Microsoft offers SP2 compatibility guide

Microsoft has launched a do-it-yourself kit to help IT professionals assess their software's compatibility with Windows XP Service Pack 2.
Source
http://news.com.com/Microsoft+offers...l?tag=nefd.top

Maybe I'll give that a try. I had NO problem with RC1 and NO problem with RC2, but I can't get the official SP2 to work to save my life. Actually- it works, I just can't connect to the network or Internet any more after it is installed. I am not sure what they changed between RC2 and final release but my computer doesn't like it.

It talks to the network at least long enough to pick up the DHCP info from my router, but after that I can't even ping the router. Even after ensuring the Windows Firewall was disabled and even uninstalling ZoneAlarm I still was unable to communicate. So- I uninstalled SP2 for the 3rd time.

C'est la vie!

I had the same sort of problem. I made sure the firewall option was not enabled and still was not able to talk. I could ping my servers, surf the net, but could not map a drive with the FDDN. If I mapped my drives with IP address and share name – it worked fine. Also my sound didn’t work with sp2. I tested it with a Vmware load of XP and everything worked fine. I tried it twice and unloaded it twice. Luckily the uninstall works great. :(

I will check the compatibility list. I have common components, so I can't imagine there being a problem.

Thanks for the link.

I'm wondering.... You see I have not had a single problem with SP2, literally. However, I also have completely formatted and reinstalled Windows since I used the RC version of SP2. Could it be incompatabilities when upgrading from SP2 RC2 to SP2 final?

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Could it be incompatabilities when upgrading from SP2 RC2 to SP2 final?

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According to Microsoft, as well as numerous other sources, it is highly recommended to format and do a clean install of SP2 instead of installing over any of the Betas or Release Candidates. I personally haven't had a problem with SP2 installing over RC2, but I did have a problem with Windows 2000 (I believe it was SP2, though it may have been SP1). Like TonyBradley, I didn't have any problems with the RCs, but as soon as I tried to install the final release, it screwed up. I tried a few times before I finally gave up and formatted. After that it worked perfectly. Like Pooh Sun Tzu suggests, it may be best to just format and install from scratch, TonyBradley.

AJ

I hope after people read the replies posted here they will have the incentive to do a back up of everything before installing Service pack 2 just in case they have to do a clean install.

If you do a clean 're-install' of XP Pro ....... and then TRY to get the updates (Prior to SP2).....
There aren't any !! The NEW MS update page does not allow you to get any previous updates.

Good thing I kept SP1 on a server for later use

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If you do a clean 're-install' of XP Pro ....... and then TRY to get the updates (Prior to SP2).....

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I believe that is because SP2 supersedes all previous updates. In other words, they are included in SP2 so you don't need to install them separately.

As for the clean reinstall- it didn't work. Actually, I had this funky thing happen which occurred once before. I did a Quick Format on the C drive, yet all of my data was still there after the install. It still did a clean install of XP- but the other C drive data was still there which tells me that maybe the format didn't exactly work.

So, before I pass judgment I guess I should do a REAL format of the C drive and give it another try. For now though I was still unable to connect to the network after installing SP2. I think maybe it is just some sort of incompatibility with my Netgear wireless card.

I downloaded a completely new copy of Windows XP Professional with SP2 already built in and it works fine now. Still no clue what the problem(s) were before, but I am good to go now.

There's gotta be a bug in the firewall somewhere - after taking the time to research it I finally spent the 10 hours of dialup time downloading the bloody thing, only to find that after install, my isp would only stay conected for 5 mins at a time, whether surfing from inside the isp's software, or using external browsing. Updating the modem string to stay connected didn't help other than giving the browsers time to post the 'can't find server' error. I mailed MS about it and got no response as of yet. Disabling the security center entirely fixed the problem - go figure :rolleyes: