Windows XP 9in1 x86 SP2 and SP3

Windows XP dies tomorrow (for basic XP users) So ive been thinking back to all the things i have seen and learnt over the years "regarding windows xp and random releases" From the DevilsOwn to the XP Delta files and it's been a wild ride for the modders and tweakers of this awesome OS.

Once hated by 98SE Lovers and slated to death by Windows 2000 users... I my self thought it looked like a nickelodeon's desk top theme lol. But none the less it gained a following and the varied releases got butchered to hell as all the random gurus jumped at the chance to built the Ultimate XP.

Case in Point...

The Discs SP3 Splash Screen (Not The OS Boot Screen)

This was first released as an SP2 disk with 9 of the favourite flavours of Windows XP by  XiSO way back in March 2003. It was a clean disc featuring Home / Professional / MCE

In Essence it came with all these on one Disk

Windows XP Home OEM with Service Pack2
Windows XP Home Retail with Service Pack2
Windows XP Home Upgrade with Service Pack2
Windows XP Media Center 2005 with Service Pack2
Windows XP Pro Corp with Service Pack2
Windows XP Pro OEM with Service Pack2
Windows XP Pro Retail with Service Pack2
Windows XP Pro Upgrade with Service Pack2

I know that's only 8, not 9 right? but you gotta figure the 2002 MCE is their alongside the 2005 apparently. But then the Tablet CAB is present in places, so maybe its a 10 in one if you know what your doing with keys during install.

This was later released with SP3 integrated in May 2008 by FOX007 as
       Windows.XP.SP3.9in1.DVD_BY_FOX007.iso
who's name oddly rings a bell from WinMX..

Anyways... after being shown the splash screen (when booting from disc)
your presented with the Install Menu to choose an OS

OS Install Selection (from booting from disc)

The Upgrade options are only shown when running setup from within windows its self. Its got some handy extra options from boot, but sadly if you set the machine to Boot from CD it will get stuck on that menu and you'll have to keep ejecting the disk then pushing it back in.

If your machine supports either of the F10, F11 or F12 to select a one time only boot option then i would set the systems bios to boot from the HD and use the defined F key to opt for a one time boot from the dvd (yes this release was a dvd) which begs the question why no extras besides stupid cracks.

We you try to install Windows Media Centre you get a nasty error you cant get past

MCE Media Center ehiEPG.DL_ is Missing

Even the SP3 release spits out the error "Please Insert Windows XP CD2" when attempting to install on certain machines and virtual environments and it first insists on

ehiEPG.DL_    also known as   ehiEPG.DLL

The default browse path its looking within is here
D:\ROOT\XPMI\CMPNENTS\MEDIACTR\I386
(my Drive was E: but regardless, browsing E: didn't show the file) in fact the folder only contains 3 CAB files...

Now even if you went out your way to find it, that elusive DLL, you'll still find 81 Other files are sadly missing...

82 Files in total are missing

  and yet their not.. they are in there, but in a CAB
\ROOT\XPMI\CMPNENTS\MEDIACTR\I386\MEDIACTR.CAB
I am unsure if 007 updated those cabs to SP3 or if they are still SP2, but regardless setup won't continue without ehiEPG.DL_ and if you do give it the file it just looks for more, then actually fails to install the MCE features and gives a setup error during the "installing features part of setup".

 What could you do to fix this?

Well if you have the SP3 version of the disk you could download windows XP service pack 3, right click on it and select Extract to WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU

This would make a folder called  WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU  with folders and files inside it, you would then Navigate to

WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU\i386\root\cmpnents\mediactr\i386

Then Copy the 82 Files From Their...  Into Here...
\ROOT\XPMI\CMPNENTS\MEDIACTR\I386\

(or here if your using the 9in1 SP2 release)
extract XP Service Pack 2, and copy the 82 files from here
WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU\i386\root\cmpnents\mediactr\i386

Into Here...
\ROOT\XPMI\CMPNENTS\MEDIACTR\I386\

Be it SP2 or SP3, you may also wish to put the 82 files into here, otherwise i would assume the "Within Windows Upgrade Option will also fail" i would assume, i have yet to test it.
 \ROOT\XPM2\CMPNENTS\MEDIACTR\I386

Rule of thumb is MCE should be an SP2 release, slipstreaming SP3 into it is extremely complicated and can still fail on some systems.

What i never understood about this disk is why it was so big anyway, i mean most the Home Files are the Same as the Professional and the Corporate (aka the vlk) In fact not many files really are different, even worse so the .NET is 1.0 (not 1.1) which makes the addition of Rollup2 complicated.  A setupcomplete file should of checked for MCE and installed .NET 1.1 SP1 or at the very least the updates for .NET 1.0 SP3

An interesting attempt for sure, but lacking some easier tasks really.. considering the work that clearly went into it... but the update to SP3 pretty much killed its MCE side..

Additional Notes:

Main reasons a user ends up with "Professional" instead of "MCE" is they used a Professional product key which can install the PRO side of MCE  but wont install any of the media centre functionality...

Windows XP Service Pack 2

Windows XP Service Pack 2

Service pack 2 was signed and released on the 4th of August 2004

Windows XP Service Pack 2 Properties

This service pack was later replaced by Service Pack 3. You can get the SP2 WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe update  here.   To obtain later and earlier SP packs see the XP Archive page here.

It is important to note that this release requires atleast SP1 or SP1a installed before you can install SP2.

Please link to our Page and not our Files.

How Can You Tell What Your Windows XP CD Really Is?

I'm often asked this question of

i have a windows xp cd but how do i tell what the disk is?
or, I know its xp professional or xp home but what service pack is it?

Maybe your looking to Slipstream it, or just Identify the right type of product key or oem for it and here are some clues to Identify a Windows XP Product Source (by hand & eyes)

To Identify The Windows XP Service Pack Level?
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Sadly the readme doesn't give any information regarding the disks "Service Pack Level"
But you can Browse the disk root and look for the .SP? file.

Windows XP Home (with NO service pack) Example

Note This Lacks An SP File

 Windows XP Home (with service pack 1) Example

This Contains An SP File

 Windows XP Home (with service pack 2) Example

This Contains An SP File

As you can see, the disks with a service pack built in contain an SP file as its extension and the number marks its SP level.

It is rumoured that if you have ALL the SP files in the root of the install disk that an SP3 disk can be used to recover an SP0, SP1, SP1a, SP2 and SP3 machines initial installation. I have yet to have to test this theory as i fix them without having to wipe them, but i would assume its in relation to the setup.exe having access to ALL those files.

So your disk will either have a file Ending in .SP1, .SP2 .SP3 or it wont have any file with a .SP*

Note you probably wont have ALL the files our images show, but you hopefully will have at least 1 specific one we circle in at least 1 image (if not, go to control panel, folder options, view) and turn On show hidden files and turn Off hide extensions for known file types and then  re-browse the Root of the Disc again to make sure your seeing all the files.

How Do I Define Between Xp Home and Xp Professional ?
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This will require browsing a little deeper into the disks i386 folder and looking for 2 specific files right next to each other
(Windows XP Home) doesn't come with taskkill.exe OR tasklist.exe

Remember though, as we are browsing an UN-installed source!
we are looking for   taskkill.ex_  and  tasklist.ex_
Until setup expands files, their extensions often end in an underscore _


How Do I Define Between OEM or VLK ?
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If you have taskkill.ex_ then your certainly running a version of Professional at its core, But the dressing around this could not simply just be XP Professional or XP Corporate, It could also be Windows XP Media Centre 2002 or Windows XP Media Centre 2005, often known as MCE Edition IF it consists of 2 CD's or a Single DVD.

If you have located both taskkill.ex_ and tasklist.ex_   in the disc/iso  i386 folder
CD PATH :\i386\TASKKILL.EX_
CD PATH :\i386\TASKLIST.EX_

 then the next thing to look for is to see if it has OEM information here
CD PATH :\i386\SETUPP.INI

Open that  .INI file  "with notepad" and you'll see something similar to this PID

Pid=55277OEM

 If it says OEM, then Corporate comes off the list (as that is VLK, not OEM)
In turn this source also contains the four OEM files and possibly branding information & decals.

How Do I No If My XP Professional OEM Is Really Just MCE
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If its a Single CD, then its actually just windows XP Professional (oem)
What happens is, if you install XP Professional "using a media centre product key" then after windows is installed it asks you for CD 2 which features the MCE content.

SO, if you only have one CD, you'd have to use a Pro OEM or Pro Retail / Sticker key
IF its a DVD (and you know the source is clean) as in, its to big for a CD but clean, then its the full MCE.    by clean.. I mean.. no NFO files, driver packs, no links to sites, no WAG cracks and serial text files. Just an xp source that is two big for a single  700MB CD and you have a DVD or ISO over 800mb of data.


Now you should be able to work out just what a back up x86 XP Disc really is under the hood

How to tell what version an x64 Windows XP Disk Is?
pretty much the same only your looking in the AMD64 folder rather than the i386, also remember x64 XP had NO service pack 3... Nor can you get an SP0 disk, x64 First Release was SP1a really

Be it x86 or x64, if its an OEM disc it'll also contain these files 4 OEM files regardless of any other branding OEM's folders...

the FOUR files within the i386 folder (on OEM discs) you can change these 4 files for the specific OEM machine it'll be installed on.

OEMBIOS.CA_
OEMBIOS.SI_
OEMBIOS.DA_
OEMBIOS.BI_

when Expanded (not renamed, must be expanded by a command prompt)
they are  .cat   .sig  .bin and .dat
which can be scanned by various bios and oem tools to even identify the manufacture.

expand example (AKA Decompress)

expand d:\i386\OEMBIOS.CA_ c:\BiosTest\SetOne /y

expand d:\i386\OEMBIOS.SI_ c:\BiosTest\SetOne /y

expand d:\i386\OEMBIOS.DA_ c:\BiosTest\SetOne /y

expand d:\i386\OEMBIOS.BI_ c:\BiosTest\SetOne /y  

 

Some Random DISC ID's
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Some of these are the ISO name and Disc Label

x86 {32bit Versions}
x14-92386.iso = GRTMHKFPP_EN Home K (SP3) x86 EN-US Retail / OEM Pid=76477000
x14-92388.iso = GRTMHKNFPP_EN Home KN (SP3) x86 EN-US Retail / OEM Pid=76477000
x14-92393.iso = GRTMHRMFPP_EN Home N (SP3) x86 EN-US Retail / OEM Pid=76477000
x14-_OEM_.iso = GRTMHOEM_EN Home (SP3) x86 EN-US OEM Pid=76477OEM
x14-92413.iso = GRTMHFPP_EN Home (SP3) x86 EN-US Retail / OEM Pid=76477000
x14-92430.iso = GRTMPKFPP_EN PRO K (SP3) x86 EN-US Retail / OEM Pid=76487000
x14-92432.iso = GRTMPKNFPP_EN PRO KN SP3) x86 EN-US Retail / OEM Pid=76487000
x14-78118.iso = GRTMPRMVOL_EN PRO N (SP3) x86 EN-US VLK Pid=76487270
x14-92445.iso = GRTMPRMFPP_EN PRO N (SP3) x86 EN-US Retail / OEM Pid=76487000
x14-73974.iso = GRTMPVOL_EN PRO (SP3) x86 EN-US VLK Pid=76487270
x14-_OEM.iso = GRTMPOEM_EN PRO (SP3) x86 EN-US OEM Pid=76487OEM
x14-80428.iso = GRTMPFPP_EN PRO (SP3) x86 EN-US Retail / OEM Pid=76487000
x14-74003.iso = GRTMPVOL_PL PRO (SP3) x86 PL-PL  VLK Pid=????
DELL_XP_HOME_SP3_20080911.iso x86 EN-US OEM / Branded Pid=76477OEM
DELL_XP_HOME_SP3_20090829.iso x86 EN-US OEM / Branded Pid=76477OEM
DELL_XP_PRO_SP3_20080819.iso x86 EN-US OEM / Branded Pid=76487OEM
DELL_XP_PRO_SP3_20090819.iso EN-US OEM / Branded Pid=76487OEM
MRMPFPP_EN.iso Media Center Edition 2005 and XP Tablet CD1 EN-US Retail Pid=76487000
MRMSD2_EN.iso Media Center Edition 2005 and XP Tablet CD2 EN-US Retail
MRMPINT_EN.iso MCE 2005 and XP Tablet CD1 and 2  EN-US Retail Pid=76487000
XPSP2.9IN1.EN.iso = Home, PRO, CORP, MCE EN-US Retail / OEM / VLK Pid=???????
XPSP3.9IN1.EN.iso = Home, PRO, CORP, MCE EN-US Retail / OEM / VLK Pid=???????


x64 {64bit Versions}
ARMPXVOL_EN.iso = XP PRO x64 (no service pack)  EN-US VLK Pid=76588270
CRMPXVOL_EN.iso = XP PPRO x64 (SP2)  EN-US VLK Pid=76588270
CRMPXFPP_EN.iso = XP PRO x64 (SP2) EN-US Retail / OEM Pid=76588000
CRMPXOEM_EN.iso = XP PPRO x64 (SP2)  EN-US OEM Pid=76588OEM
DELL_X64_X64_SP2.iso XP PRO x64 (SP2)  EN-US OEM / Branded Pid=76588OEM
 
Windows XP Serial Number Basics
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Will x86 (32bit) Serial Numbers / Product Keys work on x64 (64bit) = NO
 only vista, 7, 8, 8.1 & 10 product keys span across architectures

Will a basic SP0 serial work on an SP2 Disk?, Normally NO, you see SP0 was entitled to SP1 and SP1a,  but  SP2 brought many new features (although an SP0 Install can often upgrade to SP2 and sometimes SP3 via windows update) Some actual SP0 keys wont allow SP3 or MP11.  An SP2 key seams the most useful because it'll work on SP2 & SP3 discs and some folks prefer SP2 for DRM manipulation.

Will my SP0, SP1, SP1a, SP2 or SP3 key work on a disk if i slip stream it?
If your source disk is what your key is for then yes, IE, You can slip an SP0 all the way to SP3 and use your SP0 key.. you Can Not use an SP2 or SP3 key just because you turned an sp0, sp1 or sp1a cd into sp2 or sp3..

Post Last Updated April 8th 2014