XP SP2 and system restore?

[Phyllis]

I will be upgrading my sister-in-law's computer to SP2, do I need to
determine that she has SP1 before doing this? And if I run into mega
problems after upgrade, will I be able to use system restore to go back to
before the upgrade? Thanks

[Andrew E.]

If youve ever ran windows update, SP1 is probably installed,you can always
go to run,type:WinVer To chk.SP2 has an uninstaller in add/remove,just
chk the box at the top of page once its installed.

"Phyllis" wrote:

> I will be upgrading my sister-in-law's computer to SP2, do I need to
> determine that she has SP1 before doing this? And if I run into mega
> problems after upgrade, will I be able to use system restore to go back to
> before the upgrade? Thanks
>
>

[FletcherIrwin]

No. Just uninstall it from Add/Remove.
"Phyllis" > wrote in message
...
>I will be upgrading my sister-in-law's computer to SP2, do I need to
> determine that she has SP1 before doing this? And if I run into mega
> problems after upgrade, will I be able to use system restore to go back to
> before the upgrade? Thanks
>

[davexnet02]

On Sun, 15 Aug 2004 21:18:07 -0500, "Phyllis"
> wrote:

>I will be upgrading my sister-in-law's computer to SP2, do I need to
>determine that she has SP1 before doing this? And if I run into mega
>problems after upgrade, will I be able to use system restore to go back to
>before the upgrade? Thanks
yes I believe so. Just make sure the harddrive space is sufficient,
and that you have enough of the space allocated to SR.

When I installed sp2, it notified me that it was
taking an automatic restore before changing
anything.
It is not necessary to have SP1 first.

Dave

[Chad Harris]

Phyllis--

In summary--to go to SP2 you need Win XP Home or Pro, Tablet PC or Windows
Media Center Edition, not necessarily SP1. Add/Remove is the best way to
remove the SP. It's installation does set a restore point automatically and
you can use SR, but it's not the best practices way--Add/Remove is. SR can
have a problem with SPs but usually does not. References below:

You can put winver in the run box, or go to IE or OE Help About and see what
version she has. You can upgrade to SP2 however, from any Home or Pro XP
box. See:

What To Know Before You Download and Install XP SP2: System Requirements for
SP2
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/sp2_whattoknow.mspx#XSLTsection126121120120

Installing SP2
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;ln;xpsp2getinstall

SP2 Support Center
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;windowsxpsp2
If you are running one of the following versions of Windows, you can update
it with Service Pack 2:

• Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

• Microsoft Windows XP Professional


You cannot use Windows XP SP2 to update the following operating systems:

• Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition or other earlier Windows
operating systems

• Microsoft Windows XP 64-Bit Edition Version 2003

• Microsoft Windows XP 64-Bit Edition



The best practices way to go back to the previous OS before the SP, is to
uninstall SP2 from Add/Remove, however you can use System Restore. MSFT has
a KB though, that says it can fail. The install for SP2 does set a restore
point. I've seen it work, but there isn't 100% guarantee, so I'd use
Add/Remove which works well.

How To Remove Windows XP Service Pack 2 From Your Computer
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;875350&Product=winxp

You can but don't usually have a problem using SR to restore to before a
recent SP installation, so that's one reason to use Add/Remove as MSFT
instructs. See:

PRB: Windows System Restore Does Not Monitor Windows Installer Patch (.msp)
Files
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];814833

If you have a problem that you want to try to reverse, keep in mind you
can System Restore in SP2 to try to make things right after you install it.

System Restore
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_restore.htm

This is an excellent reference, but I noticed one of the write-ups says that
SR should not be enabled during program installation:

"When you first enable System Restore, this creates an initial restore
point. If you enable System Restore during a program installation, this may
corrupt the initial restore point."

This, I think, comes from Bobbie Harder's MSFT SR write-up on MSDN from
2001. In fact, most of MSFT's recent SP installations do set up a restore
point during program installation as do many of their application
installations and 3rd party application installations and they don't
corrupt--but I guess they could. The only way to determine if that restore
point is corrupted that I know is to try it. MSFT's MSDN write up is here
and says that i provided the application utilizes a current installer that
is System Restore RestorePT.API compliant, SR will create a point on
installation of the application.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnwxp/html/windowsxpsystemrestore.asp

System Restore FAQ
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/plan/faqsrwxp.mspx

Chad Harris
__________________________________________________ _



"Phyllis" > wrote in message
...
I will be upgrading my sister-in-law's computer to SP2, do I need to
determine that she has SP1 before doing this? And if I run into mega
problems after upgrade, will I be able to use system restore to go back to
before the upgrade? Thanks

[Natéag]

No. SP2 is cumulative. That is it contains all hotfixes, etc.
since WinXp's first edition.

"Phyllis" > a écrit dans le message de
...
> I will be upgrading my sister-in-law's computer to SP2, do I need to
> determine that she has SP1 before doing this? And if I run into mega
> problems after upgrade, will I be able to use system restore to go back to
> before the upgrade? Thanks
>

[Alex Nichol]

Phyllis wrote:

>I will be upgrading my sister-in-law's computer to SP2, do I need to
>determine that she has SP1 before doing this?

No - SP2 will do *all* the upgrades in one.

> And if I run into mega
>problems after upgrade, will I be able to use system restore to go back to
>before the upgrade?

It will backup the files that get changed and provide an uninstall in
Add/Remove programs


--
Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
Bournemouth, U.K. (remove the D8 bit)

Microsoft suggests you wait and let autoupdate install
it. They recommend you wait until then so they can work
out any bugs popping up.

Here's the link for more info:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.a
spx

Hope this helps you,

Puma


>-----Original Message-----
>I will be upgrading my sister-in-law's computer to SP2,
do I need to
>determine that she has SP1 before doing this? And if I
run into mega
>problems after upgrade, will I be able to use system
restore to go back to
>before the upgrade? Thanks
>
>.
>