Windows XP Service Pack 3 includes all the previously released updates for the operating system. Download windows 7 black edition. This update includes a small number of new functionalities, which do not significantly alter the users experience with the operating system.
This download is the self-extracting executable, which contains the update package for Windows XP Service Pack 3. This final build of Windows XP Service Pack 3 includes all the previously released updates for the operating system from Windows XP Service Pack 3 RC1 going forwards. This release includes more networking and security enhancements for the operating system.
Windows XP is now over ten years old and Microsoft made the decision not to support the ageing operating system any longer for the average user and are now focused on newer technologies.
Just in case that you were holding your breath while waiting for Service Pack 3 for Windows XP on 64-bit architectures, you can now exhale. No, the service pack is not here. And the fact of the matter is that it's going to be quite a wait until Microsoft will deliver an equivalent to SP3 for x64 XP. The Redmond company is currently cooking the third and final service pack for Windows XP, but just the 32-bit version of the operating system, the one made available all the way back in 2001. Users should not expect the Redmond company to release SP3 for Windows XP Professional x64 Edition by mid 2008, because that will definitely not be the case.
Microsoft gave official confirmation of this in the Overview of Windows XP Service Pack 3 whitepaper: 'Windows XP SP3 is for x86 editions of Windows XP only.' Now, the truth is that 32-bit XP and 64-bit XP are separate products made available four years apart, as Microsoft released Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition in April 2005, after Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (March 2005) and Windows XP Service Pack 2 (August 2004).
And on top of this, the company has just introduced the second service pack for Windows Server 2003, also updating x64 XP. 'The x64 editions of Windows XP were serviced by Windows Server 2003 SP2', Microsoft added in the Overview of Windows XP Service Pack 3. In March 2007, Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 was released for download, addressing the following operating systems: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 SP1, Windows Storage Server R2, Windows Unified Data Storage Server, Windows Compute Cluster Server, Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2, and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.
In June 2007, Microsoft dropped Windows Server 2003 SP2 via Automatic Updates. But this does not mean that Microsoft will not end up delivering another service pack for x64 XP, although all the company has to say on a potential deadline is that it is still to be determined, according to an excerpt from the Windows Service Pack Road Map web page.
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Anyone who's installed Windows 7 any time in the last, oh, five years or so probably didn't enjoy the experience very much. Service Pack 1 for the operating system was released in 2011, meaning that a fresh install has five years of individual patches to download and install. Typically, this means multiple trips to Windows Update and multiple reboots in order to get the system fully up-to-date, and it is a process that is at best tedious, typically leading one to wonder why, at the very least, it cannot pull down all the updates at once and apply them with just a single reboot.
The answer to that particular question will, unfortunately, remain a mystery, but Microsoft did today announce a change that will greatly reduce the pain of this process. The company has published a 'convenience rollup' for Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (and Windows Server 2008 R2), which in a single package contains all the updates, both security and non-security, released since the Service Pack, up through April 2016. Installing the rollup will perform five years of patching in one shot.
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In other words, it performs a very similar role to what Windows 7 Service Pack 2 would have done, if only Windows 7 Service Pack 2 were to exist. It's not quite the same as a Service Pack—it still requires Service Pack 1 to be installed, and the system will still report that it is running Service Pack 1—but for most intents and purposes, that won't matter. Microsoft will also support injecting this rollup into Windows 7 Service Pack 1 system images and install media.
The biggest awkwardness will probably be its distribution; Microsoft isn't planning to ship the rollup over Windows Update. Try to update a Windows 7 system the naive way and you'll still be faced with the tedium of multiple reboots and update cycles. You'll have to explicitly download and install the rollup if you want to skip that.
For updates released after April 2016, Microsoft will also produce monthly rollups of non-security updates, for Windows 7 Service Pack 1, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2. With this new process, the company will publish some number of security fixes, and a single combined, cumulative non-security fix. This package will be distributed and deployed over Windows Update (and similarly, Windows Server Update Services and System Center Configuration Manager).
Less helpfully, however, Microsoft will stop publishing individual update packages on the Microsoft Download Center. This provided an alternate route to obtain security and non-security fixes as individual installable packages. These manually installed packages often work even when Windows Update is misbehaving, and are also used by software and hardware vendors as a way of distributing essential fixes along with software or drivers that need them.
Instead, the company is to distribute these packages using the Microsoft Update Catalog. This is a relic of a forgotten age; it's a 'website' that only works in Internet Explorer ('6.0 or later') and requires an ActiveX control to use. Edge, Chrome, or Firefox will not work. The branding is Windows XP-era, and dotted around the site are references to 'support newsgroups.' Microsoft ended its newsgroup-based support way back in 2010.
The Update Catalog is, in fact, a useful resource; as well as the patches, it also offers a place to download the device drivers that Windows Update distributes. But it's a resource that has been abandoned for a number of years. Microsoft says that later in the year it will be updating the Update Catalog to work in modern browsers; we can't help but feel it should make this change before forcing people to use the site, rather than after.
Following the RTM of Windows XP SP3 on April 21, 2008, and the general availability on May 6, Microsoft started serving bits and pieces of the service pack through its Windows Update infrastructure but also via the Download Center. The fact of the matter is that XP users have more options than just downloading the standalone package for XP SP3 Build 5512. And Windows XP Service Pack 3 - ISO-9660 CD Image File is simply one of them. However, XP SP3 RTM ISO-9660 CD Image File is not addressed to end users, but to IT professionals and system administrators. But despite this, there are no impediments in place that prevent access to the gold bits of XP SP3 packaged as the ISO-9660 CD Image File.
'Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes all previously released updates for the operating system. This update also includes a small number of new functionalities, which do not significantly change customers' experience with the operating system. This file is a CD image file for users who wish to create an update CD for Windows XP Service Pack 3, for example for offline installation by administrators,' Microsoft revealed.
Via the Windows XP SP3 RTM ISO-9660 CD Image File, Microsoft enables users to burn update CDs containing the service pack. At this point in time, there are a few issues in place with the delivery of XP SP3, the most important of which is connected with an incompatibility problem between the service pack and Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System (RMS). The Redmond company has set up filters on its WU servers that will prevent XP SP3 RTM from being served to Microsoft Dynamics RMS users, and is advising customers running the Dynamics solution not to install XP SP3 for the time being. Microsoft indicated that a fix has been built and is in testing, and that it is planning to make it available by the end of this month.
The standalone packages of Windows XP Service Pack 3 RTM can be downloaded here.
Windows XP Service Pack 3 - ISO-9660 CD Image File is available for download here. Avast antivirus purchase online.
I was wondering, is there any service pack available for Windows 10? I had to format my disk recently, and it took several hours to download and install all the updates. I don't want to go through that process again. I wasn't able to find a single file that collects all Windows 10 updates.
I found on several places on Internet that Microsoft has announced that no service packs will be available. It is really annoying having to download over 1 GB of updates every time I install Windows 10 on a machine.
Marko Gulin
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2 Answers
Windows 10 has moved away from a 'Service Pack' model to a 'yearly major feature update' model.
In practice, not a whole lot has changed, though! You'll be pleased to know that Microsoft makes ISO files available for download for the Windows 10 Anniversary Edition Update, which is a 'Service Pack' in all but the name (its actual functionality is effectively identical to what they used to call a 'Service Pack').
If you install Windows from an Anniversary Edition ISO (i.e., 'Build 1607'), you'll have to do significantly less patching post-install than if you install from the 'Windows 10 RTM' (Release To Manufacturing - the original Windows 10 build) ISO.
That said, there is currently no easy way that I know of to install to an end-user machine from a Windows ISO (with a graphical installer, etc.) that will leave you fully updated on first boot. This is possible using something called Slipstreaming where you basically build your own custom ISO that consists of the latest Windows Build (i.e. 1607) plus the latest Updates (which are so-called 'slipstreamed into' the ISO file upon build). This is for advanced users as it's not especially easy or user-friendly to do it, and it's only worth your time to do so if you intend to reinstall very frequently or install Windows on many, many machines (5 or more).
The slipstreaming process, briefly, involves:
The Winbuzzer article I linked to above contains some detailed instructions with screenshots, but I captured the general flow of it here for posterity's sake (I didn't want to take their images due to copyright).
allquixoticallquixotic
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There is no Service Pack for Windows 10. The purpose of Service Packs is to bundle all available updates into 1 pack to avoid a long scan/install for new Updates like in Windows 7. The Updates for your current Windows 10 Build are cumulative, so they include all older updates. When you install the current Windows 10 (Version 1607, Build 14393), you only need to install the latest Cumulative Update. As today (2017-01-21), you only need to install KB3213986 which updates the Version 1607 to 14393.693.
And 1 or 2 times per year, you get a newer Feature Upgrade Build, which is technically a new OS version but still called Windows 10 which includes new features and UI changes. The next Update will be the Creators Update from April 2017 and after you made the upgrade to this Version the new Updates are again cumulative and you only need to install the latest one to be up 2 date after you have to reinstall Windows.
So, since Windows 10 service packs are not needed.
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magicandre1981magicandre1981
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