Q: I have a PC that had XP Home on it. Because my hard drive got corrupted I had to replace the hard drive and re-install XP. I have installed XP from disc and added the motherboard drivers but for some reason I cannot download Service Pack 3 because something is missing when installing. In addition to this, Norton will not install without the Service Pack. My intention is to load Windows 7 but until XP is complete (with software) then Windows 7 will not load up. Do you have any thoughts or a solution on this?
A: Windows XP Service Pack 3 isn’t fully cumulative and can only be installed if the system is already at Service Pack 2. Depending on the age of your XP disc it’s probably at SP1 or earlier since reloading. Download and install SP2 via Windows Update , you should then be able to proceed to SP3.
You can download the Service Pack network installer to transfer to other machines
Originally featured in PCU 139
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi ,
While the previous answer may be useful for dealing with XP , it doesn’t address
dealing with Win 7.
There’s no reason to update XP SP2 to SP3.
Win 7 should be installed by booting up from the Win 7 installation DVD.
At that point you can select doing an upgrade ,but doing so by selecting Custom Install. In fact ,you could even decide to create dual boot setup – IOW, leave XP untouched and install Win7 to a other partition (if created prior to booting from the Win 7 DVD.
But let’s say you wanted just Win 7 , just follow the guidelines from the Microsoft article here:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/help/upgrading-from-windows-xp-to-windows-7
Note: It’s advisable to use the Upgrade Advisor prior to all the above ,since it
will tell you if the machine is suitable for Win 7.
Also ,check the computer manufacturer’s website if they have drivers for your hardware which are suitable for Win 7 ,especially if you want to install the 64 bit version of Win 7.
Depending on the age of the machine ,they may not have.
Just take your time to check this out.
First check ur computer properties.If its running service pack 2 & 32 bit.Thanno problem with the previous version.Maybe ur service pack 3 is corrupted.U go to download microsoft windows xp service pack 3 page & download 316 mb file.Install it.Hope there will be no problem.But u can install win 7 without help of any of these.
http://www.techyv.com/questions/access-denied-when-installing-service-pack-3