We can put the XP patch into the installation CD, so that the patch can be applied at the same time as the installation.

Windows XP provides an online update function. If the automatic update function is turned on, the update process is completely performed in the background, with almost no intervention on your part. However, the current informatization development in various domestic cities is still very uneven. Not all users have access to broadband. A large number of users still use kitten dial-up Internet access. Therefore, it is not convenient to use telephone lines at home for online updates. Practical things.

Because of this, many users use their work units’ broadband lines to download patches, and then take them home for updates. However, this operation creates new problems, that is, each patch needs to be installed separately, and Taking away all the patch files together is not an easy task. Can I make a Windows XP SP installation CD myself? The answer is yes.

The release of Windows XP patches

In order to fix operating system bugs, Microsoft will regularly release corresponding patches or patches, generally called Hotfix, and multiple Hotfix patches The collection of programs is the so-called Service Pack. Currently, Windows XP has released the SP1 patch package, and SP2 has also been tested for a small number of users.

Each Hotfix has a unique number, as shown in Figure 1. All Hotfix patches installed in the Windows XP system are clearly displayed, and the names of each Hotfix have certain rules. , such as Q327979, what does this mean?

In fact, when Microsoft releases Hotfix, it will notify users in the form of a Security bulletin, and then users can install it through the Windows Update program. Each security bulletin has a unique number, such as MS02-063, which indicates that it is the 63rd security bulletin released by Microsoft in 2002. This security bulletin usually involves another number: Q*****, which represents the number of the problem in the Knowledge Base (Microsoft Knowledge Base). As long as we know this number, we can find the corresponding one. Access and solutions. Unfortunately, these contents are generally in English, which is a bit difficult for most Chinese people to understand.

For example, the "Q327979" mentioned earlier, its full name is Q327979_WXP_SP2_x86_CHS.exe. The "Q327979" here means that the problem with this patch has been discussed in the knowledge base article Q327979, and "WXP" means It is applicable to the Windows XP operating system. "SP2" means that the patch will be integrated into Windows XP SP2. "x86_CHS" means that it is applicable to the Simplified Chinese version. If it is "x86_ENU", it is applicable to the English version.

General steps for installing patches

Since the Service Pack is a collection of multiple Hotfixes, after installing the SP, there is no need to install all the previous Hotfix patches, and SP1, SP2 is not cumulative, so we only need to install the latest version of the SP package.

Generally, the order in which we install patches is as follows:

The first step is to install the software: install Windows XP according to the normal steps;

The second step Step 1 to install the SP patch package: Download the SP installation file from the Microsoft website or other software sites. For example, the SP1a installation file for the Simplified Chinese version of Windows XP is xpsp1a_cn_x86.exe. The file size is 143MB. After downloading, execute it directly to install;

The third step is to update the Hotfix online: Due to the regular release of the SP, the latest version of the Hotfix may not have been integrated into the SP. We can update it online through "Windows Update", but this requires your Windows XP It must be genuine, otherwise you can only update it manually.

Manually integrate the SP into the Windows XP installation CD

If you need to reinstall the operating system, you will inevitably have to go through the tedious steps of installing the SP and updating Hotfix online. In fact, we can completely SP is manually integrated into the Windows XP installation CD, which makes it much more convenient to reinstall the system.

Step one: Make corresponding preparations

First, please make a partition with enough space on the hard disk, at least 1GB, and then create winxp, sp1 two folders, copy all the files in the Windows XP installation CD to the winxp folder, and download SP1 back at the same time.

Step 2: Release SP1

Execute WinRAR or WinZIP, select the xpsp1a_cn_x86.exe you just downloaded, which is a self-extracting file, and release it to the sp1 folder. Note that SP1 cannot be executed directly, otherwise the installation program will be started.

Step 3: Integrate SP1

Find a file named update.exe from "\sp1\update". This file can be used to manually integrate SP1, allowing users to It is not necessary to reinstall the SP after the system status changes. Please type the following command in the "Run" dialog box or "Command Prompt": \sp1\update\update.exe -s:\winxp

Please note that the "-s" in the above command There is no space between ":" and "\winxp", and then we will see the window shown in Figure 2. The integration process does not take a long time, generally no more than 10 minutes. After the integration is completed, \winxp A compressed package named sp1.cab has been added to the \i386 folder. Of course, some other files will be automatically created. All files together occupy a total of 567MB of hard disk space, which is 37MB more than before integration.

Step 4: Write to CD

Now, we can use Nero and other burning software to write the "\winxp" folder to the CD-R disc to get an integrated Got the Windows XP installation CD with SP1.

Use tool software to integrate SP1

In fact, even according to the above introduction, it is practical to independently complete the operations such as integrating SP1, creating ISO files, and creating unattended installation CDs. It's a very troublesome thing.

There is a tool software called Flexbeta Slipstreamer XP that can help us achieve our goal. This is a free integration tool specifically for Microsoft series software. It can integrate the Service Pack of Windows XP and Office XP into the installation file. It can also be used to create ISO files and unattended installation files very conveniently. Friends who need it can download it from ftp://softicpftp:softicp.com@www.softicp.com

/up_soft/ Download and install program/setup/SlipStreamer2_Beta2.exe.

For example, if we want to integrate SP1a into the installation file of Windows XP, we only need to follow the following steps:

Step 1: Determine the location of the Service Pack

When executing Flexbeta Slipstreamer XP, we will first see a welcome window, click the "Next" button, as shown in Figure 3, here you need to provide the location where the Service Pack is stored, click the "Browse" button to select the xpsp1a_cn_x86 downloaded in advance. exe.

Step 2: Determine the location of the installation file

Next, the program will ask to specify the location of the original installation file. Here are Windows XP CD (installation CD), Location on the hard There are two options for drive (local files on the hard disk), and the former is generally chosen. Next, the program will ask you to enter the name of the folder, as shown in Figure 4. This is used to copy the files in the Windows XP installation CD to the hard disk. Of course, if you have copied the files in the Windows XP installation CD to the hard drive in advance, you can directly select the "Locaton on the hard drive" option.

Use tool software to integrate SP1

In fact, even according to the above introduction, it is practical to independently complete the operations such as integrating SP1, creating ISO files, and creating unattended installation CDs. It's a very troublesome thing.

There is a tool software called Flexbeta Slipstreamer XP that can help us achieve our goal. This is a free integration tool specifically for Microsoft series software. It can integrate the Service Pack of Windows XP and Office XP into the installation file. It is also very convenient to create ISO files and unattended installation files. Friends who need it can download it from ftp://softicpftp:softicp.com@www.softicp.com

/up_soft/ Download and install program/setup/SlipStreamer2_Beta2.exe.

For example, if we want to integrate SP1a into the installation file of Windows XP, just follow the following steps:

Step 1: Determine the location of the service pack

When executing Flexbeta Slipstreamer XP, we will first see a welcome window, click the "Next" button, as shown in Figure 3, here you need to provide the location where the Service Pack is stored, click the "Browse" button to select the xpsp1a_cn_x86 downloaded in advance. exe.

Step 2: Determine the location of the installation file

Next, the program will ask to specify the location of the original installation file. Here are Windows XP CD (installation CD), Location on the hard There are two options for drive (local files on the hard disk), and the former is generally chosen.

Next, the program will ask you to enter the name of the folder, as shown in Figure 4. This is used to copy the files in the Windows XP installation CD to the hard disk. Of course, if you have copied the files in the Windows XP installation CD to the hard drive in advance, you can directly select the "Locaton on the hard drive" option.

Create a Windows XP CD with your own hands

In fact, we can also create a Windows XP SP CD in the form of a collection of various Hotfix programs downloaded at work, and we can also add some Your own personalized content. The specific steps are as follows:

Step 1: Download and release the SP1 installation package

Here, we need to download a Windows SP1 patch package in advance. As for the language version, there are no special requirements. For example, we You can download the Simplified Chinese installation package file of SP from the Microsoft website or other domestic software sites. The downloaded file name is xpsp1a_cn_x86.exe, and then release it to the G:\winxp\ folder according to the previous method.

After release, we can find a folder named update. The most important files are the following three:

update.inf: Update the system's registry and update document.

update.ver: size, verification and other information of all update files.

sp1.cat: Digital signature certification of all updated files.

Step 2: Download the Hotfix program

What should be noted here is that we cannot directly use "Windows Update" to download, which means that we cannot select "Scan for updates". You must select the "Other options" "Personalize Windows Update" item, in the "Personalize your Windows Update experience" on the right, select "Show links to the Windows Update catalog under related topics", and then select "Windows Update Catalog" in the "Related Topics" section, next we need to select the type of Windows XP operating system currently used, and then click the "Search" button. Now you will see that there are two more items here than before: Find Microsoft Windows Operating system updates, looking for updates for hardware devices. Select an item at random, "Add" and then go to the download basket to actually download the corresponding update. Here you can directly select the location where the patch will be saved after downloading. Unfortunately, you can only use IE to download it.

Step 3: Manually release the Hotfix program

Record all patch numbers that need to be updated, and then type the following command in the "Run" dialog box or "Command Prompt" mode to expand hotfixes file:

G:\winxp\i386\svcpack\Q328310.exe /X:G:\temp

Here "/X:" and "G:\temp" There is no space between them. The system will ask where to save the extracted files. Click the "Browse" button to select the G:\temp folder. After expansion, you will get the corresponding catalog file (*.cat) and patch. binary files (*.exe, *.dll, *.sys files, etc.). Note that this catalog file named Q328310.cat is hidden in the G:\temp\sp1\update folder.

Step 4: Install SP1 and hotfix program normally

Now, you can follow the normal steps to install SP1 and hotfix program. Remember to export the registry information to a file before installation. , for example, save it as winxp.reg. After the installation is complete, restart the system and export the registry again, for example, save it as sp1.reg. We can use tool software to scan the two registry files and save the changed parts, for example, save it as sp2.reg.

Step 5: Organize update files

Next, we can temporarily create a folder named sp2, and then create subdirectories such as temp and svcpack to add each patch Copy all files that need to be updated to the \sp2\temp directory. As for the specific update file name, please refer to the update.inf and update.ver files of the corresponding patch.

Copy all *.cat files to the svcpack directory, be careful not to copy the two files dummy.cat and *_me.cat, and finally copy the entire contents of the unzipped SP1 package to the sp2 folder .

Step 6: Create an update file

Create an update file named SVCPACK.INF in the \temp directory. The specific content is as follows:

[Version ]

Signature="$Windows NT$"

MajorVersion=5

MinorVersion=1

BuildNumber=2600

[SetupData]

CatalogSubDir="\i386\svcpack"

[ProductCatalogsToInstall]

Q******.CAT

.........

; (Note: The .cat file names of all patches should be listed here)

Step 7: Create Pre-install answer file

Next, we can save all files in the sp2 folder with the help of compress.exe released by Microsoft. When operating, use the command in the following format:

compress - d -r sp2\*.* \i386

Use the installation manager to create a pre-installation answer file, and add a sentence at [GUIRUNONCE] to execute the batch command that can import SP2.REG into the registry: regedit /s SP2.REG. Then, create the \$OEM$\$$\SYSTEM32 subfolder under the \sp2 folder, and remember to copy SP2.reg into it.

Step 8: Modify DOSNET.INF

Finally, we only need to copy the svepack directory to the i386 directory, modify the \i386\DOSNET.INF file, and add these at the end of the file The content is:

[OptionalSrcDirs]

SVCPACK

Step 9: Burn the disc

Now, we only need to replace \sp2 Just burn the contents of the folder to a disc. With this completely own SP2 installation package, you can save a lot of time in restarting the system, and even reinstalling the system will be much easier.