Windows XP Service Pack 2 is now available for download to MSDN subscribers; the public download will probably arrive in the next few days. The Service Pack itself weighs in at a chunky 275MB download, but that climbs to 475 if you grab the ISO image of the installation CD. They’re not kidding when they suggest you order might want to order the CD instead.
I’ve been looking forward to SP2 mostly because there are now so many patches and updates to SP1 that doing a fresh install of XP takes bloody hours. Time to slipstream this puppy and ease that pain.
Guess who has his msdn subscription through now ? 🙂 I’m jealous of you contractor types with your msdn subscriptions.
Nyah. Contracting has its upsides, I have to admit 🙂
Its 275 Mb because that is the administrative version that contains the SP2 stuff for all the different XP versions (Home, Pro, Media Center, etc).
The individual versions are about 75->90 Mb each I believe, depending on how up to date you are.
andy
Ahaaa…. So if you’re just getting it through Windows Update, it’ll be less of a download. That’s useful to know.
Although, you should be aware of the issues with the all new, shiny, (limited, cut-down, virtually useless) bluetooth support with SP2. Grrrr.
See here: http://www.mattlittle.co.uk/blog/archive/2004/08/18/205.aspx
Oh lord…stay away Martin! Have you not seen the post on Friends of Brunton? Have you not seen the long list of issues and things that don’t work properly without opening up ports?…Dear me. Even Office XP has issues.
Ermmm…what did Microsoft test with this? That really does make me think what testing was done.
Also the fact that you have to start opening ports to allow applications to work is a scary thing. I much prefer opening applications rather than entire ports!
I haven’t had any problems with SP2 so far…haven’t tried installing any of our bluetooth devices yet, though.