How To Install And Update Windows XP Professional 32-bit

1. Boot from the Windows XP disc and do a clean install.
Make sure to enter a valid 25-character product key, or else the setup process will stop.
Select "Not right now" so Windows Update is not turned on at this time.

2. Install the Service Pack 3 (SP3) upgrade.
https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/microsoft_windows_xp_service_pack_3.html
Note: This step is needed only if your Windows XP disc does not contain Service Pack 3.

3. Install Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=25150

4. Install Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17718

5. Install Windows XP Service Pack 4 Unofficial 3.1b
https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/windows_xp_service_pack_4_unofficial.html
Select "Not right now" so Windows Update is not turned on at this time.
Note: It contains security updates for the post-SP3 period of May 2008 - April 2014.

6. Install the necessary drivers for your computer's primary devices (chipset, graphics, audio, ethernet, wireless, etc.).
Make sure to install the chipset driver (if one is available) first before installing the other drivers.
This allows Windows XP to properly detect and configure your computer's devices.

7. After the above steps have been done, make sure your computer has a working internet connection.

8. Right-click MY COMPUTER, then click Properties – Automatic Updates.
Select “Notify me but don’t automatically download or install them”, then click Apply – OK.
Load Windows Update, then select “Get Microsoft Update today!”
Follow the instructions and allow the ActiveX control to install.
After that is done, close Microsoft Update.

9. Load Microsoft Update again, then do a "custom" scan.
It may take several minutes before the list of updates appears, so be patient.
Select ALL of the high priority and optional updates for:
POSReady 2009
Internet Explorer 8
Microsoft .NET Framework (all versions)
and then install them.
There will be a large number of updates to install, so this will take 1 - 2 hours to complete.

10. After this initial large number of updates is installed and your computer is restarted, load Microsoft Update again and do another “custom" scan”.
If more high priority and optional updates appear for those 3 entries, select and install them.

11. Repeat this as needed until there are no more high priority and optional updates for those 3 entries.
Note: Windows XP now contains security updates for the period of May 2014 – April 2019.


Closing Comments And Suggestions:

If you obtain the necessary files in steps #2 through #6 and then copy or burn them to install media before you start, you will save yourself a lot of time and frustration and will go through the process much more smoothly.

The Internet Explorer 8 browser which is part of Windows XP is extremely outdated and is no longer supported by most websites, so you will need to install a supported up-to-date browser.
Maxthon Cloud Browser and Feodor MyPal are the only 2 browsers that I am aware of that support Windows XP and are kept up-to-date.
The current version of each of these 2 browsers can be obtained here:
https://www.maxthon.com/mx5/
https://github.com/Feodor2/Mypal/releases

Important! This guide applies to and works only with Windows XP Professional.


(This guide was updated and successfully tested on February 16, 2020)

 

XP pro x32 fresh install

Starting from a restore disk which got me to SP2, then manually installed SP3 without issues.
I thought I would try the SP4 3.1b by following the steps in the post "How To Install And Update Windows XP Professional 32-bit"

SP4 installed OK and it does appear that IE8 is installed, but in Step 8 Microsoft Update either loops on the ActiveX check, or fails to connect
to the update site giving error 0x80244019. It depends on which add-ons I enable.

What if any add-ons should I need?
Is there perhaps a single download that includes all of the updates mentioned in Step 9?

 

Nice write-up. Gonna have to try this out. My XP hasn't been updated since 2009.

 

I now use a Windows XP Professional SP3 32-bit disc that's integrated to May 2019, so I no longer have the ability to test this guide from beginning to end.
Hopefully, it still works since I last used it 6 months ago.

 

I gave up on installing SP4 since I was not able to complete the step where it should connect with the MS update site. I tried several different fixes without success. The author also provides a post SP4 update bundle that might have sidestepped the need to connect to MS at all, unfortunately this bundle is only for slipstreaming with existing install media. With only a Dell restore partition on hand, I saw no way to make this bundle work for me. Seems a shame since XP is very responsive on this HW. Maybe the author will repackage these post sp4 updates as a standalone exe or simply merge them with SP4.

Onward and upward, I used a spare Win7 license & HD to bring this box out of the dark ages. If the GenuineTicket trick still works I'll get entitlement to W10 as well. No looking back.

 

The GenuineTicket method still works, and I soon had W10 x32 v2004 running on this 16yr old HW, and running very acceptably on just 3GB Ram! This latest windows build is very friendly to resource limited boxes.