Install Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3)

General requirements

To install SP3, your computer must have the following hardware and operating system requirements. In addition, your computer is at least using Windows XP with Service Pack 1

We recommend that you install SP2 before installing SP3. You can download SP2 here.

Hardware requirements

To install SP3 on a single computer, the computer must have a CD-ROM drive and must have the minimum configuration below:

1. The processor must at least reach 233MHz
2. Minimum RAM 64MB
3. 900MB of free hard disk space for installation

Operating system requirements

You can use SP3 to upgrade the following operating systems:

1. Windows XP Home Edition
2. Windows XP Professional
3. Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 (Note: If you install SP3 in a computer running Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, the operating system will be upgraded to Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005)

Note : The following operating systems are not upgraded to SP3:

1. Windows XP Professional x64
2. Windows XP Embedded

Before installing Service Pack 3

To prepare for the installation of Service Pack 3

1. Start your computer, login administrator rights. New administrators have full access to its operating system and settings. You can log in as an administrator or another account that has been set up as a member of the admin group. To determine which group of users is set up, click Start , click Control Panel , and then open User Accounts .

2. If your computer is using a battery, make sure you have enough power during the installation process.

3. If you use Fast User Switching , other users must be logged out.

4. You should perform a full backup of all files currently on your computer to an external drive, such as another hard drive, DVD, CD, USB or network folder. You can use the Backup and Restore Wizard to backup documents, photos and other files.

5. If the computer is using Windows XP Professional, you should create an Automated System Recovery (ASR) file before starting the installation. This procedure will help you repair if the installation fails. If you're using Windows XP Home Edition, skip this step; because ASR is not available in this version.

6. Close all programs

7. Perform the installation as described in the section below.

Important
If the configuration of your antivirus software does not allow changes to certain files, the installation of SP3 will fail. Therefore, please temporarily disable antivirus software. You can do this by right-clicking on the antivirus program icon (usually in the lower right corner of the screen) and clicking Disable .

If antivirus software is disabled before installing the service pack, make sure you understand the risks involved and activate the antivirus software as soon as the installation package is complete.

Install Service Pack 3

You can install SP3 from CD or from the website. Website provides you with a link to Windows Update, from which you can install SP3.

To install SP3

1. If you install SP3 from CD, the Welcome to Windows XP Service Pack 3 window will open automatically when you insert the CD. If this window does not appear, click Start , click Run , type Drive: Autorun.exe ( Drive : is the drive letter of the CD-ROM drive), then press Enter

2. To get SP3 from the website and install it immediately, click Open or Run and follow the instructions on the screen. To install this program later, click Save and download the installation file to your computer. When you are ready to install this SP, double click on the file.

3. On the Welcome to Windows XP Service Pack 3 window, click Continue .

4. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen

5. After the installation is completed, click Finish to restart the computer.

6. If you have disabled antivirus software, then enable it again

Remove SP3

You can use Add or Remove Programs to remove SP3 and restore your computer to its previous state.

Remove SP3 with Add or Remove Programs

1. Click Start , and then click Control Panel .

2. Click Add or Remove Programs , click Windows XP Service Pack 3 , and then click Remove

3. Follow the instructions that appear on your screen.

Important
If you choose to remove SP3, there will be a dialog box that appears, this dialog box displays a list of the programs that you have installed after installing SP3. If you still want to continue the removal, these programs may not work properly.