Several test installations of SP2 on the same hardware

Hello all!

This topic may be a bit boring but in the light of other discussions, it may even be informative ...... ...... some interesting conclusions can be drawn.

I have used Ghost Images to roll back my system to an earlier state and have installed SP2 under different conditions. In all cases, is it the Operating System only. System Restore is disabled, Hibernation is disabled and the Pagefile has been excluded from the respective size of the installations.

Here we go:

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Clean installation of original XPRTM

Size = 1,029 MB

No NtUninstall folder(s)
No ServicePackFiles

Net Size = 1,029 MB

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XPRTM + SP1a + Critical Updates

Size = 1,285 MB including;

NtUninstall folders = 44 MB (hotfixes only, I denied creating an uninstall folder for SP1a)
ServicePackFiles = 270 MB

Net Size = 971 MB

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XPRTM + SP1a + Critical Updates + SP2 (time elapsed ~12 minutes)

Size = 1,805 MB including;

NtUninstall folders = 44 MB (hotfixes only, "¦)
NtUninstall folder = 244 MB (SP2)
ServicePackFiles = 499 MB

Net Size = 1,018 MB

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XPRTM + SP2 (time elapsed ~10½ minutes)

Size = 1,659 MB including;

NtUninstall folder = 193 MB (SP2)
ServicePackFiles = 471 MB

Net Size = 995 MB

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Clean installation of XPRTM with SP2 slipstreamed

Size = 1,126 MB

No NtUninstall folder(s)
No ServicePackFiles

Net Size = 1,126 MB

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The fact that it takes longer to install SP2 on top of a fully updated SP1a installation than on top of the original RTM installation, indicate that the SP2 installer, first uninstalls what it deems necessary and then starts all installations of SP2 from the same condition.
The fact that the NtUninstall folder for the on top of SP1a installation is larger than the one for the on top of the original RTM installation, supports this.

There have been discussions about the NtUninstall folders and I believe that the concensus is that they can be deleted when the update(s) have been verified to work OK.

There have been discussions about the ServicePackFiles and someone said that "as long as the service pack is going to stay, they can be deleted " but I don't think that they have anyting to do with an Uninstall ...... ...... that's what the NtUninstall folder is about. I believe that the jury is still out on that one but the verdict leans towards that they can be deleted.

It has been argued that the leanest installation is a clean installation, using the original CD with the SP slipstreamed but my simple calculations indicate differently.

The Net Size of a fully updated XPRTM + SP1a is actually smaller than the Size of the original XPRTM installation.

The Net Size of both "on top of" installations of SP2 is smaller than the Net Size of the clean installation of XPRTM with SP2 slipstreamed.

Go figure ...... ......

Christer

Edited:

I forgot to mention that SP2 was the full file network download and so was SP1a.

 

Okey, let me throw a flare into this topic:

The Net Sizes, after deleting the ServicePackFiles and NtUninstall folders from the "on top of" installations are not the same. The Net Size difference is ~23 MB. Under my "almost laboratory conditions" they should be almost the same but ~23 MB may be within the limits of "almost ".

The clean install, using a slipstreamed CD, is larger by 108-131 MB.

What are the cleaned "on top of" installations lacking ...... ...... it must be something?

Maybe it is not good advice to clean the "on top of" installatios by deleting the SPF's!

Christer

Edited:

Or is it possible that there is "debris" in the slipstreamed CD?

 

Hello alboy,
thanks for Your interest!

The NtUninstall folders on my SP1a installation, fully updated, is 44 MB (compressed from 65 MB, IIRC).

One item that may vary is when the system was installed. At the time of my installation, "Update Rollup 1" had been released and installing that one superceeded the installation of 22 separate updates. I would guess that the NtUninstall folders of those 22 separate updates are larger than for the UR1.

After installing SP1a, I have installed 29 Critical Updates, including UR1. Of those 29, 4 were superceeding a previous CU.

I had 18 NtUninstall folders before installing SP2 but now there are 19.

Christer

 

I forgot,

There is no option to skip the SP2 uninstall files. If there was, I would have denied them (Ghost user).

At the top of this thread, You will find which size of the NtUninstall folder You can expect.

No guaranties, though. This is on my specific system, other systems will probably be slightly (?) different.

Christer

 

alboy,
neither have I HAD TO restore an Image but on one occasion when ...... ...... I tried System Restore. Ghost bailed me out ...... ...... !

I have, however, restored an Image several times because I WANTED TO. The last week I probably restored ten times, using different Images, when I fooled around with SP2.

Good luck, whenever You decide to do the deed!

Christer

By the way, I just came home from our flying club where we have an old computer in the briefing room, accessible to everyone. It's based on a PIII/500 and 384 MB PC100.
Installing SP2 took 45 minutes and, unexpectedly, went flawlessly!

 

alboy,

Nope, when the restore is successfully completed, You are prompted to "reset the computer" or to "continue ". To "continue" would mean restoring another partition or creating another image but I would never take any chances. I always hit "reset the computer" and remove any bootable media (Floppy, CD or DVD) and it is no longer a Ghost operation.

Ghost hits the reset button for You but Ghost itself doesn't reboot the computer, the BIOS does.

Where did You hear/read that?

Christer