Microsoft Releases Windows XP Service Pack 3 Final

After a wait of nearly 4 years since the last service pack update, Windows XP x86 Service Pack 3 is finally here, and is for the 32 bit processor editions of Windows XP only. SP3 is cumulative, so it can be installed on top of Windows XP SP1 or SP2. All other flavors of XP can be upgraded as well, including the Windows XP Media Center Edition.

The last Windows XP x86 Service Pack, SP2, was released in August 2004. Service Pack 2 upgraded the security of the original XP, adding Windows Firewall among other security improvements.

Windows XP x64 can be updated by using the Windows Server 2003 SP2. The Windows XP 64 bit version of SP3 won’t be available until Windows Server 2003 hits SP3, since they share the same code base. So, if you are running XP x64, my sugestion is to upgrade to Windows 2003.

System administrator tools have not fundamentally changed from Windows XP SP2. SP3 can deployed using Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003, Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007, or third-party solutions. The deployment process is essentially the same.

Features and Improvements:

• Microsoft Management Console (MMC) 3.0
• Microsoft Windows Imaging Component (WIC)
• Microsoft Windows Installer 3.1 v2 (3.1.4000.2435)
• It improves compatibility with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 security credential providers.
• Various other security improvements
• Wi-Fi Protected Access 2
• “Black Hole” Router Detection
• Network Access Protection (NAP)
• Peer Name Resolution Protocol (PNRP) 2.1
• Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) 2.5

SP3 seems to also fix many of the performance issues introduced as part of Service Pack 2. For some benchmarks read the zdnet blog post, however I don’t buy the claims that Vista is faster than XP, and it certainly doesn’t feel that way. I have Vista as one option on my multiboot Windows box, and it is faster than XP, but this is caused by the fact that I don’t have that many things running on it, and indeed not many run anyway.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 Download Links:

The Service Pack 3 white paper.

Service Pack 3 direct download.

Service Pack 3 via Windows Update.

However I would wait at least a week before downloading it to see how many issues surface.

UPDATE:

Well, it didn’t take long at all.

About an hour ago Microsoft announced in a written statement that there is a "compatibility issue" between the XP Service Pack 3 and Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System, a retail chain management program for small and midsize businesses. Windows Vista Service Pack 1 has the same bug and it was temporarily withdrawn from Windows update as well.

In order to make sure customers have the best possible experience we have decided to delay releasing Windows XP SP3 to Windows Update and Microsoft Download Center.

To help protect our customers, we plan to put filtering in place shortly to prevent Windows Update from offering both service packs to systems running Microsoft Dynamics RMS. Once filtering is in place, we expect to release Windows XP SP3 to Windows Update and Download Center."

Makes you wonder what other software will break that they didn’t test yet.

The above download links are still good, and I will update them when and if the fixed pack comes out, so I advise caution downloading it till the dust settles.

In Unrelated News:

In the last quarter Microsoft’s earnings dropped by 6% from the previous year. Revenue from Windows alone also dropped by 24%.