Gurgelmeyer

@Tomcat76 - yes, that's exactly what I mean @janerik - look up any patch on microsoft.com and check the file versions. You'll have real trouble finding one which is not included. That's the only way to verify unless you actually have all the patches yoursel. Won't bother with the latest security patches until I make the Option Pack versions, because it's a never ending story, and they all support /integrate I believe. Gurgelmeyer B)

Unofficial SP5 is cumulative

@ghost87rulez - Sure, TweakUI is a "must" for most of us - myself included. How could I forget it in the first place - It should be in the Extreme Edition for sure, maybe the Standrd Edition too - dunno, have to make up my mind on that @janerik - No - in case USP5 is finished earlier than URP1½ I'll do a USP5a. @The BigSabowski - Thanks - I appreciate a kind word from time to time - maybe the best way to define the Basic Option Pack is SP5 + "all the Critial / Required updates from WU" -- ? Would make sense wouldn't it? All packages (except the beta components, which will disappear, and maybe the MSJVM 3810) will have slipstream capabilities. Did a little testing with my own W2K PRO: - W2KPRO Gold: 354 MB - W2KPRO with SP4 integrated: 367 MB - W2KPRO wirh SP5 integrated: 361 MB The reason that the slipstreamed SP5 image is smaller than the SP4 image is, that I remove all unreferenced drivers from DRIVER.CAB (just like nLite). Gurgelmeyer B)

@Randy Rhoads - You really think DX9 should be in the basic Option Pack? Well - so it shall be @ghost87rulez - Let's not forget about the "new" login screen either - dunno what exactly to do with Netpune - but it looks as if one could make a solid OS out of it by borrowing the latest versions of all files from W2k. Anyway - DTC server is now supported by SP5 - it had it's quirks (especially because I havn't got it to test on myself). Install/upgrade is not supported on DTC - only /integrate. Anyone using it? Hope MS URP1 is among todays updates on WU

@RyanVM - I made a hotfix with 331 catalogs for testing - it didn't give me any problems on 2k. Haven't tried integrating them though - is that what causes problems on XP? @ghost87rulez - What a nice PM Generally: there will be no component "upgrades" in USP5. The only exception to this rule is msxml3®.dll, which is required by several security updates. (IE501 is not such a terrible browser I might add). The Option Pack Basic Edition will be USP5 + the updates (incl. IE6) from WU - excl NETFX and WMP9. The Option Pack Standard Edition will be USP5 + all the "official" component upgrades. The Option Pack Extreme Edition will be USP5 + all the "official" and "unofficial" component upgrades + whatever seems to be able to run on 2k. Once again: this project is not just about integrating whatever shows up on WU

That's good news : Hopefully they'll fix the CPU HALT / HALMACPI.DLL problem too

Yep - I've had three problems: 1 - In the very first update pack I gave all cat's the same timestamp. That turned out to be a very bad idea when slipstreaming the update pack manually, because somehow the timestamps are important. So all cat's have their original timestamp now. 2 - When integrating USP5 Windows Setup leaves a lot of SET*.TMP files in %systemroot%, because it appears to install the .cat files twice - first at the beginning of GUI setup, and later just before or after it processes the [setupHotfixesToRun] section. That's either an 'error by design' in Setup I believe - or it serves some strange purpose. 3 - Copying the .cat files to the CatRoot\{GUID} subdir directly using txtsetup (I tried that once) doesn't install them. Only "proper" (=no hacks allowed) way still seems to be svcpack.inf - or RunOnce reg entries, but I haven't tried that method yet. Other than that I've not had any trouble with the .cat's. Could be fun to make a setup for your update pack too (hotstream v2)

I'm not very good with deadlines - but it only needs a few hours work now. But next week is very possible endeed

@mitchellovision - Would be great A little info for everyone: final SP5 will support Datacenter Server. Someone on the other side of ths planet helped me running some tests. Neat, huh? B)

Dunno if this helps, but the IE6 (US version at least) changes some mouse setting in the reg. To undo it you may try this: Rename the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Microsoft Input Devices\Mouse\Exceptions\1001 to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Microsoft Input Devices\Mouse\Exceptions\584 This may not work - but it might be worth a try

Cool : - this thread is getting rather long.... I'll just make a final SP5 and have a word with the board admins B)

@wild weasel - Thanks for your support I don't have a license for XPlite, so I really don't know - but most likely it will work. If anyone tests it, please post the results B)

@hoak - Nice to see you in this thread again Yes, that would be possible. One of the many tools I've created for this project is a pre-beta of the NTGRATE mentioned awhile back, which does all the file integration, "chained" updates (multiple instances of the same binary), version comparison, treats .cab's as directories and rebuild everything nicely. To make this tool publicly available I'd need to put all the rules in a script file and use the Windows FCI/FDI (cabinet.dll) directly rather than embedding MS CABARC.EXE (which is what I do at the moment). It is not my top priority at the moment though. Guess I'll be chasing post-post-urp1 updates soon Best regards Gurgelmeyer

@prathapml - I'll take a look at LH/vista. Only reason I haven't so far is that I need a new PC to run it

Hi @mitchellovision - let's try the Me MovieMaker and SR first. @dirtwarrior - did Neptune ever escape from the MS build labs? I've never even heard about it, but it could be extremely interesting to have a look at it. I'm really curious

Hi The .theme file type is (almost completely) registered by themeui.dll in HKCR (themeui.dll actually has both a DllRegisterServer and a DllInstall entry point, so it might not be hard to install) The biggest issue - if we want xp binaries to run on other os'es (Microsoft or not), is the kernel support for Activation Contexts (Manifests). Activation Contexts have nothing to do with WPA I might add - I once believed they had, but they are now documented (more or less) on MSDN, and I was wrong. So: the NT loader simply cannot load those binaries, because it cannot resolve the missing dependencies to the Activation Context support in the NT5 kernel. There are a few more kernel functions which are unavailable in NT50, but the Activation Context entry poitnts are by far the most common. So a NT image load HELPER is needed - if I made one (and it's quite a project in itself I might add), any XP application would run on W2K (if I got it right), including WMP10, IE6SP2, Themes etc. So I spot a nice little project there I like the idea of adding the Me internet games to the Extreme edition - at least I see no reason not to. Generally, adding Me stuff is not nearly as complicated as adding XP stuff. Also msconfig should of course be in the Extreme edition too. It looks as if most would prefer either Standard Edition or Extreme Edition - am I right? The Basic edition is meant for servers actually, but Standard Edition would be just as suitable for server use, so I might not do the Basic Edition then. Another thing: drivers! A driver pack would be nice wouldn't it - one of you mentioned it awhile back. At least the most common chipset .inf drivers? .inf drivers are really easy to add to the built in drivers I might mention. Best regards, Gurgelmeyer B)

I'm about to make an SP5 FINAL very soon. Got some rebuilt hotfixes from one of the COOLEST guys in here - THANK YOU : When SP5 is final I'll repack the MSJVM 3810 in a way that supports /integrate. I won't add it to SP5 though (don't worry). In the mean time you guys need to help me figure out what the Option Pack should contain. Maybe there should be more than one edition? Like this: - Option Pack Basic Edition = SP5 + IE6 + BITS2 + MSI31 + Security Updates - Option Pack Standard Edition = SP5 + IE6 + BITS2 + MSI31 + MDACxx + WMP9 + DX9C + GDIPLUS + ... (all the "native" w2k stuff, all the security updates, all the hotfixes) - Option Pack Extreme Edition = SP5 + IE6SP2 (if possible) + MDAC + WMP10 (if possible) + SR (if possible) + Themes (if possible) ... Just a suggestion - but please think about it, and post your thoughts. I won't include any third party software though. Best regards Gurgelmeyer B)

Hi, The Option Pack will support /integrate. Reminds me, I better finish the SP5 before I get too carried away researching themes and SR -Gurgelmeyer B)

@dirtwarrior - SP5 is now RC3, and I'm about to build the final version within a few days. Haven't done a public Option Pack yet, but I'm looking forward to it - at the moment I'm about to do a little research to see what it takes to run the themes service, since that seems to be what everyone wants the most. It has taken far longer than expected to make the unofficial SP5 - mostly because I got ambitious and did a "real" SP rather than a non-cumulative one. For all of you wondering why it says "SP4" everywhere, the reason is very simple: Technically it's no problem to change the number, but WU detects the SP level and doesn't work properly if it's set to 5. Simple as that! B)

Hi @dirtwarrior - it's hard but not impossible. Hardest part is probably to get rid of the actual NT 5.1/5.2 kernel dependencies - not all entry points are available in NT 5.0, but I'm sure there's a way around that too. Figured out what the "Access Denied" error is all about -- it's not a file replacement that causes this, it's a registry update. It only happens if a particular update has been installed from WUv6 - but I haven't figured out which one yet. Best regards, Gurgelmeyer B)

Hi First, some of you report an error during install when it reaces some dll - which dll is that exactly? I'd really like to fix this problem. Second - the Option Pack beta packages (DA.EXE, IC.EXE, etc) - don't support /integrate at all. Don't waste too much time on them - they'll be replaced. Best regards, Gurgelmeyer B)

Mmmm - that's a very good question. I'll have to take a look at WSUS to answer that I'll get back to you with an answer in a few days. Best regards Gurgelmeyer B)

Yes. Even WGA don't complain. Actually, the reason that it still says "SP4" in the system properties is, that WU coughs up blood if I cange it to SP5. I even tried to change it to 4a, but WU didn't like that either. Also you might occasionally be prompted to insert your SP4 CD (not by WU though). That's because I didn't want to break any digital signatures, and I'd have to modify syssetup.inf to change the CD prompt and the name of the .tst file in the cd root. Changing txtsetup.sif only affects the text mode part of Setup. You may download and integrate them manually - they do support /integrate I believe....? The real reason that I've chosen not to include them is, that I don't trust them - or more precisely: I don't trust WUv6. Please don't ask me why (not yet anyway).Nevetheless, I fully intend to include everyting (even the FS Filter driver from URP1) in the next version. Thanks - Yes, this version is a big cumulative hotfix pack which includes SP4, and no hacked files or non-w2k files are installed, and no security catalogs are broken. All installed files have a valid and properly signed .CAT file to vouch for them, which guarantees that they are authentic Microsoft files. The legal aspect is tough though. I honestly can't make any sense of the Microsoft EULA's, but if Microsoft calls me up because this package may - for some reason - be considered illegal, I'll pull it off the net. Also there's an Unofficial SP201 for 98SE, and there's RyanVM's XP Post-SP2 update pack. Both have existed for some time now. For all I care, you may use my packages for anything you like - as long as you don't modify them. Best regards, Gurgelmeyer

Will - please check the foo.bmp - something must be wrong somewhere, but I haven't got a clue myself. Anyone who wants SP5 badly but cannot dl it for technical reasons may send me a PM. Gurgelmeyer B)

Hi @At0mic - cool Awfully quiet in here... no bugs to report...?? Not even a single one? Did anybody try it at all?