Service Packs and Slipstreams

Hay na lang! Just this week our office bought 20 desktop computer units. It only means one thing… work on weekends! I asked my boss if I could set it all up on weekdays.. kasi nga pagod pa ako sa kakachat all week..hahaha! “No, you must do it this weekend!” He said. No choice! I have to set-up the OS, MS Office, anti-virus, etc…etc 20 times! I wish I could just simply deploy them over the network, or do a "unattended installation."  It would be of course much better if I could do a “voice activated setup.” I’d be happy to say “Computers! Out of the box! Get your own mouse, keyboards.. Whatever! Get the hell out of my sight and set-up yourselves! Better be connected to the network when I’m back or else….!” Tinatamad lang ako. Weekends eh!

It’s been a while since I last checked my installers… may alikabok na nga! I suddenly have the need to update/upgrade them, so I searched the net for Windows XP Service Pack 3.

Bad News! According to Paul Thurrott:

Q: When will Microsoft ship XP SP3?

A: “The company (Microsoft) says that Windows XP Service Pack 3 will ship in the second quarter of 2008, or about three months after Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008. However, you can now download a near-final version of XP3, the Windows XP SP3 RC refresh.“

I don’t want to download the Windows XP Service Pack 3 RC (Release Candidate). Maski ilang beses pa yang –rerefresh nila. Maski RC Refresh 100x pa yan. I want the final one! I wouldn’t waste my time slipstreaming RCs to my installer and used it… then have problems… then would result to “Do-it-all-over-again.”

Same source:

Q: What are these new features I keep hearing about?

A: Windows XP Service Pack 3 will not include any major new features, but it will include four minor new features that improve the system’s reliability and security. Contrary to reports, Microsoft has been very up-front about these functional additions for quite some time now.

These new features include:

Network Access Protection compatibility. Announced years ago, this feature allows Windows XP machines to interact with the NAP feature in Windows Server 2008. This functionality is built into the RTM version of Windows Vista as well.

Product Key-less install option. As with Windows Vista, new XP with SP3 installs can proceed without entering a product key during Setup.

Kernel Mode Cryptographics Module. A new kernel module that "encapsulates several different cryptographic algorithms," according to Microsoft.

"Black hole" router detection algorithm. XP gains the ability to ignore network routers that incorrectly drop certain kinds of network packets. This, too, is a feature of Windows Vista.

And that’s about it. Nothing dramatic, as promised.

Nothing else new. There are updated applications, which shipped long ago as separate downloads, like Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Media Player 11. And there are even some features that have been removed, like the taskbar-based Address Bar option.

 

Why bother? I’ll use my Windows XP SP2 then and update each unit through Windows update.

Kasi nga I am disappointed with the delayed release of Windows XP SP3 FINAL, sasayangin ko na ang time ko sa MS Office 2003. I’ve never tried slipstreaming Office Service Packs before. Nakakatamad..nasisira ang time ko sa chat! The latest release is Service pack 3, I think it was released 2nd Quarter of 2007. Not sure.

Since we’re gonna set-up 20 units, I’d rather Slipstream the latest Service Pack than waste my time installing the SP3 manually. Waiting is the hardest (Inherent??) part of the task and I hate it. Since I don’t know how, I searched Google for a guide on how to. I found this: Office System (2003) SP3 Slipstreaming. I simply followed the guide and got it right!

The author wrote:

“If you don’t know how to follow these simple instructions then you’d better go and find yourself another job”

c",)BreGuer