Slipstreamed Windows XP CD Using SP3
Final
[ Based on a XP
Professional with SP2 CD ]
The long awaited Service Pack 3 (SP3)
for Windows XP has finally been released. If you're
one of 'those' users that make it a practice to
reinstall the operating system occasionally just to
clean out the accumulated junk and restore the
system to a snappier condition, SP3 will be a
welcome addition. Even if you do a clean XP install
with XP2 today, you're still faced with ~100 updates to the operating system if
you go through Windows Update. Slipstreaming SP3
into an older version of XP can eliminate that
tedium and make reinstalling a much more pleasant
process.
Whenever a new version of a service pack for XP is
released I always run it through the slipstreaming procedure
to see if everything works as expected. Service Pack 3 (SP3) is the latest release so it was time for
another round of testing. For those of you that have a copy
of SP3 and want to give it a try the procedure
I used is presented below. In past slipstreaming tutorials I've
always started the process by using an original Gold
Edition XP Professional CD. In this case I'm going
to begin with a XP Professional CD with Service Pack
2 (SP2) as the basis for the tutorial.
In every other slipstreaming tutorial
I've done I've always had the 'I experienced
absolutely no problems' sentence in the previous
paragraph. It still holds true with SP3 but with a
caveat. One of the changes in SP3 involves Windows
Product Activation and being able to perform a full,
integrated installation of Windows XP SP3 without
providing the product key during the installation.
This is true, but only if you use Windows XP SP1 or
Windows XP SP2 as the basis for the slipstreamed CD.
It does not hold true when you use a Gold Edition CD
as has always been my practice in previous
slipstreaming tutorials.
That is not to say you can't use a
Gold Edition CD as the basis for a slipstreamed CD.
That is certainly possible, and it does install
without problems as far as I can tell, but you will
have to enter the product key during the
installation procedure rather than have the option
to defer entering it until after installation is
complete.
That said, the instructions for
slipstreaming Service Pack 3 (SP3) are presented
below. The method I use is certainly not the only
way the goal can be accomplished. There are programs
available (freeware, donation-ware, and paid) that
automate the process to the point where all you need
to do is simply supply the appropriate CD's when
requested and point the programs to a few files. I
just prefer the old fashioned way where I have full
control of the process.
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Building Directories
The first step is to build a
directory structure to hold the files that will be used in the CD
creation process. It's a simple structure, requiring nothing more
than a few folders. It doesn't matter what names you use for your
folders or where you locate them on your hard drive, but most users
find drive C the easiest. I created the folders shown below, located
on Drive C, and used the XP- prefix for each one so they would all
be located together for easy access. Create whatever folders you are
comfortable with or use the ones below if you want to copy
and paste commands later in the tutorial.
Copying and Extracting Files
- Insert the
Windows XP CD and copy the entire contents into the XP folder or the equivalent folder in your structure.
Before copying the XP CD make sure
that the system is set to display all hidden and system files to
ensure a complete copy of all files on the CD. The settings to
control what files are visible are located in Windows Explorer >
Tools > Folder Options > View tab. Make sure [Show hidden files and
folders] radio button is selected and [Hide protected operating
system files] is unchecked.
If you've dealt with service packs before you probably
know that sometimes they are delivered as executable (.exe)
files and other times they are provided as ISO (.iso) files.
I checked both TechNet and MSDN and SP3 is currently being
provided as an .iso file. The file that's actually needed
for the slipstream process [
WINDOWSXP-KB936929-SP3-X86-ENU.EXE ] is included inside the
.iso file along with a lot of other extraneous files used if
you are installing SP3 from the CD rather than doing a
slipstream operation. There
are a number of ways you can get to the needed file.
- If you have a program that can extract an .iso file,
such as WinRAR, UltraISO, or many others, use it and
just extract the .iso to a folder somewhere on the hard
drive where you have access to the
WINDOWSXP-KB936929-SP3-X86-ENU.EXE file contained in the
.iso.
- If you don't have the capability to extract the .iso
then you can burn the .iso to a CD where the
WINDOWSXP-KB936929-SP3-X86-ENU.EXE file will be
available to copy to another location.
Bottom line is, once you have access to
the WINDOWSXP-KB936929-SP3-X86-ENU.EXE file, copy it to the
XP-SP3 folder created earlier.
| April 29, 2008 - 2:30PM EST -
It seems Microsoft has decided not to make SP3
available today as mentioned below because of an
incompatibility with Microsoft Dynamics Retail
Management System. As of now, the link provided
is still live and working, but that could change
at any minute. If it doesn't work, you'll know
it has been pulled. I'll update this again when
more information is available.
April 29, 2008 - I see where
Microsoft has now made SP3 available as a
downloadable .exe file from their site.
The download is available here. If you use
this file the basic procedure remains the same;
only the file names are changed.
The old extraction command (
C:\XP-SP3\WINDOWSXP-KB936929-SP3-X86-ENU.EXE -x ) below becomes:
C:\XP-SP3\windowsxp-kb936929-sp3-x86-enu_c81472f7eeea2eca421e116cd4c03e2300ebfde4
-x
After the
extraction is complete you'll see the i386
folder wherever you placed the extracted files.
That's the only folder that will be there.
Nothing else is required. The command for
updating the windows share (
C:\XP-SP3\i386\Update\Update.exe -S:C:\XP )
doesn't have to be modified.
It's just as
simple as that. No matter what the file name is,
or becomes, if it's modified again when
Microsoft provides a landing page for the
download with directions and additional
information, all you have to do is change the
name of the file in the extraction command. |
- Use the Run dialogue
shown below to extract the contents of SP3.
The Run dialogue box
is accessed from [Start] [Run]
The command to begin the extraction is:
C:\XP-SP3\WINDOWSXP-KB936929-SP3-X86-ENU.EXE -x
-
Extraction is complete. Click [OK] to
continue. If you check the XP-SP3 folder after the
extraction is complete you will see the original file
that was used for the extraction and a new i386 folder.
That's what you want to happen. The
XP-SP3\WINDOWSXP-KB936929-SP3-X86-ENU.EXE file can be
left there or deleted, it makes no difference. Only the
i386 folder will be used in the next step.
Updating The Windows Share
The Run dialogue box
is accessed from [Start] [Run]
The command to apply the Service Pack is: C:\XP-SP3\i386\Update\Update.exe -S:C:\XP
As shown below,
Service Pack 3 is being integrated into the Windows installation
folder.
Successful completion
of the integration process.
Extract the
Imaging File
In order to
make a slipstreamed CD bootable it's necessary to add an
image file during the burning process. You need to extract the file Microsoft Corporation.img
and save it to a folder. For my testing I just created a
XP-BootImage folder on the C:\ drive. There
are a number of ways to perform the extraction but the easiest is to use ISO
Buster.
-
With the Windows XP CD in your CD drive, open ISO Buster.
Click on Bootable CD in the left pane then right click Microsoft Corporation.img in the right pane, finally clicking Extract
Microsoft Corporation.img file.
Extract the file to
the C:\XP-BootImage folder previously created or your equivalent.
With the preparation out of the way
it's time to actually burn the CD. There are a number of different
burning or CD creation programs that can be used to accomplish this
task. I've included instructions here for Roxio Easy Media Creator 9 by Roxio
and another set of instructions for Nero Burning ROM 8.
While the terminology and screens may vary
depending on your CD burning program choice and version, the principles remain the same
and can be easily adapted no matter what burning software is being
used. Click on the burning instructions of choice below.
Last Edited:
08/19/2008
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