How automatic is Automatic?

I've been scanning the posts here and don't see anything addressing this
recently, so here goes:

I finally got around to fresh-installing XP pro, again, after much hardware
travail, detail omitted, save to say, mbd RMA, psu failures, and much time
required to sort it all out. A new SATA hard drive afforded the opportunity
for a fresh install, since the mbd failure had produced a very unreliable XP
install which also wanted to be re-validated because of too many video card
driver installs, believe it or not.

After adding SP2 to the mix, and most of the drivers, I bit the bullet on
WUP for the WI3.1 and WGA, which, of course, it insisted on my taking first.
I had set my auto update to notify but not download and install; when I
permitted it to download, it automatically installed. Is this the pattern
if one follows the dialog boxes offered? Is it necessary to refuse
download, say, and look for the package at some different site? If at all
possible, I should like to retain the download packages for some unforseen
difficulty requiring putting it all together from scratch again in the
future, plus, I'd like to be able to monitor such installations closely,
with a view towards removal if necessary. The overview of the newsgroup
does not make for optimism. I think I read some information somewhere that
suggested that downloads could only be obtained via the update site and only
if WGA were installed, and thus presumably by the mechanism I used above.
But I'm less than wild about the 'get out of the way and let MS do it for
you, we know what's good for you' approach that this seems to embody.

I've held off on the remaining many updates until I can find out what's the
best way about this. Once past that, I'll tackle slipstreaming for future
use on re-installs.

Another bit: I've seen remarks that a service pack 3 is due some time in
the future, but I noticed in my registry that after the WI and WGA updates
there was an SP2 key *and* an SP3 key:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Updates\Windows XP\SP3

along with the apparent suggestion that the WI3.1 update and 898461
comprised SP3, but 892130 isn't part of it (though one might expect it to
be. Can anyone provide some rationalization of all this? Does anyone know
if this is SP3 and we've now had it? (In more ways than one?)

Thanks,
Joe

"jt3" <> wrote in message
news:...

....
> After adding SP2 to the mix, and most of the drivers, I bit the bullet on
> WUP for the WI3.1 and WGA, which, of course, it insisted on my taking first.
> I had set my auto update to notify but not download and install; when I
> permitted it to download, it automatically installed.


Not clear which download "it" refers to?
If "it" is WGA then I can imagine MS might not want it being saved. ; )
Otherwise the usual suggestion regarding SP2 is to get a CD instead.


....
> Another bit: I've seen remarks that a service pack 3 is due some time in
> the future, but I noticed in my registry that after the WI and WGA updates
> there was an SP2 key *and* an SP3 key:
>
> HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Updates\Windows XP\SP3
>
> along with the apparent suggestion that the WI3.1 update and 898461
> comprised SP3, but 892130 isn't part of it (though one might expect it to
> be. Can anyone provide some rationalization of all this? Does anyone know
> if this is SP3 and we've now had it? (In more ways than one?)


That's normally an indication that you have installed some post-SP2
maintenance.


>
> Thanks,
> Joe


HTH

Robert Aldwinckle
---

"Robert Aldwinckle" <> wrote in message
news:%...
> "jt3" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>
> ...
> > After adding SP2 to the mix, and most of the drivers, I bit the bullet
on
> > WUP for the WI3.1 and WGA, which, of course, it insisted on my taking
first.
> > I had set my auto update to notify but not download and install; when I
> > permitted it to download, it automatically installed.
>
>
> Not clear which download "it" refers to?
> If "it" is WGA then I can imagine MS might not want it being saved. ; )
> Otherwise the usual suggestion regarding SP2 is to get a CD instead.
>
>
> ...
> > Another bit: I've seen remarks that a service pack 3 is due some time
in
> > the future, but I noticed in my registry that after the WI and WGA
updates
> > there was an SP2 key *and* an SP3 key:
> >
> > HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Updates\Windows XP\SP3
> >
> > along with the apparent suggestion that the WI3.1 update and 898461
> > comprised SP3, but 892130 isn't part of it (though one might expect it
to
> > be. Can anyone provide some rationalization of all this? Does anyone
know
> > if this is SP3 and we've now had it? (In more ways than one?)
>
>
> That's normally an indication that you have installed some post-SP2
> maintenance.
>
>
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Joe
>
>
> HTH
>
> Robert Aldwinckle
> ---
>
>

Sorry about the lack of clarity. I had installed SP2 from the MS disc that
I had obtained a summer ago when I first started this hegira. That ('it')
was the problem--I was given the choice of the whole package, not any of the
parts. I had expected to have no choice but to install WGA initially, but
then thought that I'd be able to deal with the others in a more normal
fashion. I suppose what I'm after is some assurance that I *should* be able
to obtain the downloads in the selective fashion and be able to install at
my convenience, and that this was an aberration based on some tie-in of the
Installer with WGA. With regard to the other item, I wouldn't have any idea
why it should be mandatory, but I haven't looked into that.

Thanks for your info about the SP3 key.

Appreciatively,
Joe