Bloat has taken over - help reinstalling windows XP

[Ecco]

The bloat has taken over on my netbook. Doing basic tasks that were hardly an issue back when I first bought the machine is a problem now.

I want to format an reinstall Windows Xp with the recovery disks I have. I have done this before, with no problem.

My issue is that after reinstalling from the recovery disks, the auto updates kick off and these take forever.

I am told I need to install the service packs – so I will download those? I see XP service pack 3 was release in 2008 – how do I get all the updates after that?

 

[Budza]

Doesn't Windows fetch all updates itself? If you've got uncapped ADSL, just let it do it's thing. IIRC, this includes service packs...

Otherwise, find a copy of each SP, install these after formatting then allow Windows to udpate the rest.

PS: Download network drivers before you format, in case XP can't install them for you. That'll get you stuck- can't get network drivers from web without network drivers

 

[Ecco]

It does fetch the updates automatically, but it takes forever. Would much rather prefer to download them in advance and install immediately after I reinstall.

No issue with the network drivers, the recovery disk has all the necessary stuff for the netbook (except the XP updates) - but thanks for the tip.

 

[Avenue]

I had an issue installing windows xp on my new pc because it wouldn't recognise the PCI express slots or something, causing it to freeze on install. the only way to get passed it was to use an XP disk with service pack 3 already installed. How to do that?

The solution I used, and perhaps one you may want to play with, is to slipstream the disk. Basically you recreate the xp disk, with the service packs, (even drivers, updates etc for the brave) already installed- there is a lot of info on the web, and although a little tricky, im not exactly a genius when it comes to these things and managed to get it to work. Great thing is you then have it for next time you want to format.

If you decide to go this route, make sure you follow the steps, on an XP computer. For some reason windows 7 etc has a bug that creates a corrupted file- that stumped me for a while.

 

[Budza]

I'm not sure how exactly it works, but computers can be set to look for updates on a network location (so multiple PCs can be updated from 1 download, IE they don't all need to DL the updates). If you got the update server location setup with all required updates, your PC can be set to look there after formatting, which should be faster (no DL required, just copy and install updates).

 

[Budza]

This might be what I'm talking about: http://www.infoworld.com/t/platforms/build-your-own-windows-update-server-445

 

[Budza]

This might be what I'm talking about: http://www.infoworld.com/t/platforms/build-your-own-windows-update-server-445

 

[Ecco]

Cool. But where do i get the updates that came after XP SP3?

Or am i at the mercy of the auto updates?

 

[Cameronkk]

Here you go.

http://download.wsusoffline.net/

 

[Franna]

Now is a great time to get a SSD harddrive upgrade. The best upgrade you can do...

 

[Ecco]

Here you go.

http://download.wsusoffline.net/

Awesome, thank you very much

 

[vinodh]

The service packs contain all previous updates. If you have SP3, then all the SP2 and SP1 updates are included.

Here's a link to RyanVM's update pack:

http://www.ryanvm.net/msfn/updatepack-sp3.html

It has all the updates post SP3 and is recommended by the guys at MSFN. I've used it may times and its works perfectly. You download the pack and use RyanVM's integrator to slipstream the update pack into a Windows XP SP3 ISO and then burn to CD/DVd.

 

[ponder]

The solution I used, and perhaps one you may want to play with, is to slipstream the disk. Basically you recreate the xp disk, with the service packs, (even drivers, updates etc for the brave) already installed- there is a lot of info on the web, and although a little tricky, im not exactly a genius when it comes to these things and managed to get it to work. Great thing is you then have it for next time you want to format.

If you decide to go this route, make sure you follow the steps, on an XP computer. For some reason windows 7 etc has a bug that creates a corrupted file- that stumped me for a while.

http://www.nliteos.com/index.html

You can use that to slipstream SP3 & that update pack from RyanVM.