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...

Pirates are pirates......

[EmbeddedJanitor]

even if they are helping you. :-)

Although it seems pretty silly, I can see MS's point of view. Autopatcher is essentially becoming a Windows patch "distro" and the more people that use this the less control MS have over patch roll out.

Say in the future MS want to push out a patch that is so mean and so unethical that Autopatcher refuse to include it (kids, don't say that's impossible - we all know MS has infinite Evilness). Suddenly MS has a large body of people that won't swallow the patch.

Less tinfoil-hat-wearing is that Autopatcher shows up MS's own ineptness.MS have shown for a long time that Windows users are their assets ("our install base") and don't treat them as customers. Customer service is secondary to asset control.

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:Pirates are pirates......

[Ardaen]

Uhm...
1. In any reasonable well designed system wouldn't the patches be, ya know, signed?
2. Any third party software that you run could tamper with your system. Kinda sounds like a flimsy excuse used by someone who doesn't want to state their real reasons.

Re:

[Sancho]

I don't usually run Windows, but for those rare instances where I need to install it, I have to say that I was always tempted by Autopatcher. And I never ran it for the reasons stated (unknown source of patches.)

What I did use was a script to download and install updates automatically. I could read the script and verify that it was doing what it claimed to be doing, and that it was getting updates from Microsoft.

The answer: Offline-Update. Saves a lot of reading

[Futurepower(R)]

Use Heise Security Offline-Update [heise.de] to patch any installation of Windows XP with the latest service packs and security updates.

Why? Heise Offline-Update handles everything. It comes from a reputable company that makes money selling other security services; they have a strong incentive to do it right. To make the CD or DVD, it downloads all the patches from Microsoft's servers, and makes an .ISO file which you burn to a CD or DVD. To use Heise Offline-Update, you insert the CD or DVD, start the program, and let it run.

Shortcomings of Heise Offline-Update? 1) It does only security updates. 2) The web site is mostly in German, although there is an older English explanation [heise-online.co.uk].

Why not the others? 1) Autopatcher and others were much more amateurish. Autopatcher is now back with a scheme like Heise Offline-Update, but that is after months of experimentation. The volunteers at Autopatcher don't seem to have the resources necessary. See the Autopatcher downloads [autopatcher.com] page which says "This page will be back very soon :)" (2008-02-12). Before, Autopatcher provided patches directly from their servers; Microsoft stopped that, due to security risks, it said. But Microsoft did not provide its own solution.

Problems with Slashdot: 1) Bad stories create bad discussions. Slashdot editors apparently don't know much about Microsoft Windows. Almost all Slashdot readers have to deal with Windows, even if only to help family and neighbors. Sloppy stories that have not been researched waste reader's time. 2) Lots of readers comment when they don't have much to say.

That said, Slashdot is by far the best web site I know for computer-oriented news.

Problems with Microsoft: What Microsoft offers is not complete, so volunteers try to help. In my opinion, Microsoft is often extremely adversarial toward its customers.

It has been more than 3 years since Microsoft issued a Service Pack for Windows XP; that has wasted the time of hundreds of thousands because Windows XP is so unstable and buggy and malware-prone that it often needs re-loading. Often malware replaces a system file, and the only way to recover is to re-load the operating system. Re-loading Windows XP preserves all the programs and settings; however, the latest Windows XP CD from Microsoft has only Windows XP Service Pack 2; there have been hundreds of megabytes of updates since then, making updating over a dial-up connection extremely slow.

Microsoft does have a system for updating, but the system requires the very expensive Windows Server 2003, which requires a network and at least one other computer. Obviously requiring all that creates problems in helping someone with his or her home computer, or with a cash register computer in a small store, for example.

More problems with Microsoft -- Windows Update often fails. Amazingly, Microsoft is unable to deliver an updating system that works reliably. I just worked on a friend's computer, for example, and running Windows Update gives a long numerical error message with no help for fixing the error.

There have been many, many different kinds of problems with Windows Update. See, for example, Microsoft's Windows Update Discussion Group [microsoft.com].

I guess that millions of hours are lost every year because of Microsoft's sloppy programming. Bill Gates deserves his title, Chief of Grief, although soon the chair-throwing, bad-mouthing Steve Ballmer [slashdot.org] will be the Chief, apparently. (The

IBM is a special case, in my opinion.

[Futurepower(R)]

"It [Microsoft] is not IBM, that reinvented itself."

I think IBM is a special case. Companies with offices in more than one location need technical support, and few support agencies besides IBM have offices in every populated area, including in other countries. In general, it is very unattractive for companies to try to contract for support with more than one support agency.

The people who contract with IBM are often not technically knowledgeable enough to fully understand if they get bad service. So, i

It is all about control

[EmbeddedJanitor]

"Not on MS servers" is FUD, not a valid reason. For MS it is all about controlling the distribution chain.

It is all about reputation

[Anonymous Coward]

Which is why an open source hacked distribution server isn't a big deal. Just go to another server.

Re:

[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

Re:Pirates are pirates......

[William-Ely]

For me it's not about trusting the update source, it's about having a copy of the updates ready for install on a computer when time is an issue. Not everyone has the bandwidth to suck down 270 Meg service packs... yet. I used Autopatcher frequently when I was an on site PC tech since it saved a lot of time for my clients.

Re:

[COMON$]

I could be wrong but I sued to bea ble to download all the patches to a given MS product in a redistributable form. It was a pain the first time around but after that I created my own Disk with a script that updated XP with all the patches. Now I havent had cause do do this in a little over a year or two since I don't work with remote sites anymore. But I would assume you can still do it. I do remember it being difficult to get to the section on MS's site where you could get all the patches in an offline

Re:

[dmbrun]

Wasn't there also some complaint that Autopatcher were also seeking money for their services as well?

Re:

[schnikies79]

I followed Autopatcher pretty closely and the closest they had to seeking money was asking for donations via Paypal on their website. There were never any nags in their software, nor any reduced functionally if you didn't donate.

Re:

[Sancho]

Providing the signature is checked, they cannot be meaningfully tampered with.

That's a big "providing." Someone using a third-party tool to download and install patches isn't going to be checking the signature first.

Does it include genuine advantage?

[rucs_hack]

I've never installed that, and I don't want to, I object to the very idea of it. It's not much of a hardship, since I don't use any Microsoft programs aside from the OS and office anyway, so I don't care about the blocked stuff.

This cd would be great unless it included WGA. Can anyone enlighten me?

Re:

[1u3hr]

Yes. You have to run WGA before you can use it.

To download Project Dakota, you need to validate the computer you are downloading it on. Please download this tool direct from Microsoft and paste the code into the box below.

Why am i seeing This page?

The developers believe that a WGA check and the new Terms and Conditions of download will prevent us from being shutdown by Microsoft

So, thanks, but no thanks.

Re:

[myowntrueself]

I got to that page after waiting patiently for each intervening page to load...

I'm downloading on a Mac so no WGA validation for me...

Re:

[ncc74656]

I'm downloading on a Mac so no WGA validation for me...

Try IE running under Wine on Linux. It'll validate as "genuine"...no kidding [slashdot.org].

Re:

[irtza]

if MS wanted to roll out an "evil" patch - they would merely embed it as part of a much needed security update. Don't include the evil patch and your system will remain compromised. Works a lot better than trying to kill this project. but I do agree with the control issue, just don't think that this takes away as much control as it lets on (except bypassing WGA?)

Re:

[LordSnooty]

If MS rolled up patches into one bundle - not a service pack as we know it but a rolling update of all patches to date - then there'd be no need for AutoPatcher. Many homes and small offices run multiple copies of Windows and executing Windows Updates on each in turn is a world of pain. For a start it takes 10 mins just to evaluate which patches you need. Why do they find this disagreeable?

Re:

[Mostly a lurker]

Say in the future MS want to push out a patch that is so mean and so unethical that Autopatcher refuse to include ...

... or, perhaps, a patch that checks whether you are running a licensed copy of Windows and connects to Microsoft every day as part of that process (maybe called Windows Genuine Advantage or something).

I personally think it significant that Microsoft acted against Autopatcher shortly after they added MS Office support.

It was bad news when Microsoft stepped on AP. Where I live, plenty of

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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:

[zebs]

And misses the original point - one download that can be applied to any number of PCs

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:

[Chyeld]

I've looked online a bit on how to do this and never really found more than people saying it was a PITA to accomplish. What is the best way of taking the Autopatcher files and getting them to nlite? Or is the effort involved one of the reasons you only do it once a month?

Re:

[jp10558]

Wouldn't it be easier (and faster) to create a Syspreped image with Acronis, and use Universal Restore to get the HAL + Mass Storage Drivers right?

If I pay attention I can get a fully configured system going in 35 minutes using the image, and it'd be faster if we didn't have a hundred different hardware configurations that requires me use DriverGenius to inject the rest of the drivers once I'm booted.

Re:

[kaoshin]

The hard part would be justifying the insane licensing costs for that stuff when there are free methods of accomplishing the same end result.

Re:Criminal OS Maintenance Time Wasters

[somersault]

How do you propose to make inefficiency illegal exactly? All OSes provide patches. Microsoft weren't even going to do an SP3 and it's good that they are still releasing updates (can't believe I'm defending MS there...). Releasing the updates on CD ROM is wasting oil and probably a lot more energy than it takes to download the patches (have no idea how much electricity either process uses, but the amount of plastic we waste is incredible). What you said sounds like it could be a joke, but for some reason you seem serious. For the sake of humanity, will someone pass an anthropology law making stupidity illegal?

Re:

[tepples]

I understand that America is a big place and it's difficult to connect that last few percent of people out in the middle of nowhere

For these people, the fastest Internet access they can get is IDSL at $79 to $99 per month, and the next step up is a T1. When members of one of these last few percents are active contributors to some of the forums I visit (gbadev.org and tetrisconcept.com), it's hard for me forget about them.

but I'd think the majority of peeps still have broadband?

You use that word "majority". At what percent of remaining user base should, say, Microsoft discontinue support for Windows XP?

If you're on dialup you're not likely to be online much anyway, as well as having a dynamic IP, therefore you have a bit of security by obscurity anyway.

You appear to underestimate the power of Warhol worms [wikipedia.org], which can port-scan the entire IP

Re:

[jridley]

I can't get DSL of any kind. I have cable, but if I lived a half mile farther north, I'd be in dialup land. I'm less than 30 miles from Ann Arbor Michigan, one of the original major hubs of the internet.
Where I grew up, there is no high speed available for about 40% of the area, except for satellite. If my choice were satellite, I'd stick with dialup.

Re:

[wolrahnaes]

A dynamic IP hasn't been a decent protection against any form of attack for ages. Sure, back when most attacks were directed at a specific target it might have helped, but for at least the last few years the kind of threats targeting the average Windows XP (or any other desktop OS for that matter) user are automated and basically use the shotgun approach against entire subnets at a time.

For example, drop an unpatched Windows XP RTM box on the internet, no firewalls or anything, and watch it get infected wi

Re:

[somersault]

Scary stuff. I guess I wasn't aware just quite how many zombies there are doing their master's bidding. Sad how things have got to this stage.

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]

Re:

[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:

[Splab]

I tried to slipstream my latest XP install with nlite, but got told that I couldn't patch a 64bit installer while under 32bit OS, don't know if its nlites fault or windows, but sure sucked not knowing about the other products - took 20 or so reboots from install to completion to get all updates down.

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:

[therufus]

After installing nLite, get the majority of patches from RyanVM's website [ryanvm.net]. Any extra patches can be downloaded and applied after that, but his post SP2 update pack covers most of the big ones.

Re:

[Omniscient Ferret]

I prefer the smithii system, [smithii.com] using a makefile. It's easier to examine, & it slipstreams all the updates.

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.

Re:

[ozbird]

I used this [smithii.com] to go one better: Windows XP + SP2 + (most) post-SP2 patches, slipstreamed. When I was last forced to rebuild XP, it worked like a charm.

Re:

[cowbutt]

I've used the Heise offline update tool, and I'd certainly prefer its approach (i.e. downloading the hotfixes directly from microsoft.com) to putting my trust in a random person compiling a .iso image for me. Yes, I need to place a little bit of trust that Heise's tool isn't sabotaging the stuff it downloads, but they've earnt that trust from me over the last decade.

I can't be the only one that thinks this

[onlysolution]

Seriously, the fact that MS doesn't provide something like this for all Windows XP customers is bordering on criminal in my mind.

Re:

[leenks]

Err, Windows Update? The Windows Catalogue lets you download all updates for a particular OS into a directory for offline installation. They aren't *that* far behind...

Re:

[J_Doh!]

but still behind

Re:

[RupW]

Err, Windows Update? The Windows Catalogue lets you download all updates for a particular OS into a directory for offline installation. They aren't *that* far behind...

Actually they've ruined it IMO - there's no longer an easy 'download all updates for this OS and IE combination', there's now a single-textbox search interface and the help is useless. If anyone knows how to tell the new interface "find me all updates for XP SP2" I'd love to hear :-/

The problem with Windows Catalogue downloads is that you can't (AFAICR) point Windows Update at them and tell it to apply all of these updates in one go - you need to install them one at a time and reboot lots. The Windows\Soft

Re:

[KDR_11k]

At least in the past MS would ship you a disc full of patches for the cost of the postage (or even completely free, not sure) if you asked for it.

Re:

[jacksonj04]

What happened to the XP installer 'checking for updates' during install time? I've never once seen it do something useful, but even a simple "I got to the interwebs and there are some patches, should I install them now (Will take n hours to download) or do you wanna do it afterwards?" would be great. Slipstreaming into a live install must be possible somehow.

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...

Re:

[NickCatal]

Exactly. I download XP copies to use with my 100% legit keys just because I want the slipstreamed versions with the latest updates.

Re:slipstreaming anyone

[eddy]

Slipstreaming solves a different problem (new installs). A slipstreamed installation media is pretty useless (as far as I know) when I go to person B to update his/hers ancient installation. I just want to able to run program X from a CD/DVD/USB-memory and have the system fully up to date, preferably within a single reboot.

MS should really just put up a patch-OS-DVD torrent and keep it updated in such a way that new additions doesn't completely rewrite the structure (so a torrent update goes quickly). Would be a bit of work for them initially, but it would deliver something useful to their customers. Ah, well. Guess they're to busy marketing Vista.

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.

all the patches?

[Anonymous Coward]

Can it be limited to the security updates? Some of the patches are really suspicious.

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.

sounds like a copyright violation

[martin-boundary]

Does Microsoft allow third parties to distribute official patches? If not, this sounds like a copyright violation.

Re:sounds like a copyright violation

[juventasone]

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

Re:

[juventasone]

one=done

Re:

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

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

Well, the pirates can - seems like there are monthly pirate releases all over the net with the latest patches slipstreamed in.

Re:

[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:

[Sancho]

That's partially true. You can download the WSUS server from Microsoft so that you can run your own Windows Update server.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[onedotzero]

Why use WindizUpdate?

Hrm. Reminds me of Geordie Windows 98 [ntlworld.com]

Re:

[XO]

Hm. Went to their site, it told me it wanted me to isntal a browser plugin.... alrighty then, install it, it completely freezes the browser upon installation, which i have to kill from taskman, then it completely freezes explorer, which i kill with taskman, and then it comes back and says that the plugin is not installed, please install it.

Fantastic program.

Re:

[morari]

Ah, Windiz. It works great! I used to use it all of the time back when I was afraid of installing the WGA check. That is pretty easily cracked nowadays though.

Innovative?

[unbug]

Providing an OS + released patches on one CD is actually innovative? Oh my...

Anyone have a torrent?

[erroneus]

C'mon! I know there must be one out there.

:O

[joaommp]

Did it all fit onto a single CD?? :O

Once CD that patches Windows?

[MikeUW]

I think this has already been invented: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download [ubuntu.com]

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

... then all you'll need is a patch [linuxmint.com] for Ubuntu and another patch [kde.org] for Gnome.

Re:

[AndGodSed]

Oh, and they sent me the disks. For free. Best value for money upgrade I ever had.

just quietly

[spandex_panda]

Theres a dude that builds an iso on tpb which will install a fully updated and updateable sp3 xp install with included handy apps, which is quite easy to use and the thing I will probably always use on my other partition (which is rarely used only for games or unruly applications which don't like wine or virtualisation)

"The Dakota Project"

[Thanshin]

"The Dakota Project"

"A one-man effort to provide all Windows XP SP2 updates on one downloadable CD."

With:

Bruce Willis as The Architect
Jennifer Lopez as Dakota
Will Smith as Bill Gates

also starring...

[Loibisch]

Also starring:

the Evil Monkey [google.com] as Steve Ballmer

Re:

[myowntrueself]

Will Smith as Bill Gates

Thats about the worst casting for the role that I could think of.

How about Woody Allen as Bill Gates?

Re:

[Thanshin]

Pure coincidence, but now I can almost see Bill Gates cast as Muhammad Ali.

  The Man. The Legend. The Vista.

MS are morons....

[cheekyboy]

They really think doing 100 updates, and 12 reboots is ok? Get real, maybe if you work for ms and want to waste 3 days work not working.
If I was bill gates, I would walk right into the OS group and say, "listen MOFO loosers, make a single one time update for all fucking patches under 100meg, no online wizards"

I think Bill Gee has a personal IT ass-sistant keeping his top of the line laptop always ready & working. If only Billy knew how shit his OS was. This goes to a few linux distros too,
stop this madness 5.1 6.1 7.0 8.1 every 6 month, just update a .1 DVD ISO every 3months for gods sake, and up its number. Major release numbers should ONLY be needed if the kernel changes.

Frigging bloody BA Managers. Clueless about IT.

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:

[Barny]

Hrmm, last time I installed XP (uh, did it 6 times today... its my job) raw there was 88 windows updates, not "100s".

For the record, using a CMD file you can script them all to run at once or...

Search MS site for sbbypass.exe (or find it elsewhere) start up sysprep (required to run sbbypass.exe) run the bypass, then close sysprep, reboot once and you are fully patched, takes around 10 min on dsl :)

Re:

[stinerman]

I wish they would have more long term maintenance kernels too like 2.6.16 and keep all the crazy stuff for the kernels in between.

Well Linus thought his and his contributors' fu was so good that they could merge the stable and unstable trees. I think distros can do the heavy lifting when it comes to debugging the fast moving target that is 2.6.

Install cycle

[isorox]

Boot PC
F12 - PXE boot
"ubuntu-710-server"
enter hostname
*wait 20-40 minutes depending on time of day and bandwidth*

Fully uptodate, patched installation, ready to go, with essential utils installed like sshd, snmp, npt, etc.

If building a generic box, run "setup.sh", select role, and go. Depending on role thigns like apache are installed. Everyone's happy.

Nagios checked every 6 hours for critical security patches are flags them up, test and dev systems get them installed automatically, live systems get the OK (

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.

and I'm waiting for this one to get forked...

[mathnerd314]

Project North Dakota and Project South Dakota?

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:

[Sancho]

This doesn't solve the problem of updating a current Windows install offline.

Whoop-e-dy-doo

[ZeroExistenZ]

They used to ship these for free from MS HQ, even shipping was free. (I still have these "security updates" CDroms laying around. Got an invoice of 0 USD)

At the moment they seem to charge 8 (Offline SP2 CDrom [microsoft.com]). If you feel thats too much, download teh redistributable, burn it to cdrom or make a slipstreamed XP if you have to do alot of installations.

Do you trust a random guy "patching" your system? I don't.

Re:

[kasek]

you do realize you linked to a SP2 CD, while this article is discussing a CD containing all the POST-SP2 patches and updates?

I often build SP2 machines

[spywhere]

I frequently find myself in the exact situation for which this project was intended: I've just done a clean build of Windows XP SP2, and it's time to bring it up to date.
However, I prefer to change the sequence up a bit:

-- Run a scripted build from a modified SP2 CD.
-- Install all the 'inside-the-case' hardware drivers: IMHO, Windows Setup isn't complete until Device Manager is clean.
-- Install the Micro$oft Java VM, and its latest updated version (must be done as two steps, thanks to $un).
-- Install a Google-tweaked version of IE7.
-- Install the latest versions of Flash Player, QuickTime, Real Alternative, and Nero.
-- Install Media Player 10 (which reclaims all the file associations that Media Player can handle).
-- If the machine will get Office, install it.

-- Finally, open the Windows Update page, and immediately click over to Micro$oft Update. Choose the options to hide Media Player 11, and any video driver updates from M$ (they usually break things). Launch the process. Go to lunch.

If the project included an option for starting with a machine that already has IE7, has the M$ Java, and is meant to be left with MP10, it would be perfect for me.

Re:

[holden caufield]

Setup isn't complete until Device Manager is clean. -- Install the latest versions of Flash Player, QuickTime, Real Alternative...Media Player 10

You're concerned about the cleanliness of Device Manager, and yet you install Flash, Real, and MP10?
To paraphrase Mr. Montoya, "You use the word clean. I do not think it means what you think it means."

Here it goes

[eiapoce]

Here it goes another excuse for microsoft not to roll out a much needed service pack 3.

Don't forget to also add the driver packs to your

[Joe The Dragon]

Don't forget to also add the driver packs to your install disk

http://driverpacks.net/ [driverpacks.net]

you can also use RyanVM with it as well but then you likely will need a DVD as it will be to big for a cd.

Updates on CD are innovative?

[gig]

Only Microsoft could make downloadable updates suck so bad that an update CD would be called "innovative".

What MS sysadmin doesn't already make their own

[Culture20]

What MS sysadmin doesn't already make their own patch CD? Download all of the (critical and important) patches to a linux box, burn them onto a CD with a batchfile something like
for /f %%X ('dir /b *.exe') do %%X --quiet --noreboot && sleep 120

Then let the intarweb handle the non crit patches. Tada.

Re:

[Culture20]

for the pedant in all of us:

for /f %%X in ('dir /b *.exe') do %%X --quiet --noreboot && sleep 120

there, I fixed your^W^H my command line

Doing this at the moment :(

[hurfy]

You want a really awful experience try it a firewall/spyware suite installed that asks about system changes :/

At least 4 passes thru windows update and about 200 queries from the security software and MS programs toss in a few more questions for good measure. Right in the middle of 50 updates is IE7 that has to download more of itself so i can't download the updates,pull the plug and kill the security program, too obvious :(

I answer ok as i get the chance, when i get up, etc. as it is too far away to reach

Re:

[wile_e_wonka]

I work for the Geek Squad and we have had something like this for a while. It is called "Fix Computer" and will automatically format your hard drive and reinstall a clean version of XP, complete with updates. We use it for all of our customers that need a restore, have spyware of virus problems, or would like some new software installed.

Re:

[SuiteSisterMary]

And if you're doing it often enough, you're installing from a custom CD with the various service packs and vital patches already slipstreamed in, and letting your local SUS or SMS server deliver the non-critical-but-still-needed patches overnight or whatever, right?

Re:

[Sancho]

There have always been solutions you could use to solve this problem, though. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/wsus/default.aspx [microsoft.com]

Toss it on a laptop, and away you go.

Re:

[Culture20]

Last time I installed Windows, I left the network cable plugged in and the whole thing was done-in in 20 seconds. Worms & script kiddies still exist. Always offline update any OS.

Re:

[Culture20]

The question is, how do you know you've never been attacked while updating? I only knew because drivers started going wonky. The only way to be _sure_ is to do updates offline, and lock down the machine before it ever touches the 'net. BTW, "Just because you can't protect yourself" is a silly comment to make when you're advocating online updates to an OS that has open remote exploits by default (whether it be windows or Solaris with their silly telnet issues).