Windows SP1 & Windows SP2

[bonestonne]

ok, i've got three versions of XP..Home, Pro Sp1 and Pro Sp2. the home i don't really care about but is there a way to delete the service packs from the CD? i'm no fan of them, and it takes up room i'd rather have.. i may have just short of 50 gigs free, but this is a music editing machine for now, and i'd rather have the one i hope to have running soon clean. it'll get a 60+gig as the master and a 40gig for Adobe Auditions /temp folder.

is there a way to delete the service packs from the install CD? both are open licenses, and i'm willing to do experimenting with it.

any ideas?

Edited October 12, 2006 by bonestonne

[dougiefresh]

Considering intregrating the Service Packs overwrites files and does a fair amount of changing to other files, I would guess the answer to be no. And, besides, why would you want to go backwards? Service Packs offer a lot in the way of system security, as well as update some things to function better.

EDIT: Oh, what is an "open license"? I've never heard of the phrase before...... I've heard of VLK. Is this the same?

EDIT AGAIN: If you're needing a "bare-bones" configuration, why don't you check out nLite? nLite can strip out parts of Windows XP that you aren't either (1) interested in keeping, or (2) going to ever use. But, beware that once component(s) are stripped out, nLite can't add them back.

Edited October 12, 2006 by dougiefresh

[bonestonne]

from how the terms been described to me by my schools computer tech, it means that the CD can be legally copied for use within the company/people that buy it, and the serial can be used an unlimited number of times.

its how i learned it, maybe differently from others, but we all have our own twists on life.

being as windows XP has "Alexa" files on it [if you use Adaware SE you'll learn about those fast] i think i can do without. my home edition of XP doesn't have Alexa, but suddenly this Pro version with SP1 does, so i'm more thinking its SP1, not Pro.

to spoil the fun, Alexa is basically the history file of your IE browser. by adaware SE, its considered low risk spyware, because it leaves a trail. i don't use IE, but i hate the sound avast makes when it finds critical objects. also, if i don't use IE, why not just delete its history? easy as that.

also, from what i've read in other places about service packs, SP2 is a 'placebo', it basically takes files and moves them around, making you think you have more security.

both my XP Pro Sp1 and Sp2 CDs are open license, i can really just mess around as i like. the SP1 cd has a file called Sp1 or something along those lines, and my main idea was deleting that to not have a service pack. my computers all have basic uses really, Winamp, Trillian, Firefox, the occaisional use of photoshop 7, and the frequent use of Adobe Audition. none of them require service packs, which is the main reason i don't like photoshop CS2 or creative Zen Micro's.

i was considering nLite, but i wanted to know if i could alter it before even installing it. that way i don't run the risk of thinking something can be deleted, and having to start over. i have a pair of 40GB guinea pig drives right now, im waiting on the 60+GB drive. and that one is 60+ because someone threw it away and they weren't supposed to, now they have to give me a new one thats 60 or more, meaning it could be as much as 120 i guess, and Adobe Audition needs plenty of free space for editing, audio clips get very big, the same with video editing, which i do also.

[LLXX]

Considering intregrating the Service Packs overwrites files and does a fair amount of chaning to other files, I would guess the answer to be no. And, besides, why would you want to go backwards? Service Packs offer a lot in the way of system security, as well as update some things to function better.

I'm still using the original XP 5.1.2600, but modified and secured, and haven't run into any malware/security problems with it. Actually I recently bought a laptop, it came with XP SP2 (as well as a whole lot of other crap) and I also formatted and installed original XP on it. For some reason SP1 and SP2 seem to increase the memory usage. My advice: if it works, don't upgrade.

[bonestonne]

well, i don't want to upgrade, i want to take the service packs off the Professional discs..so instead of having windows XP Pro SP2, just have windows XP Pro. right now i have SP1 running because i didn't want to take it out and then have it fail to install.

[cluberti]

The answer to your question is both yes and no, and the answer changes depending on how much time you want to spend on it. Integration of a Service Pack into an i386 source overwrites quite a few files, modifies the .ini files with the new file data, and then dumps the .cab and .cat files for the service pack update into the i386 directory. If you know exactly which files were modified on your XP disc when you integrated SP2, you could just copy over RTM versions of those files into i386, delete the SP .cab and .cat files, and you'd be back to an RTM disc. However, if you want to do it the quick way, start over from a clean i386 from another disc of the same type (Pro OEM, Pro Retail, Pro VLK, whichever version you are using).

[TheFlash428]

One thing to realize, if a CD already has SP2 (or SP1) integrated, it's really not going to take up that much more disk space. Installing from an XP original gold disk and running all the updates to get it up to SP2 and beyond, well that will leave quite a large footprint on your diskspace.

If you're going to be connected to the Internet, you want SP2 and all the updates! (at least in my opinion).

By using NLite, you can remove the Alexa you speak of, plus a bunch of other stuff that actually does take up space, like unnecessary languages, support tools and documentation. Plus, you can integrate hotfixes (see RyanVM post-SP2 update pack), drivers, and tweak it your liking--all that and have an installation disk that is reduced in size. I use this method and the XP installations I run today are faster than using a standard (non-NLited) XP CD, and saves a ton of time in downloading and installing updates.

It's not so much wether or not you CAN remove a service pack; it's just that given your reasoning for motivation, I'm not sure you'd want to.