What do you do next after installing a fresh copy of Windows XP SP2 from the installation CD supplied by Microsoft ?

Chances are that you'll connect to the Windows Update website and wait for your computer to download and install the hundreds of security patches / updates released by the Windows team since the launch of XP SP2. Imagine if you have do repeat the exercise on your laptop.


One of the options we discussed sometime back was AutoPatcher XP - it contains all Windows XP hotfixes neatly packaged into an Microsoft style installer. Just run the program over your existing copy of XP SP2 and it will patch it with all the available Windows updates without connecting to the computer.

The only issue with AutoPatcher XP is that it takes two steps - you first have to install the XP SP2 on a computer and then run the AutoPatcher XP program to patch the Windows installation. How about combining them into a single step ?

Enter RyanVM MSFN pack - Unlike AutoPatcher XP which updates your Windows XP SP2 installation, RyanVM's pack will integrate all patches and hotfixes into your installation CD itself [also called slipstreaming]

This post XP SP2 patch slipstream option is supported for English versions of Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional. Life would have been much smoother had Microsoft not delayed the release of Windows XP SP3 but until then, you can build the XP SP3 installer disk with RyanVM.