When does XP support end?

I have heard several dates

November 2013
April 2014

I love my XP but my install discs are sp1 and sp3 versions on two PCs.
The sp1 is standalone (no internet connection)
Can I install sp3 onto my old-reliable-sp1-PC and use the keycode of the sp1 disc to register?
Or should I download sp2 and sp3 (while I can) if the day comes that I have to reinstall WinXP onto the standalone PC ?
I have a third XP-sp1 (no internet connection) PC commissioned in 2003. It does everything I want (AutoCad 2006 + a plethora of Excel addins I have written over the years)
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Win7 (on two new PCs) -- agghh!
Not practical for me -- I have installed "Classic Shell" to mimic XP Classic start menu.
Win7 "Security" has been a nightmare -- my PC tech insists Win7 is the same as WinXP!
Bovine manure -- it is vastly different. (Control Panel UI and Registry)
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Win8 desktop -- dumbed down for intellectually challenged or under "5s"
My arm got tired sweeping the mouse across my 23 inch monitor, and some days by the time I click on the wrong play-block (icon) I forget what I was looking for.
Thank goodness for "Sourceforge.com" and "Classic Shell"

Help for beginners is hindered by most geeks leaving out critical steps and talking in geek!
My PCs are for serious "work" -- I dont have time to play games PLUS I have a life.

Thanks for any feedback, especially the first part of this post

 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/products/lifecycle

april 2014

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/help/learn-how-to-install-windows-xp-service-pack-3-sp3

sp3 can be installed as long as sp1 and/or sp2 are installed

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=24

Service pack 3 download

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/default.aspx

Microsoft Download Center

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downloads will still be available even after the support date ends, the end of life means that no new security updates will be issued.

but, you can operate in a sandbox system and still protect your system.

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what you can do is download each and every update and burn to a cd or dvd and then you will have all the updates, approx 200, close to hand, but you should still be able to go to microsoft updates, and each update is available at the microsoft download center. Each update is listed in your update history and with the kb number you can go directly to the download center for that particular update.

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if you ever put your other pcs on line, they should be fully updated first, and Microsoft updates will not work with less than sp3 installed and a newer installer, I believe it is at 4.5 right now.

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a product key is tied to the pc it came installed on. you can use any disc but need the product key.

however if you had for example Home installed, you cannot put Pro on that pc.

 

You have heard several dates because there ARE several date, but only one where consumers running retail and OEM versions are concerned. That date is the 2nd Tuesday in April 2014. Support always ends on the 2nd Tuesday for MS products .... at least for OS's

 

Updates will work? There will be NO updates issued to be able to download. As for OLD updates being able to still be downloaded, I wouldn't be so sure. If they are, for how long? You can't download any SP's or security updated that were issued to Windows 98 or 2000 at this time. Furthermore, MS disable the sp3 download for XP. It used to be that you could download any of the service packs 1, 2 and 3 but they took away the ability to download the file and archive it for later use. You can still download sp1 and sp2 bot sp3 has to be installed via WU and I am presuming that MS did this by design so that they can kill the proverbial 'thorn in their side' that they have had for the past 12 years as quick as possible when next April rolls around. They haven't let anyone download sp3 for the past year and I am sure they will not offer it even through WU after April 14th. there are other alternative though if you really need it. I managed to download sp3 when it the files were still available for direct download. If you can find it out there you can slipstream it into a build and compile it to an install file. My personal plan is to download every update to any XP I plan to run on any machine I plan to run it up to April 14th and then image the system partition so that it can be reinstalled and have the latest and most current updates it could possibly have. Of course then I am just expecting them to slip one last update in on April 14th that has some serious, "Unforeseen to them" flaws that mess up every XP machine just to push 8. Then I am a big conspiracy theorist.

 

You are correct, cannot know how long windows update will work for xp after support date, however, you should still be able to download from the Microsoft Download Center

 

Good to know. Thanks.

Bill

 

According to Microsoft the end of support will have no effect on activations including new activations. This means that if you were to want to put Pro on said pc then you could with a new licence key.

 

Correct, I will be more clear, you cannot use an xp pro disc to install xp home if your license is for xp home, you can use any other xp home disc

 

To all in this thread:

HOW TO DOWNLOAD SP3 FOR XP
http://www.computing.net/howtos/sho...ervice-pack-3-sp3-after-april-8-2014/916.html

sp3 is no longer carried at the microsoft download center

 

I have used this sucessfully on 3 XP's I have. My workhorse is a HP Pavilion Windows 10 but I can't seem to let these 3 XP's die. lol There will be updates to XP until 2019 with these hacks. If you have trouble feel free to contact me. Fairly simple to execute. G'day! Jack ":-Dx

 

Whooops! Forgot to add the link. I guess there's no "edit" here?

http://www.zdnet.com/article/registry-hack-enables-continued-updates-for-windows-xp/

 

Works for me on my Xp on a virtual machine.

 

It works for me on the real thing too and does good.
I only found out because of a friend (Yushe).

 

Just to be clear, MS is not creating any NEW updates for XP. You can still get the all the updates that were released before the end-of-life date. The key is to have IE 8 installed then get the updates. IE8 for XP is no longer available at MS downloads so use Google to find it.

And BTW MS has release updates for XP past the EOL date. The last update I got from MS for my XP computers was KB942288-v3 on 12/9/2014 and MS also put out one for Media Player on XP machines KB2845142 on 9/22/2015. I still have all my WinXP and Win2K machines auto check for updates at 3:00 AM every day that they are turned on.

 

I have XP SP1, SP2, SP3 burned to a DVD as they were downloaded several years ago as well as all the SPs to the 2007 MS Professional Office suite.

 

I have Windows XP Professional SP3 32-bit integrated to its May 2019 end-of-life and containing several extras so it can be used in more modern computers up to 3rd generation.

More and more apps and devices have dropped support for it, but enough of them still exist so it can be used on-line in relative safety.