath 64), and it turned out to be realdownload v4 causing it to crash.

Stephen

good ol' real networks with their dodgy software that does more than its supposed to.

mickeyboymel

SeanOS wrote:

I used the most recent beta.
Is norton AV recognised as a virus-scanner for the built in .... bubbles ?

Yes Symantec released patches today for all Norton Products,however they must be installed prior to installing SP2 :http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/sp2/faq.html?src=ivr_na_con

dogs

Moved to more appropriate board.

aidan_walsh

In that case you may as well delete it, as theres already a thread on the topic here

Michael Collins

sceptre wrote:

...I'm also hoping MS will have the free CD delivery that they did the last time...

Your hopes have been answered:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/sp2/cdorder/en_us/default810.mspx

seanos

Just to let anyone who's interested know ...
Have been having trouble with firewall, it doesn't seem the best.
Least of all, the popup messages which ask you if you wish to allow/block application access, doesnt always come up [never for me yet -- irritating having to add Remote Administrator port + protocol for each]

Stephen

Works fine for me so far (SP2 final release). I don't use IE so i've no idea how the changes they've made for that affect things. The firewall is nice but largely unneccessary for me since I am behind a router performing NAT with its own firewall. I suppose if I didn't trust those on my LAN I would enable it (I can think of certain situations...), but at the moment I'm the only real user here besides the other 2 or 3 people who just use the one pc to check emails a couple of times per week.
Oh I've no virus scanner either... thrill seeker, wha?

No need for a virus scanner if you're not a muppet and you're behind a firewall is there? (and - cough - not using internet explorer)

Fenster

Not if you get a worm. All the firewalls in the world won't stop something chewing up your system if it gets on it. Saw it happen to a customer at work.

HashSlinging

Ez.!

is there any corporate wide installs of firefox, or is internet explorer still being used 100%.

Cabaal

For anyone who has not come across the link
Internet Storm Center is trying to track issues users are having with SP2 being installed , Windows XP Service Pack 2 Experiences - http://isc.sans.org/xpsp2.php

You can read problems users have had with it

HashSlinging wrote:

Ez.!

is there any corporate wide installs of firefox, or is internet explorer still being used 100%.

Off-topic, but I'm sure there is, check out mozilla.org and mozillazine.org and I'm sure you'll find the likes of IBM or HP or the company formally known as Lindows may be using it (as they do support it big time)

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Installed SP2 this morning on my Dell I8600. Running XP. No problems as yet. Will play around with it today.

Oh btw well done Microsoft for fixing my MSN messenger

After trying to get rid of windows messenger I had a horrible problem with Outlook Express. It took about 3-4 mins to open up. Had this problem for months.

After installing SP2 I got a dialog box telling me it was "Repairing MSN Messenger". Happy days....

ambrose :cool:

dangerman

I posted the http://sp2torrent.com/ link to the sp2 bit torrent download site.

Well, Microsoft have forced it to be shutdown.

From sp2torrent.com:

Microsoft sent DMCA takedown notices to our two webhosts, one of which was just linking to a torrent file on another server. We've stood up to these kinds of legal threats before (see the Grey Tuesday protests), but we decided not to bother this time, because we started this site primarily as a demonstration and to that end it's already been a huge success. SP2torrent.com showed how filesharing technlogy gives people without budgets or huge servers the power to solve problems themselves, without waiting for the government or some corporation to do it for them. For another demonstration that's still in action, check out p2pcongress.org

Dempsey

"Microsoft has released Windows XP Service Pack 2 to manufacturing, but business users and consumers will have to be patient for as much as a few weeks before the massive, security-oriented upgrade is available to them."

Stephen

Eh? I downloaded it from microsoft's site?

bizmark

Ya thats the 227 meg manufacturing/business user version the normal joe's version will be smaller only designed to be installed on one pc....or so i read

Dempsey

Maybe it be smaller cos you'll have updates froom SP2 already installed?

Ciaran500

IIRC the small download thats coming out is just a very small file that decides what updates you need and then connects to microsoft for you and gets the updates, like the one MS released for SP1.

mickeyboymel

The good point of actually downloading the large version is that you can slipstream it with your original XPcd and then do a repair installation by booting from the slipstreamed CD which cleans out all the unnesscary side by side installation and upgrade files off your PC and gives a clean bang up to date installation.

Also you then have everything on CD if you need to reinstall/repair at any point in the future rather than having to re download everything again through Windows Update.I also kept a seperate CD with just the update files,from which I can run on any PC,should a mate need their machine upgrading.

SirLemonhead

Yeah automate slipstreamed cds are the best. Select the parition to install to, walk off and come back in 40 minutes to your desktop with video drivers, chipset drivers, custom theme, favourite programs and various registry tweaks already applied

unkel

Stephen wrote:

good ol' real networks with their dodgy software that does more than its supposed to.

Indeed - hate them too :mad:

MasterOfSolos wrote:

Yeah automate slipstreamed cds are the best. Select the parition to install to, walk off and come back in 40 minutes to your desktop with video drivers, chipset drivers, custom theme, favourite programs and various registry tweaks already applied

Better yet is restoring from Ghost bootable DVD image. Reboot, click to proceed, walk off and come back in 15 minutes and EVERYTHING is perfect, including OS, all programs, settings, tweaks, drivers, etc

The Real B-man

i got the sp2 the other day off a friend its the 200 odd mb one i am a home user running xp pro 2002 version should i install i hear it fecks up your pc

Mutant_Fruit

it should bea bout 266mb, and so far everything works fine for me. Even software it has "problems" with is still working grand.

ColmOT [MSFT]

I'd recommend installaing it (of course I would!)

but seriously, it's got a lot of new stuff that will make your PC a lot safer for use on the internet. There aren't many new features that end users will see, but under the hood, it's a hell of a lot better.

If your PC will NEVER see the internet, then there's no need for it really. If you will go onlinle only once in it's lifetime, then you SHOULD install XP SP2.

Stephen

The Real B-man wrote:

i got the sp2 the other day off a friend its the 200 odd mb one i am a home user running xp pro 2002 version should i install i hear it fecks up your pc

Windows XP Pro 2002?

Eh...

Do you mean XP pro service pack 1?

seamus

Working fine for me for a few days. Machine is definitely more stable while on the net. Kazaa and SP2 don't mix. Which is probably a good thing....