Windows XP Update Library On a CD

KrispyKofta sends us to APC Magazine for a writeup on Project Dakota, a one-man effort to provide all Windows XP SP2 updates on one downloadable CD. It's poor man's XP SP3, but even when SP3 is out, the project will continue to offer a CD that will install all patches offline. "When was the last time you installed a fresh copy of Windows XP SP2? The process is still straightforward and relatively quick... but then you think 'I'll just make sure the patches are up to date,' and proceed to stare in horror at the 100+ security updates and critical fixes that Windows Update or WSUS demands you install. And it takes forever. A better option which we've just discovered is the innovative work of Alek Patsouris... it's a self-contained boot CD which contains all the necessary updates to automatically patch a Windows XP SP2 system with all the patches available at the CD's build time."

This was called AutoPatcher, and MS killed it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Those who don't know history...

c't Offline Update

[stefanb]

Reknowned IT publisher Heise is already offering an even better solution: c't Offline Update [heise-online.co.uk]. Update W2K, XP, Vista, Office in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and some 20 more languages by using Microsofts update catalog to download all chosen updates, then creates an ISO image per OS (CD-sized) or for everything (DVD needed). The included scripts allow for a fully automated install of all updates from the CD or DVD, even including any necessary intervening reboots.

c't Offline Update Project Download Page [heise.de]

slipstreaming anyone

[Oriumpor]

Honestly [wikipedia.org] why is the latest revelation in documented common Microsoft software practices news on /. ? I mean you don't see "Latest yum library that that comes to you downloaded all rpms in one safe ISO!!1!" as a headline...

not a new idea

[juventasone]

This is a nice idea for individuals who only have to do this once. However, the RyanVM [ryanvm.net] and Xable [xable.net] update packs have been offered for years and integrate into your installation disc. No need to run another lengthly installation after the install is done.

Re:c't Offline Update

[mrbcs]

This thing is excellent. Add the updates to your xp cd with Nlite to take it one step further for those fresh installs. http://www.nliteos.com/ [nliteos.com]

Re:Pirates are pirates......

[RuBLed]

If I followed the events last year correctly, It seems that the main argument of MS is that the AutoPatcher team distributes the patches from their own "servers" and not Microsoft's thus the possibility of the patches being distributed could be tampered with and not the "same" as the ones in MS servers.

Autopatcher was surely hurt by that but I believe they found a "loophole" in MS's demands. Last time I had visited the site, they are developing a client that would download the patches directly from the MS servers and after that act like the old Autopatcher.

Re:c't Offline Update

[Fallen Andy]

A word of advice though - make DVD's not CD's. When I last looked the XP update CD iso was too big to fit on a std. CD

even if you just grab ENU. Perhaps they've fixed it now.

(The solution is to slipstream the SP2 onto the CD and make a new iso which would fit, sans SP2)

see e.g. http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_sp2_slipstream.asp [winsupersite.com] for slipstreaming SP2 on an original or SP1 CD.

Highly recommended.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:MS are morons....

[Zorque]

I decided a few days ago to dual-boot XP and Vista, since one of my devices isn't supported under Vista (its manufacturer hasn't existed for a while). I had to, of course, install all of the necessary updates for XP, but it only took one reset for over 100 patches. It's really not that bad a process.

Re:c't Offline Update

[simong]

That's actually a good way of doing it. There's an open source build server called Unattended [sourceforge.net] that can provide a fully patched Windows build automatically - you provide the installer CD and it will pull down all the updates - and it recommends rebooting after each patch. That sounds like the same thing across a local network. I can recommend it as an alternative to ghost by the way: it will boot any PC that can be booted with PXE or bootp.

Re:Pirates are pirates......

[NorQue]

Autopatcher was surely hurt by that but I believe they found a "loophole" in MS's demands. Last time I had visited the site, they are developing a client that would download the patches directly from the MS servers and after that act like the old Autopatcher.

Few threads down [slashdot.org] you can find an already existing solution from a German computer magazine, no need to wait for "Autopatcher".

Couldn't understand why people used their packs in the first place anyways, people don't trust MS with their data, but they trust a random third party on the internet, giving them complete access to their system? Could as well visiting bareback parties.

Re:This was called AutoPatcher, and MS killed it.

[eldorin]

M$ "tried" to kill AutoPatcher. It is back and working better then ever. Now, instead of downloading the entire distribution, you download a single small executable. It then retrieves all the XP hotfixes from M$ website. In effect achieving two goals: 1) Avoiding the source of the cease and desist that M$ sent the author. The unauthorized and unverifiable distribution of the hotfixes. 2) Chewing up M$ bandwidth instead of the author's... The thread to the new beta version is located at http://www.autopatcher.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=89 [autopatcher.com]

Re-Inventing the wheel?

[lennier1]

There already a freeware tool out there which does most of this task.
"Offline Update" (http://www.heise.de/ct/projekte/offlineupdate/download_uk.shtml) was created by Heise, a German publisher of several serious IT magazines.
You simply choose a MS product and it will then download all updates and patches and generate an ISO image for a bootable CD/DVD. Once finished, simply put that disk into the destination computer's drive and the the rest will be done via autostart. Reboots and related stuff will be handled by creating a temporary local admin account automatically, which will be deleted again once the program finishes its run.
A nice solution for smaller companies who don't want to set up their own WSUS node.

Re:all the patches?

[Nullav]

As are some of the security updates [phex.org]. I know it's a bit of an unreasonable demand, but I'd rather see a list of questionable updates than yet another offline patcher.

nLite

[Nehle]

Ever heard of nLite [nliteos.com] or vLite [vlite.net]? They let you build your [u]own[/u] XP/Vista ISOs with update, service pack and additional driver integration as well as literally every customization you can think of. So, yes, this is nothing exactly new, and I'd rather prefer my own customization.

Re:sounds like a copyright violation

[trawg]

yes. just not the OS itself. thus why the slipstream providers can't provide you the ISO already one.

To the best of my knowledge, redistribution of Microsoft patches is actually explicitly denied by their EULAs and the terms of use of the microsoft.com website.

The only things you can redistribute are the things they've marked as explicitly redistributable (like DirectX and various other runtimes).

This is why Autopatcher was terminated [autopatcher.com]. I have also contacted Microsoft in the past to obtain explicit permission to mirror their updates and was refused permission to do so.

Re:This was called AutoPatcher, and MS killed it.

[Lumpy]

and after you run autopatcher. run nlite and create a XP install CD that is slipstreamed with all those updates.

We've been doing this for years in the IT office, every month I rebuild the XP install CD iso using nlite (It's great because you also can default to a lot of settings you like!) so after install there are no patches or updates needed.

Re:WindizUpdate...

[Anonymous Coward]

This piece of info is well hidden in their web site. They don't update their database anymore [62nds.com]. Their last update is from around September, last year.

"The site will still be operational, but no new updates will be added."