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Details of Changes in Windows XP Service Pack 2

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There's been alarm expressed in certain quarters following reports like this one suggesting that Windows XP Service Pack 2 could break some existing applications. I wanted to counter this somewhat, or at least provide some potential remedies for those of you who are developing software today that needs to be tested against this new release.

  • Firstly, we've made a whole wealth of resources available online that provides training on how to modify your applications accordingly. One of those resources, known as the Book of XPSP2, lists every single change, the potential impact of that change for your own code and workarounds as necessary.
  • Secondly, Windows XP Service Pack 2 is available for download to MSDN Subscribers. I've heard from a few of you that would like to see it more broadly available, and I can certainly empathise with that request. Equally though, the purpose of MSDN is to provide exactly this kind of resource: monthly updates of our developer platform and tools. If you're doing professional software development for Windows, MSDN is the single best resource for beta and released software, SDKs, support and documentation.
  • Thirdly, we do have a formal beta programme for all service packs these days to ensure that they are at least as well tested as the major releases on which they're based. Unfortunately I think the XPSP2 beta programme is now closed to new nominations as the release date is drawing ever closer.
  • Lastly, I don't think it's quite as bad as people are fearing. The changes that are being made protect end-users from the increased threat posed by worms, trojan horses and spyware today, and for most applications will go unnoticed. Once you read the specifics about the changes made, you'll hopefully agree that only a very few niche applications will require modifications to work in the new environment.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    March 08, 2004
    LSN WebLog » Details of the changes in windows xp SP2
  • Anonymous
    March 08, 2004
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    March 08, 2004
    The XP SP2 package in MSDN seems to be an older version of SP2 instead of the new one released few weeks back. It is dated December last year.

    Could anyone confirm this! When will subscribers get the new SP2 package.
  • Anonymous
    March 08, 2004
    I received my new update build 2088, but via download. I did not get my CD but with the first release instead. You have to unistall the old build before you install the new update.

    Just be patient. All will go well in the end.

  • Anonymous
    March 09, 2004
    Echoing the concerns of "MSDN Subscriber" -- the MSDN download looks a bit old - could you do a little prodding to get the latest version up there, Tim?
  • Anonymous
    March 09, 2004
    The build that's posted there is the official beta release. We've made some interim releases available to beta testers, but the next release published on MSDN will probably be the release candidate, which is due fairly soon now.
  • Anonymous
    March 09, 2004
    Im impressed with the interim build

    Its the most stable beta service pack ive ever used

    Security center is also very cool ;)
  • Anonymous
    March 22, 2004
    SP2 Beta broke our program. It's a VB6 program using 'Remote Automation' (introduced in VB4) as communication platform between computers. This doesn't work anymore. Anyone who knows a solution?
  • Anonymous
    March 22, 2004
    Johan,

    That's probably because of the RPC lockdown in XPSP2. Remote Automation is not the most secure mechanism for doing distributed communication. You probably already know that it was superseded by DCOM and then .NET Remoting a long while ago, and your best bet is to migrate off it if at all possible. Still, have a look at the Book of SP2 link in the main article - there's a description of the RPC changes and how to re-enable the relevant functionality.

    If you still need additional help, you might want to try a post to the OLE newsgroup here:
    http://msdn.microsoft.com/newsgroups/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.win32.programmer.ole

    Cheers, Tim
  • Anonymous
    March 22, 2004
    As mentioned elsewhere in the blog, XP SP2 RC1 is now available at http://www.microsoft.com/sp2preview - hope this helps those of you who aren't MSDN subscribers.
  • Anonymous
    March 24, 2004
    Tim, thanks for the timely SP2 RC information. Going off to test to see how it works in our test environments.
    Regards,Ed
  • Anonymous
    April 06, 2004
    Brief update - this looks like quite a promising webcast if you're wanting to understand these changes in more detail:
    http://www.placeware.com/cc/mbsevents/meetingICS?id=XP+SP2&role=attend&pw=ISV&i=i.ics
  • Anonymous
    May 07, 2004
    XP SP2 RC1 issues
  • Anonymous
    May 12, 2004
    Tim, you seem to know a lot about the service pack - perhasp you'd be able to answer some of my queries posted here:

    http://e-oddie.com/blog/professional/archive/2004/05/09/292.aspx

    Thanks!
  • Anonymous
    May 25, 2004
    I dont know what happened , but my OS crashed after installing the Service Pack 2 , I tried an uninstall as I ahd done a backup and I restored eveything, I am scared to do it again , but I know its needed, Taking help from a friend now !
  • Anonymous
    April 21, 2005
    Wheee. SP2 rocks.
  • Anonymous
    September 12, 2005
    After playing with XP SP2 RC1 for a while I still have a few things which bother me.I had a look at group...