Advantages of slipstreamed XP/SP1 install?

[heliomphalodon]

I see a lot of folks talking about building a CD to do a "slipstreamed" XP/SP1 install. But what are the advantages of doing this? Do you end up with different bits than if you just did an XP install followed by an SP1 install?

 

[bsobel]

No, the end result is the same. The two benefits are (as I see them):

1) time; you don't have to deal with downloading and installing SP1 on the machine.
2) security; if you happen to be directly connected to the internet you might be running your system for an hour or so while you download SP1 with any older vulnerabilities unpatched. This assures you are atleast secure to the SP1 level while connected

As a side note to #2, I usually suggest that people who need to do this install their personal firewall or plug into a router even if it's temporary. I remember watching people trying to reinstall CodeRed2 and Nimda machines, they'd install the OS and then immediately get infected before they could download the patches.

Bill

 

[cleverhandle]

Rarely, people have reported mild flakiness when installing SP1 separately. Most likely there was some other program running that interfered with the SP1 install (like a virus scanner), but it could truly be one of those mysterious Windows flukes. Slipstreaming avoids problems like that, and saves you the trouble of doing the extra install.

So, not a big deal, but nice to do if you're planning on reinstalling at some point anyway. An interesting exercise, too, IMO...

 

[Mem]

For those interested in Creating a bootable Windows XP SP1 CD .I`ve tried it works ok .

 

[heliomphalodon]

Originally posted by: Mem
For those interested in Creating a bootable Windows XP SP1 CD .I've tried it works ok .

Yes, thanks, I have seen that. My quibble with the process as given, is the boot file that one must download -- how do we know that it's trustworthy?

I take the point of the poster who mentioned a window of vulnerability between the initial XP install and the SP1 update. For myself, I think I'll just install onto a machine with no Internet connection, then update to SP1 and finally connect (through my firewall) to the Internet and complete the update process.

Thanks for the help!

 

[PrincessGuard]

You can extract the CD boot sector off your own WinXP CD if you're that paranoid.

But I can confirm that it is bit-for-bit identical to the real thing.