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The purpose of slipstreaming a service pack into ones original installation media is simply so that subsequent clean installations already include the Service Pack.

Slipstreaming SP3 into MCE 2005 DOES NOT WORK at this stage.

You can use any version of Windows XP, including the original GOLD release or a version which includes SP1 or SP2 as Service Pack 3 is cumulative and includes all updates found in SP1 and SP2.

I'll provide a brief guide using both the Microsoft commands and nLite.


The Tools

I've used the following items:

ISOBuster. The trial version works just fine to extract the Windows XP Boot Image file. This file makes the CD bootable so it is important.

WinRAR. I use this to extract the contents of the downloaded SP3 executable. I think the trial version will work but haven't tried it because I've got an older paid for version.

Windows XP Service Pack 3. This should be available at the link I've posted from Monday 28 April.

CD Burning Software. This needs to be able to create a bootable CD. I use Nero 6 and Nero 7 but I believe Alchohol 120% works good as well. Not sure about the trial versions giving full functionality though.

nLite. This may be easier to use for some. It's not my preferred method as it takes a bit of getting used to the interface, but hey it's a choice you have.


The Microsoft Command Based Process

1. Create three folders on the root of your Windows XP installion. Keep them named exactly as below so that the commands you run from the Run dialog box are correct if you just copy and paste them:

XPBootImage
XPCD
XPSP3

2. Use ISOBuster to extract the Microsoft Corporation.img file from your original XP CD. Place it in the XPBootImage folder.




3. Copy the contents of your original XP CD to the folder named XPCD. You MUST have Folder Options set to "Show hidden files and folders" and "Hide protected operating system files" must be unchecked.

4. Copy the downloaded Windows XP SP3 file (WINDOWSXP-KB936929-SP3-X86-ENU.EXE) to the XPSP3 folder. If you downloaded the ISO image from MSDN or TechNet, extract the file from the ISO image using WinRAR.

5. Extract the contents of the SP3 file using WinRAR by right clicking it and select "Extract here". You'll end up with a i386 folder together with the SP3 file in the XPSP3 folder.

(If anyone has a working command to run from the Run dialog box, please post it. I couldn't figure the application switches to do that successfully and got it to go to a temp file. One can copy and paste it all from there, but WinRAR works very well).

6. Open the Run dialog box and copy and paste this command there and then click OK: C:\XPSP3\i386\Update\Update.exe -S:C:\XPCD

This integrates SP3 into your XPCD.




Burning your new SP3 CD with Nero.

Open Nero Burning ROM and select CD>CD-ROM (Boot). Select Image File and browse to the XPBootImage folder. Make sure "all files" is selected when you browse to find it.

Check "Enable expert settings" and for Kind of Emulation select No Emulation. Number of load sectors must be changed to 4 otherwise all the other defaults can be kept.




Next, click on New, browse to your XPCD folder, Select all and then Copy to Compilation. Click on the Burn Icon, make sure select Finalize CD and Disc-at-Once, again click on Burn and and insert your blank CD when prompted to.




The nLite Based Process

Download nLite and install it.

Create a folder called XP-nLite.

Insert your XP CD and open nLite, browse to your XP CD and then select the XP-nlite folder as your destination folder.






When the file copy process is complete, click Next twice, then select Service Pack and browse to where you have the downloaded SP3 file. Wait for the integration process to finish.




nLite will close, but open it again and click Next until you get to the Presets page. Select Last Session and Click Next. Select Bootable ISO and then select where you want the ISO image to be placed.






Once the image had been created, I used Nero to burn it to CD as I couldn't get nLite to browse to the image to burn it.