Windows XP SP2 RC1 (Build 2096) Screenshots

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Microsoft released RC1 of Windows XP SP2 to testers late last night. We've had the chance to sit down and install a copy and see what's new and improved. Although there are no major changes at this late stage of the beta, there have still been minor changes. Pop-up blocking is now enabled by default and automatic updates are disabled by default. The windows firewall is still enabled by default on all network connections. We've taken a few screenshots of the updated bits that we could find.

SP2 RC1 is due to go into public preview to enable Microsoft to get better feedback on "broken" applications in Service Pack 2. Microsoft will release the public preview on Friday. We expect Microsoft to RTM SP2 in late April with a web release at the beginning of May.

View: Keep track of all the latest developments with SP2 - Neowin

View: Information on Windows XP SP2 RC1 - Microsoft-Watch

Screenshot: Winver

Screenshot: WMP9 & IE6

Screenshot: Automatic Updates Controls

Screenshot: Automatic Updates Reminder

Screenshot: Automatic Updates Reminder #2

Screenshot: System Properties

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(4 replies) #1 WS togermano on 18 Mar 2004 - 14:38

Will xp sp2 include wmp9 and directx9?

#1.1 creamhackered on 18 Mar 2004 - 14:39

Yes. Only the courts will change that decision.

#1.2 Franky601 on 18 Mar 2004 - 15:52

QUOTE (#1.1)

Yes

Cool, about time they decide to do it

#1.3 bsarmir on 18 Mar 2004 - 17:21

Niether one was available at the time sp1 was released (I think). Actually, now that I think about it, they could have put them in sp1a and didn't. Sp1a was just an update to comply with the court's orders to remove ms virtual machine.

#1.4 XP-RTM on 19 Mar 2004 - 20:42

i hope it does... anyway that was in Europe only. Those idiots dont have anything to do that take M$ to court for doing nothing... oh well anyway everytime i download SP2 RC1 from M$ is corrupted ... great

(7 replies) #2 dougkinzinger on 18 Mar 2004 - 14:44

I'm still ticked that they won't ClearType the Security Center. I've escalted my bug report again just because of that. So much for "integrating disparate applications"..........

#2.1 NeoSoft on 18 Mar 2004 - 15:15

I totally agree! I'm going to do that same

#2.2 dougkinzinger on 18 Mar 2004 - 15:26

Great!

#2.3 Kracal on 18 Mar 2004 - 15:57

I'm reporting that bug too

#2.4 bsarmir on 18 Mar 2004 - 16:54

I disabled the security center. It kept on saying that a firewall wasn't enabled, but checking the firewall settings showed that it was. Also, while it was able to determine that I had norton antivirus installed, it was unable to determine its' status (which was enabled with all available updates).

And I'm sure microsoft loves getting all those bug reports over graphical issues like this. No matter how many times you send the report in, it will still be the last thing they fix.

Last edited by 41306 on 18 Mar 2004 - 18:11

#2.5 Solarix on 18 Mar 2004 - 20:13

Bold Reply

#2.6 dougkinzinger on 18 Mar 2004 - 20:38

Even Bigger Bold Reply

Course, we'll probably get in trouble for this......

#2.7 mr_da3m0n on 20 Mar 2004 - 19:24

They do cleartype your frigging bold text though.

I really am thinking you are compensating for something...

(3 replies) #3 antally on 18 Mar 2004 - 14:48

It should be interesting to see what this does to internet advertising when it's released.

#3.1 bsarmir on 18 Mar 2004 - 17:29

There will be more instances of scripts used that popup adverts on the same window for a period of a few seconds before disappearing. Or websites will start requiring that the popups load. Sound better?

So basicly, now that microsoft has implemented it, the days of blocking popups are numbered.

#3.2 incubusdaemon on 18 Mar 2004 - 18:21

at least the days of the infinite porn popup loops are gone.

#3.3 Bud on 19 Mar 2004 - 09:35

Ket's not forget the in-page ads on alot of site. I would assume there would end being alot more of those rype ads per page will haveing less content.

(5 replies) #4 area91 on 18 Mar 2004 - 14:52

Does this build have the Lonestar stuff in it?

#4.1 dougkinzinger on 18 Mar 2004 - 15:26

Yes it does. Applying it to Tablet Edition will update it to Lonestar.

#4.2 outofcoffee on 19 Mar 2004 - 02:01

*why* are you bolding all your replies??

#4.3 dougkinzinger on 19 Mar 2004 - 04:41

Because I can. And so can you.

#4.4 Kevine on 19 Mar 2004 - 07:04

You sound devilish.

#4.5 mr_da3m0n on 20 Mar 2004 - 19:27

I find it funny how bolding all your replies simply drags the attention _away_ from the (interesting, i must admit) things you say. They just contrast with your childish behaviour too much to be of any real interest.

#5 briangw on 18 Mar 2004 - 14:56

I've asked this before, but is the Remote Desktop concurrent sessions enabled for this? Or is it another registry change?

#6 tmaxxtigger on 18 Mar 2004 - 15:13

One screenshot missing is the change in layout of the System applet on the control panel. There is a new option to check Windows update for drivers when new hardware is deteced.

(8 replies) #7 zephyr420 on 18 Mar 2004 - 15:17

woha why does the windows beta site not work with firefox? ah well it works in IE

#7.1 dougkinzinger on 18 Mar 2004 - 15:27

That's by design. Blame MS I guess.

#7.2 noll3095 on 18 Mar 2004 - 15:35

Gee I wonder why. I've gotten it to work (somewhat) in FireFox, but you can't launch the download manager.

#7.3 threedaysdwn on 18 Mar 2004 - 15:38

Maybe because FireFox is crap?

#7.4 bsarmir on 18 Mar 2004 - 16:30

Maybe because microsoft is crap

. Actually it is because the windows update site uses Active-X controls not supported by FireFox. But using useragent switcher you can get the initial page to load, you just can't do anything on it. Are there any alternative browsers that CAN load windows update?

Last edited by 41306 on 18 Mar 2004 - 16:45

#7.5 mat on 18 Mar 2004 - 17:43

btw: am i the only one who thinks that a web browser that can update the OS is a completely stupid idea?

#7.6 Spyder on 18 Mar 2004 - 17:51

not sure about the only one but i sure don't see a problem with it. all it does is download the msi/exe/cab or whatever and then it gets installed locally. you'd have to use your browser to surf to www.microsoft.com/download and download each install anyways

#7.7 Jugalator on 19 Mar 2004 - 09:06

QUOTE (#7.5)

I wouldn't call it stupid as there are advantages with it. Users won't need to install any "updater" software and just need to browse to a site. The major flaw is of course that it still needs a specific software (IE) to use. A better solution should be to improve the Windows Update client that grabs updates to be configurable for other updates than critical ones too.

It's a great idea to have a WU client, they just need to improve it a bit more so we won't have to use the site anymore.

#7.8 amradiar on 21 Mar 2004 - 06:44

speaking of Windows Beta Site.. how do i get a user to it. or is there someone who will share theres with me.. i am very curios at what it has to offer..

(7 replies) #8 ramik on 18 Mar 2004 - 16:02

how much is it? i saw that it can reach 300 MB!!!! the admin install version i mean?

and surely it can be integrated/slipstreamed into xp SP1 cd?

but anyway, i'm not going to install it right away, i'll wait a while before getting it (even after final), i don't want that some of my programs stop working.....

#8.1 dougkinzinger on 18 Mar 2004 - 16:12

Yeah, you can still slipstream it if you want.

#8.2 creamhackered on 18 Mar 2004 - 16:26

Once it's final you should just slipstream it with your SP1 CD and create another CD for future installations.

#8.3 dougkinzinger on 18 Mar 2004 - 16:27

That will rocketh muchly. Whoever at MS thought of slipstreaming is a genius.

#8.4 Krankerz on 18 Mar 2004 - 16:42

Just curious. Does anyone have an article on how to slipstream. I keep on hearing about it but do not know exactly what it is. Taken from context, I assume that you can burn SP2 onto a normal XP installation on a new CD, that way you don't have to download and install SP2 every time a format is done. Is this close to being true?

#8.5 RangerLG on 18 Mar 2004 - 16:46

Check out this link

Slipstreaming and Bootable CDs

#8.6 dougkinzinger on 18 Mar 2004 - 16:49

Be sure to download/copy/whatever the actual boot image file you'll need to make your CD bootable. It should be in that guide.

#8.7 Krankerz on 19 Mar 2004 - 22:05

Thanks a lot!

(2 replies) #9 bsarmir on 18 Mar 2004 - 16:26

Secure memory management was greyed out on the last sp2 build (enabled, but the options under system properties-advanced-???somewhere??? were unavailable). Is it still greyed out on this build?

Last edited by 41306 on 18 Mar 2004 - 16:40

#9.1 creamhackered on 18 Mar 2004 - 16:40

DEP is only going to be supported on future Intel chips and AMD chips. I *think* the 64 chips support it but i can't remember.

#9.2 bsarmir on 18 Mar 2004 - 16:44

Ah, well crap.

Wish I had an Athlon 64 to test that theory out.

Last edited by 41306 on 18 Mar 2004 - 17:04

#10 98XT on 18 Mar 2004 - 16:32

Wicked .. looks excellent.

#11 sumeet on 18 Mar 2004 - 16:44

i agree looks wicked, can't wait til it comes out

(6 replies) #12 bsarmir on 18 Mar 2004 - 17:01

I have a problem with SP2's new windows update feature where it keeps telling me to restart my computer to apply the update. Yes, I know I need to restart. Is there a "Shut the <censor> up until I'm finished working on my computer" option I'm missing somewhere, or do I just have to disable it completely? I frequent Neowin a lot so I usually have the updates installed before the windows update service tells me about them. A valid reason, I think, to disable the service completely.

Last edited by 41306 on 18 Mar 2004 - 17:09

#12.1 hobsgrg on 18 Mar 2004 - 17:21

yes that is annoying, you hit remind me later but later is only 15-30 minutes later or something, i haven't noticed an option to tell it to shut up, doesn't seem to be one

#12.2 primortal on 18 Mar 2004 - 17:24

i keep submitting bug reports on it.... it so annoying.

#12.3 creamhackered on 18 Mar 2004 - 17:31

Yeah but it's annoying to the extent that you DO shut down, i guess it's a bit too annoying for those who do apply the updates frequently

#12.4 Spyder on 18 Mar 2004 - 17:53

until you reboot, you're not protected by the patch.. thats probably why MS wants to keep bugging you. just save what you're doing and reboot really quickly. problem solved

#12.5 bsarmir on 18 Mar 2004 - 18:04

It takes a full minute for my computer to restart completely....I'm impatient. Maybe disableing the service completely will stop the popup reminders. I'll have to check that when I get home. Anyone else see the irony in IE blocking popups but then implementing them into windows update? (I do know the auto update service is separate from IE.)

#12.6 Jugalator on 19 Mar 2004 - 09:10

Wouldn't surprise me if the point is that it should be annoying enough for people to finally go "OK OK, I'll update now". Sort of how some cars keep making a noise until you're using your safety belt.

#13 iampedro on 18 Mar 2004 - 17:15

Dose anybody know how the performance is going?

(2 replies) #14 hobsgrg on 18 Mar 2004 - 17:16

this installed much faster than previous builds, anyone else notice this?

#14.1 Kracal on 18 Mar 2004 - 17:33

Yeah, it seem alot faster

#14.2 Jugalator on 19 Mar 2004 - 09:13

A lot faster how? Entire Windows became faster?

Would surprise me if it became that compared to SP1 Final, but it sounds reasonable compared to older builds as they might have removed debug code.

(2 replies) #15 Ficman on 18 Mar 2004 - 17:54

274MB's shouldn't it be called XQ or maybe XP 2nd Edition? XP2k3 perhaps... Seems like a name change should be involved if 274MB's is needed to fix it...?

#15.1 bsarmir on 18 Mar 2004 - 18:07

A large portion of that is SP1, but still a good point.

#15.2 userguy on 18 Mar 2004 - 22:48

No, a large portion of it isn't SP1. SP1 contained mostly bugfixes, so if we have a file that is 100 KB, and it has five bugs in it that get fixed with SP1, then SP1 will contain a new file ~ 100 KB with those fixes.

By the time SP2 comes out, that ~ 100 KB file may have five more bugs in it that get fixed. Now that ~ 100 KB file is in SP2; SP2 does NOT contain the ~ 100 KB file from SP1 AND the ~ 100 KB file from SP2, it contains only the one file.

Get your facts straight -- this is Microsoft adding more things to Windows XP and likely fixing a lot more bugs.

(1 reply) #16 Zepolcire on 18 Mar 2004 - 17:55

They still haven't fixed all those spaces in front of Intel

#16.1 dougkinzinger on 18 Mar 2004 - 19:18

Ha, LOL, yeah!

(1 reply) #17 BetaguyGZT on 18 Mar 2004 - 22:44

Seems to be nice and stable...of course, it broke StyleXP (which was expected). Anyone know a UXTheme patch for this version of the UXTheme.DLL ?

#17.1 Spynos on 19 Mar 2004 - 06:37

You can grab the latest UXTHEME.DLL from Vortex (thx Vorte

, goto http://vortex2050.dyndns.org:8080

Works great!

#18 falcon1 on 18 Mar 2004 - 23:16

Does anyone know if you install this, will it keep all of the opened ports in the firewall for games, programs, etc? If not, is there a way to make a back up of that? Thanks!

(1 reply) #19 lance4k on 19 Mar 2004 - 02:24

Hey do u have to install SP1 to apply SP2. or can u just d/l and apply SP2 without SP1 installed???

will SP1 still be on window update once SP2 comes out?

also is the problem where u tell WINDOWS MESSENGER not to load when windows starts gona be fixed. u know where u tell windows messenger not to load at startup but it still does and interferes with msn messenger.

And what about the FIREWALL SP2 has. Does it give full access to WINDOWS MESSENGER and MSN Messenger by default so u can use all of the audio/video features??

Can a beta tester send these queries off to microsoft.

#19.1 Jugalator on 19 Mar 2004 - 09:17

"Hey do u have to install SP1 to apply SP2"

No

"will SP1 still be on window update once SP2 comes out?"

I don't see why it should.

#20 goldenlotus on 19 Mar 2004 - 05:08

QUOTE

also is the problem where u tell WINDOWS MESSENGER not to load when windows starts gona be fixed. u know where u tell windows messenger not to load at startup but it still does and interferes with msn messenger.

Try disabling it using Group Policy Editor.

#21 norseman on 19 Mar 2004 - 07:20

start / run / gpedit.msc

(2 replies) #22 thenay on 19 Mar 2004 - 07:46

nice can't wait till next month

#22.1 CademiaX on 19 Mar 2004 - 09:24

the web install for rc1 has been released!

looks like i can access the new update page too
http://test.v5.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/v5consumer/default.aspx?ln=en

#22.2 BrY on 19 Mar 2004 - 10:10

won't work stuck at:

Windows Update is looking for available updates...

(1 reply) #23 BrY on 19 Mar 2004 - 10:11

now it says:

Windows Update has encountered an error and cannot display the requested page.

You may wish to try one of these sources for more information about Windows Update:

Windows Update Home Page
About Windows Update
Support Information

Error number that occured: 0x80070002

#23.1 feenixx on 19 Mar 2004 - 11:38

if you're using firewall software like sygate, make sure you allow "generic host process for win32 services" service to access the internet when connecting to windowsupdate.

#24 FrAxElAnK on 19 Mar 2004 - 17:24

it's friday, so where can i get it?

#25 finalcut on 19 Mar 2004 - 20:35

is it possible to install sp2 w/o firewall enabled?

#26 thexfile on 20 Mar 2004 - 02:26

This version Build 2096RC1 isn't the finial version of SP2 only an RC1...

#27 iron2000 on 20 Mar 2004 - 08:12

Will Windows XP SP2 use more resources?

#28 raduking on 20 Mar 2004 - 10:55

is it worth installing ? will I be able to install the final release of SP2 after I install RC1 ?

#29 p1rate on 20 Mar 2004 - 14:52

Is SP2 still going to have a virus checker thingy?
Or was I dreaming when I read that? Thought they bought out Kapersky labs or whatever, and were going to intergrate the technology into SP2...

Also... does it fix the auto play bug? WinXP never seems to save my settings for what I want the drive to do with the diff cd types... :/

#30 Trust on 20 Mar 2004 - 15:30

teens with a lot of time on their hands to test a Release Candidate of a Service Pack!!... Well everyones do whatever they want with their time...

#31 dannymp3 on 20 Mar 2004 - 19:26

Towards Screenshot: System Properties:
2.4 ghz OCed at 2.88? WEAAAK! naw j/k

(i'm at 3.14 on same cpu though)

Thanks for the screen shots.

Does anyone know if they well RC2 for this release?

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