Microsoft releases Windows XP SP3 RC2

Filed under: OS Updates, Windows, Microsoft

Microsoft releases Windows XP SP3 RC2

by Brad Linder Feb 20th 2008

Microsoft has released Windows XP Service Pack 3 Release Candidate 2 to the general public. For the last few weeks the latest pre-release version of SP3 was only available to about 15,000 beta testers. But now you can download the update from Microsoft's servers using Windows Update.

You'll need to run a script that will add a key to your Windows registry allowing you to download SP3 RC2. This is still pre-release software, so Microsoft isn't going to be pushing it on all Windows XP users just yet.

Microsoft has also posted the release notes for RC2, so you can read the long and mostly boring list of changes. There are a few new features under the hood, like "better black hole router detection," and "more descriptive text to explain the settings," but for the most part there's nothing to write home about. If you like to have the latest and greatest installed on your system at all times, you might want to check out XP SP3 RC2. If you'd rather have a stable system running software that's been well tested over the last few years, you might want to hold off for a while.

[via WinBeta]

Tags: rc2, service-pack, sp3, windows-xp, xp-sp3

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Taomyn said 10:56AM on 2-20-2008

It also needs mentioning that if you already have RC1 or earlier installed, it'll need uninstalling first or the update as shown in the image will not appear.

摩摩诘 said 9:12PM on 2-20-2008

The build number is 3311,and this update is only available for English/German/Japanese.

WolvenSpectre said 9:53PM on 2-20-2008

you can justdownload it via the tech center from this link:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=75ED934C-8423-4386-AD98-36B124A720AA&displaylang=en

Sebastian said 10:02AM on 2-24-2008

With your link you can only download SP3 RC1, not RC2.

nani007 said 7:34AM on 2-22-2008

thnx for windows xp sp3

jason said 11:45AM on 2-22-2008

has anyone installed SP 3 yet?? Im waiting until I have heard a few people have installed it ok

http://www.computing-tips.com

pbucha said 1:03AM on 2-23-2008

I installed SP2 RC1 when it came out and was very happy. Big speed improvement. I just now uninstalled RC1 and installed RC2. So far so good.

pbucha said 1:03AM on 2-23-2008

Dang...I meant SP3 of course.

str8_scorpio said 8:53AM on 3-10-2008

SP3 RC2 seems to be much better for me than RC1 which crashed my notebook. No crashes so far.

UI and program loading is faster.

cinema said 4:31PM on 3-17-2008

Sp3 is now improved but i dont see any crashes in sp3 rc1 but build rc2 is better and faster, but some fixes like WPA2 is some buggin'-when i connecting to Vista and Server 2008 (one time) it starting ask me password and within 5-7 sec. it closing and disconnecting...Anyway i cannot make my Wireless Network with no password.But if i connect to S2008 with no Vista no problem detecting...

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