Slashdot Mirror
Windows XP SP3 Build 3205 Released w/ New Features
jBubba writes "Windows XP SP3 build 3205 is the first official & authorized release of the next Windows XP service pack; and has been made available to testers as a part of the Windows Server 2008/Windows Vista SP1 beta program. NeoSmart Technologies has the run-down on the included 1,073 patches/hotfixes including security updates. Contrary to popular belief, Windows XP SP3 does ship with new features/components, most of which have been backported from Windows Vista. Some included features: 'New Windows Product Activation model: no need to enter product key during setup. Network Access Protection modules and policies have been brought to XP after being one of the more-well-received features in Windows Vista. New Microsoft Kernel Mode Cryptographic Module - the Windows XP SP3 kernel now includes an entire module that provides easy access to multiple cryptographic algorithms and is available for use in kernel-mode drivers and services. New "Black Hole Router" detection - Windows XP SP3 can detect and protect against rogue routers that are discarding data.'"
i can't help thinking sp3 will make xp so much like vista, that you might as well go the whole way. sure hope i'm wrong though.
"Windows XP SP3 build 3205 ... has been made available to testers as a part of the ...Windows Vista SP1 beta program."
God, I love this company!
Three Squirrels
2K SP3 & SP4, and XP SP1 and SP2 provided the ability to merge the service pack into the base install for the operating system. The final product is usually referred to as a 'slipstream' install - it allows you to install Windows XP without having to patch to the absolute gills, just the muck from after the latest slipstreamed service pack.
After slipstreaming SP2 into my base XP install disk, a flat-format install did take a bit longer, but device propagation was FAR, FAR IMPROVED. There were a few other niceties, but they go beyond the scope of this post. I wouldn't be surprised if they're referring to changes made in the slipstream of the base install.
Informatus Technologicus
The Windows Server 2008/Windows Vista SP1 beta program is not in charge of Gundam.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
Yes it does.
The road to tyranny has always been paved with claims of necessity.
If it's got WGA like Windows Vista? Then no thanks.
That's the only reason we're staying away from Vista, and if this new activation is anything like that then it's SP2 until they drop support for it, and maybe something else (Linux, OSX) after that.
I've said my reasons we stay away from Vista In my Journal. I'm sure we're not the only workplaces saying the same thing. Especially if the computers are not anchored to the network and are off the network for months at a time like our systems are.
In Soviet Russia, Trojan exploits YOU!
"Are you SURE you wouldn't like to upgrade to Windows Vista?"
[Upgrade Now] [Upgrade RIGHT NOW] [FUBAR Existing System]
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Following our coverage of the Windows XP SP3 beta leak almost a month ago in August, here's some more info on the official beta, which just had its first authorized distributable released earlier today. Say hello to Windows XP SP3, build 3205!
While the newly-released build and the one leaked a month ago (Build 3180) may share the same name, we can exclusively reveal that they are not identical releases. This release, also shipped as windowsxp-kb936929-sp3-x86-enu.exe, is 334.2 megabytes and has been made available to tier-one Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista SP1 beta testers. Hashes are as follows:
CRC: 56e08837
MD5: c8c24ec004332198c47b9ac2b3d400f7
Along with the standalone installer redistributables (in English, Japanese, and German), Microsoft also provided the usual release notes and a list of all the hotfixes included in this release. Contrary to popular belief, Windows XP SP3 does ship with all-new features - not just patches and hotfixes, most of them backported from Windows Vista:
* New Windows Product Activation model: no need to enter product key during setup. Thank God for that!
* Network Access Protection modules and policies have been brought to XP after being one of the more-well-received features in Windows Vista. You can read more about NAP here.
* New Microsoft Kernel Mode Cryptographic Module - the Windows XP SP3 kernel now includes an entire module that provides easy access to multiple cryptographic algorithms and is available for use in kernel-mode drivers and services.
* New "Black Hole Router" detection - Windows XP SP3 can detect and protect against rogue routers that are discarding data.
Windows XP SP3 is compatible with all versions of Windows x86, included Embedded, Fundamentals, Start, Professional, Media Center, and Home Editions.
Windows XP SP3 now contains 1,073 patches/hotfixes, not including those in previous service packs. Of the 1,073 included updates, 114 are for security-related issues. The remainder are updates to performance & reliability, bugfixes, improvements to kernel-mode driver modules, and many BSOD fixes.
As with Service Pack 2, these include both previously publicly-available updates (whether through support.microsoft.com or via Windows Update) as well as any and all privately-redistributed updates for select customers or partners with specific problems/scenarios.
The first included update: KB123456 (April 7, 2006). The last: KB942367 (September 29, 2007).
We're checking with our MS contacts if we can provide you with the actual comprehensive list of updates included in Windows XP SP3, along with their descriptions and KB article links.
> Never mind. I should get on with work I suppose.
Work? Didn't you get the memo that Sunday is off?
most of which have been backported from Windows Vista.
Including DirectX 10? Few things about Vista are interesting besides that.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Why would I need to enter the product key? After all, it comes in a .txt file called "serial" on the installation CD...oops
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
But didn't Microsoft say that it is impossible to backport features to XP from Vista due to major differences in the system ?
...and since it is possible, will we be getting DirectX 10 on XP too ?
...and if not, why not ?
--
btw. how can this be good for Vista ?
Does anyone have any details on the blackhole routing avoidance feature? While the summary claims blackhole routers are "rogue" routers, blackhole routing is the most common way to stop DDoS attacks and excessive worm traffic from giant botnets of Windows machines. If the OS now offers botnet operators an easy way to bypass that rerouting of malware traffic, this could have serious detrimental affects upon the internet as a whole.
It works by giving in addition to the main volume slider in the mixer/taskbar, providing a slider for each individual program using sound, like this picture. The way, you can have Gaim/Pidgin sounds quite low, while you listen to relaxing music, but are waiting urgently for that important e-mail notification. I've played games where the sound is quite low to begin with, but then I get a message on my IM client, which seems fit to play a deafingly loud sound. IMHO, it's the only thing that Vista got right. I'm not sure how it works, but sound in Linux seems to be flaky at best.
x86, oh yes, I'm pro.
> knowing nothing about Windows Vista that sounds like an extremely stupid feature.
Sounds like you've distilled the standard slashdot response to any Vista article.
Of course as soon as Linux copies the feature, then it's a great idea.
Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
nLite can help that problem and adds a lot of 'hacks' for the install as well.
nLite can also completely frak up an XP install. One specific instance that we encountered when someone in our office used nLite was the inability for anyone who was not an administrator to use USB devices. None. The only way Windows would recognize and install the drivers for things like mice, keyboards, and flash drives was if you were an administrator. I've seen others, but this was one of the most problematic.
I very strongly recommend that nobody use it in a business setting or anywhere else you care about stability. If you want to customize an aspect of the Windows install process, do your homework and learn about it. Don't trust a black box to do it all for you.
"What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
/)
If you just want to slipsteam, don't mess with nlite as it can really screw up an install if you don't know what you are doing, instead try autostreamer.
Gone!
The pulseaudio sound daemon does this.
screenshot
It allows for setting the volume per audio source.
New things are always on the horizon
NeoSmart server seems to be down. Here's a mirror.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
You're missing the real significance to this. They are back porting features from Vista!!! That's removing the incentive for migration from XP to VISTA on features alone. Considering the historic business model they have used, this is reason for further thought.
Dell and others have pushed Microsoft into a position where they (OEM) are allowed to continue selling XP software beyond the originally intended dates set by Microsoft. This is the first time anyone ever successfully told Microsoft what to do, including the US Government (interestingly enough).
Now that there is a continuance of XP in the market, the best thing that Microsoft can provide that customer base with secure products. If they fail to then it gives credence to the competition laying claims on security. If I remember, one of the points Microsoft was selling XP on was the security it provided above the Windows 2000/98/95 platforms. So there is something of a commitment they have made to keep it secure.
If there's a diminished reason to migrate to Vista, as already demonstrated, then what?
Don't be an idiot. The libraries that do this have been within Windows for ages. Besides, you can easily use XOR encryption if you just want to hide something. Not really secure, but you'll have to do crypto-analysis to get to the code anyway. Hell, you could use ROT-13. Are you going to look for assembly XOR or ADD routines? You'll probably find a few. Calls to this specific Windows API will be much easier to find.
.NET has some support for them, but Windows unfortunately still seems to lack support, even though the market is starting to show clear interest in EC crypto.
I've been trying to find out what cryptographic features have been added to the FIPS security module in SP3. I'll be very surprised if there finally is some Elliptic Curve support or anything like that. It seems that
Anyway, the only thing I can find using Google is some page of Microsoft that's 7 years old. For the same FIPS module - for W2K of course. Does anyone have a link to more recent information? Currently there is little to discuss (unless you mention the missing PKCS#11 support by this arrogant monopolist).
I've never used nLite, but I have slipstreamed manually before. It's not hard at all! You can find a nice walk-through on performing your own slipstreaming and ISO building (bootable) here. The instructions are practically spoon-fed. =)
Life is not for the lazy.
You're missing the real significance to this. They are back porting features from Vista!!! That's removing the incentive for migration from XP to VISTA on features alone. Considering the historic business model they have used, this is reason for further thought.
That's one way of looking at it. Another way is that if they backport a few features it might make less technically inclined people a bit less apprehensive about getting a new computer with Vista on it.I suspect that the features aren't going to be any of the most important ones, and will probably be ignored by XP users, but I doubt that it will really hold people back from upgrading. The main reasons people are not upgrading have little to do with the new features, and much more with things like the lack of driver support.
You're missing the real significance to this. They are back porting features from Vista!!! That's removing the incentive for migration from XP to VISTA on features alone. Considering the historic business model they have used, this is reason for further thought.
I've been thinking the same thing, and still, I don't know if pressure alone made them backport Vista features. People just want the patches rolled up in a SP. Vista security features was unexpected move.
Put this next to the toned down Vista campaign.
I have the feeling Microsoft are fully aware of the problems of Vista, and I wouldn't be too surprised to see them gradually backporting the better accepted core/security Vista features to XP until they arrive at a slimmer Vista, and throwing away or redoing the ill mouthed Vista features (such as the current allow/deny security model which often asks the wrong questions and doesn't learn, or clarify the source of the action).
If only they realized this, they wouldn't waste 5 years on grand vision ideas and arriving at an OS that's basically worse than the sum of its parts.
Vista: the spare parts OS. Backport and reuse as needed.
``Dell and others have pushed Microsoft into a position where they (OEM) are allowed to continue selling XP software beyond the originally intended dates set by Microsoft. This is the first time anyone ever successfully told Microsoft what to do, including the US Government (interestingly enough).''
In Soviet Russia, government controls commerce.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
That's another way of looking at it. Another way is that they were given a shitload of money from people in the large media industries, and a red carpet right into the service-provider model that they so desperately want, only people are attempting to rebel against this, so they need to find another way to deliver the locks and keys onto peoples desktops.
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
DirectX is just a COM interface to the video driver.
The main differences between DX9 and DX10 are new shaders and getting rid of all the legacy capability bits, neither of which has any dependency on the operating system or driver model.
I bet that if Microsoft gave the go-ahead to ATI/NVIDIA/INTEL there'd be DX10 support for XP in the very next release. The only reason they aren't doing it is because Microsoft is artificially blocking them.
They did the exact same thing with OpenGL when Vista was in Beta. Microsoft went around making a lot of noise saying "It can't be done!!" but the driver writers were saying it was easy. Eventually they gave in and Bingo! We have OpenGL on Vista.
No sig today...
Don't throw something out because you don't understand it. nLite can be a very powerful tool in business to do the things you need to get done with a very nice pricetag. I've seen nlite do wonders for thousands of systems to streamline automated deployments.
What nLite did to windows in that instance the user TOLD nLite to do to windows.
Funny, I'm an IT department for many companies, and I'm not cringing in fear or having nightmares over Vista.
:)
For corporate IT, Vista is easy. Roll it out when and only when, its been tested, proven, and your organization is ready for it. Until then, just dont roll it out. Easy as pie. Now, if you've got end-users buying machines and trying to connect them to corporate resources without your control, then thats not corporate IT, thats just a bunch of people doing whatever they want.
And the black hole router detection is useful, and makes a lot of sense. If you're seeing problems with it, then it just may not be fully baked yet, and you need to give it time to settle out.
I mean geez, its not like anyone is forcing anybody to upgrade or anything. Your orgs should probably be at least considering buying vista with all new machines now, or as part of your VM purchasing, and just use the downlevel install options for now, that way you own it when you're ready.
If you're encouraging your clients to install Vista, when you know they're not ready for it, and its not ready for them, then you're a bad consultant.
If you're telling them its not ready, and they're doing it anyway, and then calling you for help, then you deserve every penny and more from those hours, cause you've got bad clients.
Nah, on most cracked CDs you don't even have to enter it cause they're slipstreamed... you also don't have to do any activation cracks because they're enterprise... oops :)
Right.
The most important features of Vista were dropped before it ever hit the street.
But will XP SP3 be able to play Halo 2, a game that a pentium III Xbox can run, but apparently too complicated for anything less than Vista?