What is a safe download link for Windows XP Service Pack 3?

Question

Is this still available from MS? If not can someone suggest a reliable 3rd party site that does not bundle adware/malware into the download?

Solution 1

Service Pack 2 and Service Pack 3 are available from Microsoft here: http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/

You must use Internet Explorer 6 or later.

Search for "XP Service Pack" (without quotes)

Solution 2

Note that SP3 itself is quite old by now; even with it installed, you'll still need to check Windows Update (if it still works) for a few more years' worth of patches.

Archived SP3 download links from the official website are:

• Digitally signed EXE installer (Authenticode):
  WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU.exe
  SHA1: c81472f7eeea2eca421e116cd4c03e2300ebfde4

• ISO image:
  xpsp3_5512.080413-2113_usa_x86fre_spcd.iso
  aka en_windows_xp_service_pack_3_x86_cd_x14-60489.iso
  SHA1: 8fa76ccea145d050fc6a506ffbdedfe53282e5b4

Solution 3

MS seem to have removed the XP down-loads from their site, so you are stuck with finding third-party down-loads. If you find more than one with the same MD5 check-sum, and you have a good virus scanner which finds no problems, you will have a degree of assurance that the down-load is safe.

However, MS continue to support XP covertly in the guise of WePOS, and this link seems to work for the present. You may need to install the registry patch detailed here before you can install it.

Whatever you do, so you must back up everything profusely before attempting to install anything.

Comments

[concordia]

I would be happy to use another version of Windows if someone would give me valid product key. Unfortunately Windows XP is the only licensed version of Windows I own. I've installed this in a VM and plan to only use the RDP client to connect to my work network. No way I would use XP as a workstation of daily driver.

[user1686]

You know Linux has two RDP clients on its own?

[DavidPostill]

Welcome to Super User! You are asking an off-topic question (software shopping). Questions seeking product, service, or learning material recommendations are off-topic. See On Topic. Try softwarerecs.stackexchange.com but please first read What is required for a question to contain "enough information".

[concordia]

@grawity: There are more than 2 RDP clients that run natively on Linux. Believe me, I've tried to find a Linux solution to avoid the overhead of running a VM. I can't find a Linux client that provides RD Gateway support which is a requirement for me.

[user1686]

@concordia: FreeRDP 1.2 definitely does.

[concordia]

Thanks for your answer. I was able to use the link xav-stargate provided to get the service pack. The xdot.tk site looks like a wealth of information. It may provide useful if I need to patch this install of XP further.

[AFH]

@concordia - OK. I used Ubuntu yesterday, as I wasn't able to check from the XP system, but now I've done so I see that xap-stargate's link works fine.

[tlnagy]

Had to get an old computer onto SP3 after installing SP1 from a disk. The first link worked great!

[Jonny]

Got SP1 somewhere? It's needed before SP3...

[user1686]

Search for en_winxp_sp1.iso, SHA1 15d98191e64447be044a3af20a2fa3730f125c89.