Windows XP unofficial SP4 - Works fine in a VM

[jimbo45]

Hi there

It's a reliable source so I don't have any issues with this particular developer -- if you want to try and run an "Unofficial" but working XP SP4 then it's available here in this link

RyanVM.net Discussion Board :: View topic - Starting a Windows XP Service Pack 4 Project.

Test this stuff as always on a VM rather than on a REAL machine. It's working fine for me.

I have a load of old legacy hardware so I do need to keep an XP machine around for a while yet -- such hardware as a VINYL cutting machine and studio (for creating VINYL records - actually VINYL is beginning to make a bit of a come back too - so I'm glad I kept this business as a hobby !!), some Minidisc recorders - great at GIGS etc for live recordings -- quality fabulous and it's much easier to change standard batteries than the builtin stuff in modern recorders - those older recorders are extremely high quality as they were used a lot in professional recording - especially on the road. I've also got a blue print machine, an old but excellent high quality photo and negative scanner etc so my XP machine is likely to outlast BOTH windows 7 and windows 8 !!!!.

I have some more legacy hardware too and a PHOTOSHOP license -- not going in for ADOBE's Subscription model. The version of Photoshop I have on my XP VM runs just fine - I don't need the absolute latest version as I can use the Camera software to convert the RAW files to things the older version of PHOTOSHOP handles.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Hopachi]

What's that?



Wait... XP SP4?!

They can't be serious with this stuff... MS looking?

Should be interesting though, as a VM of course.

H.

 

[popeye]

This is pretty cool. Will have to give it a shot on my VM.

 

[vrosa]

I'll give it a try

 

[jimbo45]

What's that?

View attachment 50324

Wait... XP SP4?!

They can't be serious with this stuff... MS looking?

Should be interesting though, as a VM of course.

H.

Hi there

Why not

XP runs great as a VM - why bother with expensive new releases of standard things like Office or Photoshop when a perfectly good version runs on XP when you need to use it - also an XP VM can run in even LESS than 1 GB of RAM as a VM quite fine - so you wouldn't even know it was running - even on a small laptop.

XP can share data with your Host so you don't have to bother running XP with an Internet connection if you are worried about security.

XP supports lots of old DECENT scanners and expensive photo printers too -- most of the modern gear is highly "dumbed Down" and not very good quality if you like producing professional quality prints - especially if you want a decent A3+ printer or even A2. !! What gear IS available is hideously expensive once you get away from really cheap HP deskjets etc which are OK for casual jobs - but not much else.

For example I have a nice canoscan N1240U which also scans film negatives and transparencies - got a lot of those I'm digitising. This scanner only works on XP - I could PAY around 60 USD for VUESCAN (which works but I can't use the Canon software so I still lose some functionality), or pay around 400-450 USD for an equivalent HIGH quality scanner with the equivalent function and QUALITY - the cheap ones might be OK for a quick scanned text copy but no good for what I need.

So a NO BRAINER to use an XP VM !! - and a VM is actually better than a physical installation in this case since the VM will run on different machines when I need it to. (Cloned VM doesn't need re-activation - the Virtual hardware doesn't change).

If people want to keep writing updates for XP that work -- fine by me -- I'm always greatful too for the 100,000's of developers who spend a lot of their free time with zero reward getting new Linux releases and applications out of the door as well -- Myself I do other things in my spare time but I'm very glad other people out there do this sort of stuff -- we'd all be worse off without their efforts too.

@Any opensource or free software developers out there -- your efforts ARE appreciated.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Hopachi]

Thanks Jimbo.

I also use 32bit XP VMs so I'll give it a try. :thumb:

 

[Jody Thornton]

If people want to keep writing updates for XP that work -- fine by me --

Isn't SP4 just a compilation of Post SP3 updates? I'm quite interested in the registry hack that allows POSReady patches to be installed on XP.

 

[popeye]

Just installed, took about 30 minutes. All seems good so far. Updated many things including fonts, directx, many dll's, flash components, security files........a lot of things.

 

[Jody Thornton]

Read up on it from RyanVM's site. Looks interesting, and it contains that patch for POSReady updates that I was mentioning.