Since the official release of SP3 for Windows XP, much has been written on the subject: both positive and negative. Some people have installed the update without a hitch, while still others have had nothing but problems. I recently received an interesting email from Wayne, with his thoughts and troubles while attempting the install on his own machine. He noted that when you now go to Windows Update with SP2 installed, you are asked if you want to update to SP3. He said that for him, SP3 was a pain to install, but has been worth it overall, as things seem to run a little better for him. He sent an Email to Microsoft regarding the problems he had with the install, and asked me to share it with all of you.

“I encountered several problems before I was finally able to install Windows XP SP3. I feel that I am an advanced Windows XP user, but for the people that are not familiar with logins/profiles, the registry, and changing other settings there is absolutely no way they would be able to install the update. The first time I tried to install the update, I just used Windows Update. The problem was that after a long time of installing, the program gave an “Access Denied” error and then uninstalled everything.”

“I then read on Microsoft about downloading the update and running a little registry patch (provided on your website). The problem was that you need to be an Administrator in order to run that patch, and you have to actually have subincal installed on your computer (I did not). Also, my current settings did not allow me to select the Administrator profile.”

“So, there are several steps needed to make the Windows XP SP3 install:

• Be logged on as the Administrator, which may require you to add a registry key
• Download Windows XP SP3
• Install subinacl.exe
• Scan for viruses and spyware, as we know that you should never update while having an infected machine.
• Turn off or disable their Firewall program (if not the Windows XP built-in one) and Anti-virus program [it is also recommended to disconnect from the Internet for security]
• Run the registry patch through a bat/cmd file
• Install the downloaded Windows XP SP3 Update
• Remove Administrator login from registry
• Turn on or enable Firewall and Anti-Virus programs
• Reconnect to Internet

“Clearly, this is way too much for the average user. I do like the improved performance with Windows XP SP3 so far, but you need to refine the installation process.”

After I had communicated back to Wayne to let him know I would be using this in a blog post, he sent me another update. He has encountered a bug after install was finally successful. Apparently, doing any searches for files with Windows Explorer will now cause it to contact the Windows Search Assistant website. Windows Explorer never did this prior to the SP3 install. He had to edit the registry in order to stop this, and utilize the classic search function.

What, if any, problems have you encountered while attempting to install the XP SP3 updates? Were you able to upgrade easily, and/or resolve the issues on your own? Overall, what is your experience with SP3 overall, once it had been installed? Thanks Wayne, for the insight!

Windows XP SP3 Install Woes