XP SP2 - installation

Hello all!

XP SP2 is said to be the most important service pack ever released by Microsoft. Fundamental changes are introduced to the operating system.

My CD is XP pro, no SP. I didn´t install until SP1 had been released which means that my XP pro SP1 installation was as clean as possible.

Since the first time, I have reinstalled on a new harddisk, using the same CD but SP1a instead. Over time, a lot of updates and hotfixes have been installed and finally to my question:

Would my system benefit from going back to square one, installing clean using the same CD but SP2 directly as opposed to installing SP2 on top of everything?

If there is a decided advantage, then I´ll take it back to square one but if not ...... ...... I´ll rather save myself a few hours of work.

By the way, square one is my Ghost Image of the system with XP pro installed but nothing else. Then there are squares two to six to choose from ...... ...... and the alternative would be square four, which is pre installing Norton.

Thanks for Your time,
Christer

 

"Would my system benefit from going back to square one, installing clean using the same CD but SP2 directly as opposed to installing SP2 on top of everything? "

Probably not. Also, need to keep in mind that SP2 is still in the tesing stages. Final release isn't due out till late summer.

 

Thanks Steve!

I know´but reading MS delays releasing WinXP SP2 made me think about it and when I start thinking ...... ...... the rest of You suffer!

Christer

 

Hi Charles!

I was under the impression that Service Packs are cumulative. My logic continued to say that everything in SP1a (not SP1) would be included in SP2.
Am I wrong on that?

I never thought of that. What would "square one" be (which was the Java situation in the original release of XP)?

If I´m right that SP's are cumulative, regarding Java, wouldn´t I be in the same situation after installing SP2 (no SP1/SP1a) on a fresh installation of XP as after installing SP1a on a fresh installation of XP?

Christer

 

Thanks for that, Charles!

I´ve been browsing a bit and came up with another example of Microsoft being wrong in their articles.

In MSJVM Transition FAQ I clicked on If I install Windows XP SP1a or later, will it remove my current MSJVM? and the answer (No!) must be disinformation. With SP1 installed, I had MSJVM. With SP1a installed, it was gone.

They aren´t making it easy!
If Newt's poll was about the quality of KB and other articles, then my vote wouldn´t be favourable!!

Christer

 

The info is correct, sort of…

If you do a CLAEN install with SP1a (slip-stream) you will not have MSJVM

If you had MSJVM, and you install the SP “on-top†of the OS (what most people will do), you will not loose the MSJVM.

 

Newt,

I’ll wait and see what the discussion with Arie brings. I don’t think that I’m wrong but when Arie disputes my statement ...... ...... well, then 101% sure becomes 99% sure.

Arie,

I did not slip-stream XP pro and SP1a.

Since I’m not going to reinstall on a regular basis, I drew the conclusion that it wasn’t worth the trouble. For me, it would take longer to slip-stream than to install separately.

I installed XP pro clean (on a freshly formatted partition) and immediately SP1a "on-top" of it.

I have no MSJVM.

If MSJVM is included in the original version of XP pro (I don’t know since I never used it without either SP1 or SP1a), then SP1a removed it.

Assuming that XP pro does have MSJVM, then I’m glad that SP1a removed it. To get rid of MSJVM was my only incentive to reinstall XP pro on my new harddisk instead of simply Ghosting the old installation to it.

Christer

 

No, I don't think so. It used to prompt you to download from Windows Update the 1st time you "hit" a site that require Java.

 

Hi Johanna!

Well, when it was announced that MS support for MSJVM was to be terminated last september, I decided to get rid of it the next time I had reason to do a clean install of XP and go Sun Java instead.
People on this board actually recommended to dump the outdated Java version (MSJVM) in favour of a more recent version of the original (Sun Java).

Then, there has been a successive development regarding MS support for MSJVM.

The first increase was until september 2004 which was the state when I bought my new harddisk or at least that was my knowledge. That increase wasn´t enough for me to reverse my decision.

Currently, MSJVM is supported to sometime in 2007 ...... ...... probably to follow XP into a shared grave.

Some people have problems with Sun Java at certain sites or under certain circumstances but my experience of Sun Java is good. Actually, I haven´t noticed any difference compared to MSJVM, of which I also had good experience.

I made my decision, based on the information I had (primarily lack of support in the future) and I don´t regret it. If I should run into problems with Sun Java, I can always reinstall MSJVM, I´ve got the setup file(s) ...... ...... !

Christer

 

Johanna says:

Arie says:

Should I concider a career as an editor at one of the tabloids ...... ...... ?

Christer

 

From the MSJVM transition FAQ:

However, I had a peek into my Ghost Image of the system partition with a bare XP pro installed, nothing else and I found:

C:\Windows\java\classes
and
C:\Windows\java\trustlib
all three folders are empty.

Where would the MSJVM executable be located and what is its name?
(I would assume somewhere in C:\Windows\system32)

Christer

 

I was only recalling by memory, and mine is far from correct, so I'm not sure who's right here... It's been soooo long ago I installed the original XP from scratch... I have a slip-streamed SP1, but even haven't needed that for a long time!

 

One way to find out is restoring my system using the first Image I created during the installation process. That one is of XP no-SP, nothing else.

I have a high confidence in Ghost but anything can go wrong ...... ...... well, do I feel lucky?

Christer