The difference between XP SP1 and SP1a

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jagotu
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The difference between XP SP1 and SP1a

Post by jagotu »

Leaving this here mainly for future reference:

If you unpack and check your unknown SP's \update\update.inf, SP1a will have a line like this one in the [Product.Add.Reg] section.

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HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion","SubVersionNumber",0,"a"
If it doesn't have that, it's SP1.
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qazmko1029
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Re: The difference between XP SP1 and SP1a

Post by qazmko1029 »

if you do a quick search, there's an article by microsoft explaining the difference: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/813926
Still thanks for your offer.

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Re: The difference between XP SP1 and SP1a

Post by The Distractor »

qazmko1029 wrote:if you do a quick search, there's an article by microsoft explaining the difference: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/813926
Still thanks for your offer.
said KB article even mentions that registry change, heh.

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Re: The difference between XP SP1 and SP1a

Post by jagotu »

Yeah, this was more about the location of said registry in the files, so you don't have to install, just unpack. And I thought it wouldn't hurt to have it on BA, you know how KBs tend to disappear over time.
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xkai
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Re: The difference between XP SP1 and SP1a

Post by xkai »

sp1a removed msjvm. no other changes.

haroldas.velioniskis
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Re: The difference between XP SP1 and SP1a

Post by haroldas.velioniskis »

Sp1a removed java vm because of oracle settlement

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Re: The difference between XP SP1 and SP1a

Post by sdfox7 »

The thing that doesn't make sense to me is that the full SP1 must install a lot more than SP1a.

SP1 and SP1a can both be applied to RTM XP, but SP1a is only 1.9MB, while the full SP1 (http://sdfox7.com/xp/sp1/xpsp1_en_x86.exe) is 133MB.

The Microsoft page states Note: Windows XP SP1a is almost identical to Windows XP SP1 except that the Microsoft virtual machine (VM) is removed in SP1a. This doesn't make sense with such a large difference in file size.

https://web.archive.org/web/20120827004 ... x?id=19751
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Re: The difference between XP SP1 and SP1a

Post by mrpijey »

When checking the MSDN copy of SP1a it's 131MB in size, so it fits just fine (about 2MB for the JVM). The 1.9MB one you see is just a downloader. Look at the filename:

sp1aexpress_usa.exe

The express one is just the downloader which grabs the rest off the net.
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sdfox7
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Re: The difference between XP SP1 and SP1a

Post by sdfox7 »

mrpijey wrote:When checking the MSDN copy of SP1a it's 131MB in size, so it fits just fine (about 2MB for the JVM). The 1.9MB one you see is just a downloader. Look at the filename:

sp1aexpress_usa.exe

The express one is just the downloader which grabs the rest off the net.
Thanks for providing that info, I was not aware that it was just a "stub". Network installers have always been my preference.

FWIW, I found this link from 2006 (http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?t=607132)

and plugged it into the WayBack Machine

(https://web.archive.org/web/20060101155 ... 3443e29d78)

which indicates the 125.1MB compared to the standard SP1.

If you want the full installer, you can right-click in the browser, View Source, and search for the download location which is:

https://web.archive.org/web/20060209224 ... en_x86.exe
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