XP SP2 RTMs!
Or, in plain English, “Windows XP Service Pack 2 has been Released To Manufacturing”.
Expect the bits to show up in your auto-update soon - and if you haven't already turned on auto-update, now is a great time to do so!
Note that I don't think we're saying how soon they'll show up for anyone, because one of the nifty features about auto-update is that updates can be “revealed” to only as many customers as we've actually got the bandwidth to handle. A bit of math reveals why: taking a guess at 100 MBytes for a typical SP2 download, and 100 million consumers using auto-update, gives us 8 * (100 * 106) * (100 * 106) = 80 * 1015 bits.
That's a bandwidth-hoggin', fat-pipe-chokin' 80 petabits of SP2 goodness going out from auto-update.
Update: Michael Swanson has posted a full time-line of when the bits go where:
8/6 Release to manufacturing
8/9 Release to Microsoft Download Center (network installation package)
8/9 Release to MSDN subscription site (CD ISO image)
8/10 Release to Automatic Updates (for machines running pre-release versions of Windows XP Service Pack 2 only)
8/16 Release to Automatic Updates (for machines NOT running pre-releases versions of Windows XP Service Pack 2)
8/16 Release to Software Update Services
Comments
- Anonymous
August 06, 2004
Has that much code really changed? Isn't there such a thing as intelligent patch technology in the year 2004 ? - Anonymous
August 06, 2004
Sure, but when you recompile big chunks of the kernel with /GS you're going to have to ship lots of bits no matter what you do (see Rebecca Norlander's video for Channel 9 at http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=9400) - Anonymous
August 06, 2004
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
August 07, 2004
Windows XP Service Pack 2 has been available on MSDN subscriber downloads since Aug, 06, three days early. - Anonymous
August 07, 2004
Ensight - Jeremy C. Wright » XP SP2 Rollout Schedule - Anonymous
August 11, 2004
I ran across this blog via Google, so I apologize if I'm posting uninvited here, but I had a question. http://www.softpedia.com/public/cat/13/9/13-9-177.shtml has SP2 available (appears to be the final RTM version) but it's on the order of 260 MB; most news I've seen talks about it being around 80 MB, someone a few posts up said 30 MB. Why the difference? FWIW I downloaded the 260 MB one, and it worked like a champ. - Anonymous
August 11, 2004
Just download the full package at the following address
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=049C9DBE-3B8E-4F30-8245-9E368D3CDB5A&displaylang=en - Anonymous
August 11, 2004
The full package of 260 MB will update any XP installation from any state, with any previous patches and service packs. Auto-update is smarter, and will only pull down those bits that it needs to update your particular installation - this is where the figures of 30 MB and 80 MB come from.
The posted link is therefore overkill for most users. It'll take you longer to download, it won't use BITS to download transparently in the background, it'll cost us more in bandwidth costs, and it won't get you any extra functionality. That's why the page says "for IT Professionals and Developers", and "DO NOT CLICK DOWNLOAD IF YOU ARE UPDATING JUST ONE COMPUTER" - we'd really prefer that home users wait for the auto-update popup to tell them that SP2 has magically been download to their machine, and just click here to upgrade... - Anonymous
August 11, 2004
I'm running v 2149 of SP2 (RC). I got the message that SP2 is now available for download and i told it to go ahead and download. It's been 24 hours since then and there is no message telling me that the download is complete. It shouldn't be so big for me since I'm already on a RC.
Danish - Anonymous
August 11, 2004
Danish - we're currently limiting the number of auto-update downloads per day (I forget the exact number, but it's somewhere in the millions). So my bet is that we hit our maximum yesterday, and you weren't one of the lucky ones. Give it another day or two before you start worrying! - Anonymous
August 11, 2004
Thanks Jonathan. Good to know that. I had a similar problem with an MSN 9.1 beta update that was supposed to "drizzle" like we MSN testers call it but turned out MSN had a server problem. They only figured it out 3-4 days after we started complaining in our NG.
Thanks again.
Danish - Anonymous
August 11, 2004
Found it - we're throttling to 2.5 million downloads a day. There's more info here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/janok/archive/2004/08/10/211635.aspx - Anonymous
August 12, 2004
Is there any difference on the file WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=049C9DBE-3B8E-4F30-8245-9E368D3CDB5A&displaylang=en
That was dated on AUG 8th and dated again on AUG 10th ? - Anonymous
August 12, 2004
The bits that get installed will be the same - there've been no updates to SP2. - Anonymous
August 12, 2004
Incidentally, I just got a popup on my laptop running SP2 RC2, telling me that automatic updates had downloaded SP2 RTM, and would I like to install it now. So things are working fine on this end - hopefully Danish has received a similar popup! - Anonymous
August 24, 2004
I have been waiting for autoupdate for sp2 for almost a wk now. For last whole wk it is showing me 0%. I am wondering why. I read abt limited number of downloads. But my laptop is generally on 24/7. I am not sure whats the deal. Can anyone help ? - Anonymous
August 25, 2004
Hi Abhjit - if you've got the download popup, but it's been stuck at 0% for a week, then something's definitely wrong. Have other auto-updates worked for you? Anyway, if rebooting doesn't fix it (yeah, yeah, I know, we shouldn't have to reboot all the time), then you've got a couple of choices:
- wait for SP2 to appear as an option on the Windows Update web page, manually select it, and see if that works any better
- go ahead and download the whole thing from the link given in earlier comments (if you've got broadband!) - Anonymous
August 29, 2004
Or, you could give Microsoft a call. In my experience, SP2 issues have been free support calls.