Windows XP Update Question

Hi: I going to build a short money Windows XP rig for some old games I would still like to play.

I have a fresh copy of WINXP. Does Microsoft still do updates? I understand it's no longer supported, but will they install to the last update?

Thanks All.

UMASS said:

Hi: I going to build a short money Windows XP rig for some old games I would still like to play.

I have a fresh copy of WINXP. Does Microsoft still do updates? I understand it's no longer supported, but will they install to the last update?

Thanks All.

Click to expand...

90% certain you can still pull down Win98se updates. Just because it's out of support doesn't mean they pull the updates.

FnordMan: Thanks. I was hoping that MS still did the last updates for their non-supported OS. Waiting for a rainy weekend so I can build her.

If your copy of Win XP is SP3 then you should be good to go*, otherwise updating an older edition of XP is problematic. Two options are download XP SP3 .iso for your initial install or you can download the updates (SP2 and/or SP3) with stand alone installer on a different computer.

I've used the second method a few times recently for both XP and Vista.

edit: here is the link for SP3 stand alone update:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=24

*you still might need to download IE stand alone update on a separate computer, I think IE8 is the latest supported for XP and Vista.

Are y'all sure XP, even with SP3, can still be updated? The last time I tried via Microsoft Update, it said the product was EOL and I was, essentially, SOL. Admittedly, I don't remember which version of IE I was using.

There are no more current updates for XP, but you should still be able to download all the existing updates post-SP3. People would be screaming bloody murder if they stopped offering the existing updates.

EDIT: Also keep in mind that if your XP install is SP0 you can't go directly to SP3, you need to be on SP1 or SP2 first, unless they changed that, which I doubt they did. (Thank you Microsoft!)

The stand alone installer should work on all versions of XP.

I've just tested my laptop install of XP SP3 and it will still update MSE, MSOffice, Malicious Software Removal Tool and despite MS saying that there are no new updates for XP I have received a couple security updates after I was supposedly on the "final XP update release.

FnordMan said:

90% certain you can still pull down Win98se updates. Just because it's out of support doesn't mean they pull the updates.

Click to expand...

Windows 98 automatic updates don't work anymore and haven't so for a couple of years. IE just goes into an infinite loop of redirects when directed to the Windows Update page. I think the same could be said for W2K as well and I would not be surprised if the same happens to XP in a few years.

GushpinBob said:

Windows 98 automatic updates don't work anymore and haven't so for a couple of years. IE just goes into an infinite loop of redirects when directed to the Windows Update page. I think the same could be said for W2K as well and I would not be surprised if the same happens to XP in a few years.

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Huh, didn't realize they pulled that offline.

One could always grab the post SP3 XP updates with CTUpdate or AutoPatcher (still works, see their forum for the download) and squirrel it away for sometime in the future.

There are still coming out critical 2003/XP OS updates, including IE8 patches, that can be used for XP, google for "XP POSReady", originally for windows 2003 but works on XP too with a simple registry hack. Last update was coming out just recently in June... don't ask me how I know

XP updates are still available. I have XP in VM and another machine and they updated fine the last time i had to do a reinstall.

I have my old computer with XP and it still updates, mostly with the monthly virus scanner from MS but all other 3rd party tend to still have them.

As for drivers depends on your board as new boards the maker does not offer XP on their site like Gigabyte.

Chipset wise if you go with either Intel or AMD they should have them still on their site.

I was thinking of doing the same thing, build a APU system and put XP on it for all my favorite old games which won't play on 7/8/10.

Main issue, some games could not go above 1280 without hacks/patches so the game will look like crap on a 24"+ monitor.

hmm, im not so sure about the xp updates 'without' that POSReady registry hack. Last time (few years ago) on my PC the last xp update came with EOL screen and redirect to win7 or something like that... has something changed now? Do you really can still receive software updates, including critical system and Internet Explorer 8 security updates on an ordinary WinXP OS?

raivo said:

hmm, im not so sure about the xp updates 'without' that POSReady registry hack. Last time (few years ago) on my PC the last xp update came with EOL screen and redirect to win7 or something like that... has something changed now? Do you really can still receive software updates, including critical system and Internet Explorer 8 security updates on an ordinary WinXP OS?

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Microsoft has released several updates that have been available for XP, post-EOL. The big one was for IE (it was apparently code that has been in IE since the Win 2K days).

You will still be limited to IE8 on XP, but alternative browsers like Firefox and Chrome were still supporting XP the last time that I checked, Adobe still lists XP-compatibility for the Flash Player Plug-in for Firefox, etc.

There was an update to the Windows Update client itself that gave me trouble the last time that I had to install XP (post-EOL). I ended up manually downloading the latest Microsoft Update client on another PC, then after installing that everything was fine. Also, when you get to the list of updates to install, hide KB2934207. We all know XP has officially died, so there is no point in having your computer constantly remind you of this fact