Is XP SP2 RTM?

It is RTM to beta testers: http://www.neowin.net/comments.php?id=23102&category=main

Not quite out yet. But on its way.

It is also available to MSDN subscribers.

There is one available on the Net that is suppose to be it, but it is not digitally signed. I will be patient.

I think Aug. 10th it will be available on Windows Update. If that's wrong, can't be too far away now.

This is the appropriate link I think

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2004/aug04/08-06WinXPSP2LaunchPR.asp

I'm a little worried about being able to get it other than on disc......they say it's huge and will take a couple 'days'!??? for a dial up to download......geeze.....my dial up here in the boonies...the fastest speed I can get here is 28.8....usually it's only 26.4..........It'll take a weeeeeeeeeeek!!!

No need to worry footsie - i'm sure they'll be double eager to get this out to everybody, anyway they can. This was lifted from the site I linked to above:-

Customers without reliable Internet connections who wish to obtain Service Pack 2 on CD can order a free disc from the Microsoft® Web site as Service Pack 2 is rolled out worldwide

If you have to, or prefer to download I'm sure they are well set up for broken and slow connections - It wouldn't surprise me if Readers Digest stick it through the door disguised as a scratch card and informing you if you load this in your pc you'll be through to the 2nd round of lucky prize winners

I think I'm gonna let it live out in the wild a bit tho before I let it shake hands with my pc - just gonna keep an eye on a few forums and see whats coming out - at least as long as m$ will let me get away with it.
[Message Edited]

It's out on bitorrent..It took me about 2 hours on DSL last night and it works fine..even with all stardock, wincustomize stuff

The service pack 2 RTM is out, CNN has it announced and there are several mirrors on neowin.

I've just done a fresh install of XP and put SP2 Final on, now Windowblinds won't work!!!!! It's like you have to put WB on 1st before SP2. But do it the other way around and it just won't apply any themes . Any ideas anyone?

thats not good. Think I'll have to ghost my drive before I try to install then.

Always create a full back-up before doing any major update. Avoids tear flooding and hair loss 

 

[Message Edited]

It's fine to install before SP2, so if you are just using the Network Upgrade then WB is fine. It's trying to install WB AFTER SP2 thats the problem.

It's quite annoying. I'm slipstreaming SP2 now and reinstalling to see if that helps. But I'm doubting it. I think WB needs to be updated to fix this.

Symantec Norton product update for Windows® XP Service Pack 2 http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2004080212383739?Open&src=ivr_na_con

Also seems as if some people are having problems with Alcohol or deamon tools installed since atapi file is locked, some say to uninstall those to let the new file get replaced.

For those on dialup I have read also that you should simply turn on Automatic updates and it will slowly download the update for you. It has resume built in, just may take some time to get it all. Of course the CD is free, so seems that is a better route as you have a simple backup available in case you need to reinstall XP.

I think the ISO file is supposedly 500+ Megs (but most people won't need everything). MS recommends using the autmatic critical update download so your pc gets it little by little every day.

I've turned auto update off. I want to control when the update takes place - like when I've updated NAV and taken a full back-up etc.

I don't like auto update. I like to know what is being installed on my pc....

Logic, you can make it download but not install till you're ready.

Just out of interest - how much advanced coding info does Stardock have access to, if any, to help it create patches/updates that counteract any negative instances resulting from SP2?

Downloaded and deployed SP2 RTM yesterday. Unlike the RC2 version, this version installed without a hitch. Also, the security features that seemed too intrusive in RC1 have become less so.(RC2 never would install on my system so I can't speak for it).

WindowBlinds is running without problem. (But I had it installed already and deployed SP2 as an update rather than doing a new, clean XPSP2 installation). All the other Stardock apps are also running without a problem.

NAV and NIS are running smoothly. I have no real interest in the planned Symantec update to allow Windows XP Security center to monitor my Symantec products. I switched off the monitoring feature as I prefer to monitor those things myself, thank you very much.

Aside from the above mentioned apps, the other software on my system includes: Corel Graphics Suite 11, Easy CD creator 5 Platinum, IsoBuster, Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8, Logitech iTouch Software and Mouseware, Microsoft Office 2000 SR-1 Small Business, Nero Burning Rom 6, Norton Utilities 2002, Power DVD, PartitionMagic 8, Quicken XG(Quicken 2004), Window Washer 5.5.

Here is a list of my hardware and system specs.

ASUS P4P800-VM w/Intel 865g chipset Motherboard
Intel Pentium 4 3.0C GHz s478 512KB L2 800FSB Processor
Kingston Ram DDR400 (1 Gigabyte at 2 x 512 sticks)
WD 80g HD
WD 40g HD
Liteon SHOW-1213S 12x DVD+R 8x DVD-R
LG CD-RW/DVD-ROM DRive
Onboard video (Intel Extreme Graphics2)
Onboard audio (SoundMax Digital Integrated Audio)
OnBoard LAN (Intel Pro/100 VE)

AS I said, all is working fine. RC2 gave me a scare when it refused to install on my system, but the RTM gave me no installation problems.

My recommendation is to update to this at your own convenience. However, in another thread, I was accused of "talking out of my A..." , so maybe you should pay no attenditon to what I say.

Good info UBob.

FYI Everyone: Here's the direct download link to the full install. (277MB)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=049C9DBE-3B8E-4F30-8245-9E368D3CDB5A&displaylang=en

[Message Edited]

Thanks Orion.

In addition, some may like to know that the rumors about this update maybe causing some problems with networks might be erroneous. Again, I will stress that I'm speaking from my own experience, but I have a small home office network of three computers, all running XP. I updated the other two computers across the network. One computer is a 2 Ghz. Celeron system with an MSI motherboard and SIS chipset and the other is an HP system with a 933 Mhtz PIII and one of HP's bottom of the line motherboards.

The SP2 RTM update installed easily on both of the other computers. After reboot both remained visible on the network. Both computers also run fine after the update. I've done a number of tasks over the network just to test things out and so far so good.

I've installed the network install on 2 machines at work today, 1 laptop and 1 dell desktop. Everything is going fine. I did turn off the firewall since we already run one. We run Netware 6.5 SP2 and a couple Microsoft boxes and UNIX..So far so good.

Sept1mus, what's the trouble you're having with WB? Are you on an AMD64 platform?

Doing well for me so far as well.