Software Deployment

Extract from Microsoft's "Overview of Windows XP Service Pack 3" PDF document

"Tools and guidance for system administrators have not fundamentally changed from Windows XP SP2.

"For comprehensive information, visit the Deploy Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Service Pack 2 Deployment Information sites on Microsoft TechNet."

so I'm guessing that all the qualifiers for SP2 deployment will work for SP3 as well. So if the SP3-specific information is hard to find, maybe you could try

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb457085.aspx



Regards,

Spartacus

This is what I thought, in the end I used the same switches as I did with SP2 and as you say it worked (thank you).

I have come across a problem with Novell Client 4.91 SP4 after installing SP3 v3264 (not 3244) but this was resolved by simply reinstalling the Novell Client afterwards. I'll be testing more on Windows XP SP3 v3264 over the following days and I'll see how everything goes.

Just to clarify for others, the switches for Windows XP SP2 and SP3 are:-

Command-line option Description


/U or /passive Uses default options and does not require user interaction. If you use this option, only critical error prompts appear on screen during the installation process.

/F Forces other applications to close at shutdown.

/N Does not back up files for removing the service pack.

/O Overwrites OEM files without prompting.

/Z Does not restart the computer after the installation is completed.

/forcerestart Restarts the computer after the installation is completed.

/norestart Specifies that the computer will not restart the when installation is completed.

/Q or /quiet Uses quiet mode (the same as unattended mode, but with the user interface hidden from view). If you use this option, no prompts appear on screen during the installation process.

/L Lists installed Windows updates, critical updates, and security updates.

/integrate:path Combines the operating system with the service pack in a shared distribution folder for an integrated installation.

/uninstall Uninstalls the package.

/help Displays the same information as /?.

/d:path Backs up files for removing the service pack into the folder you specify.

/n Does not back up files for uninstalling the service pack.

I've been testing this for a bit longer now and come across a couple of more major problems.

The main one being I have watched SP2 machines takes in excess of 45 minutes to complete this upgrade. I have even extrated all the files from the SP3 executable file, and then attempt to run the install from there which seems to make no difference in the installation time.
The installation is succesful but as I say, very slow. If the official release of SP3 later in the year takes this long it's going to be hard to get it across to my users without a lot of complaints! :-)

Any ideas or comments would be good....