I386

Nontechguy--Thanks for your comment. And I hope you will not take any offense at the following (as I did not with yours).
Yes, snooker's reference is the same as the one provided by Pete C. And I can no longer remember whether I read that "email from a site visitor" at the bottom of the page. But, if I did read it, that advice would have led me astray since the Visitor (Dave) suggests setting ServicePackSourcePath to C:\Windows, rather than C:\ as Pete C suggested.
And even snooker in his post #8 was unsuccessful in eliminating the need to insert the CD by following Dave's suggestion.
Not 100% sure I understand just why the C:\ setting works but it apparently does. See my post to Arie below.

 

PeteC--Thanks for the Event Viewer tip. My two Windows File Protection entries were contiguous so no file changes were logged.

 

Arie--Thanks for your further comments. And I hope you do not feel I am just recycling unnecessarily.
I assume that when I updated Dell's installation of
XP Home SP1 with Home SP2 from Windows Update it would be logical that the SP2 files would be in C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles
However, I never checked then, and when I look now, there there is nothing in that folder other than the empty "i386" and "lang" folders.
Did the installation of XP Pro SP2 over XP Home SP2 delete whatever was in C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles? Who knows.
Per our earlier exchange, I just this week copied the WinXP Pro SP2 CD's I386 folder's contents to C:\ . That replaced the I386 folder that was there, which I now assume was the original Dell Home SP1's I386 folder. Certainly the contents are different. But that did not change SFC wanting me to insert the CD.
I now understand you are saying it is logical that SFC should be looking for ServicePack files in C:\ rather than C:\Windows or C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles since all my Pro SP2 files (as well as original Pro files) are in C:\. I guess that is what Pete C figured out, too.

I wonder what will happen when I install XP SP3 (when it is released). I would expect its files to be loaded into that C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles folder. Will I have to change to ServicePackSourcePath back to C:\Windows\? Maybe that is what the ServicePackCachePack setting will handle? I have not changed that from what is shown in my attachment above.

And I hope my DllCache has been updated from Home to Pro as a result of the installation of Pro from the CD.