First published on TECHNET on Apr 29, 2008
Obviously the release of a Service Pack is a significant milestone. There are some enhancements to Windows XP SP3 such as Network Access Protection (NAP) that will make it easier for enterprises to co-manage Windows XP and Windows Vista systems during their phased rollouts of Windows Vista. A couple of things to note when installing XP SP3 – if you installed on of the XP SP3 Release Candidate (RC) builds on your XP system, you will need to uninstall the RC build before installing the final version of the service pack.
Below is a table that outlines previously released functionality available to Windows XP in stand-alone updates. These features are included in XP SP3 by default.
| OS Function | Component | Description |
| Management | MMC 3.0 | MMC 3.0 is a framework that unifies and simplifies day-to-day system management tasks in Windows by providing common navigation, menus, toolbars, and workflow across diverse tools. Microsoft Knowledge Base article 907265 describes this functionality in detail. |
| MDAC | MSXML6 | MSXML6 provides better reliability, security, and conformance with the XML 1.0 and XML Schema 1.0 W3C Recommendations. It also provides compatibility with System.Xml 2.0. |
| MSI | Microsoft Windows Installer 3.1 v2 | Windows Installer 3.1 is a minor update to Windows Installer 3.0, which Microsoft released in September 2004. Windows Installer 3.1 contains new and enhanced functionality. Additionally, Windows Installer 3.1 addresses some issues that Microsoft found in Windows Installer 3.0. Microsoft Knowledge Base article 893803 describes this functionality. |
| Networking | Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) 2.5 | BITS 2.5 is required by Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 and Windows Live™ OneCare™. BITS 2.5 helps improve security. If you use BITS to transfer data, the new features also improve flexibility. Microsoft Knowledge Base article 923845 describes BITS 2.5. |
| Networking | IPSec Simple Policy Update for Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP | This update helps simplify the creation and maintenance of IPsec filters, reducing the number of filters that are required for a server and domain isolation deployment. The Simple Policy Update removes the requirement for explicit network infrastructure permit filters and introduces enhanced fallback to clear behavior. Microsoft Knowledge Base article 914841 describes this previously released update in more detail. |
| Networking | Digital Identity Management Service (DIMS) | DIMS makes it possible for users who log on to any domain-joined computer to silently access all of their certificates and private keys for applications and services. |
| Networking | Peer Name Resolution Protocol (PNRP) 2.1 | This update enables Windows XP SP3–based programs that use PNRP to communicate with Windows Vista programs that use PNRP. Microsoft Knowledge Base article 920342 describes this previously released update. |
| Networking | Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) | This update to Windows XP provides support for WPA2, the latest standards-based wireless security solution derived from the IEEE 802.11i standard. Microsoft Knowledge Base article 893357 describes this update. |
Finally – there are two important things to note:
- Windows XP SP3 does not include Internet Explorer 7.
- Windows XP SP3 is for x86 (32-bit) versions of XP only. Windows XP Professional x64 editions are serviced by Windows Server 2003 SP2. For more details see the information on Windows Server 2003 SP2
That’s it for today.
Additional Resources:
UPDATE – 4/30: As many of you have seen on various news web sites, the release of Windows XP SP3 to the Web has been delayed. This was due to an compatibility issue that was discovered between Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System (RMS) and Windows XP SP3, and Windows Vista SP1.
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Updated Mar 16, 2019
Version 2.0
CraigMarcho
Microsoft
Microsoft