Following your advice I usually reinstall Windows XP Professional every year or so, to clear out the cobwebs and get a nice smoothly running computer. However, each time I reinstall Windows I need to download and install all of the Windows XP updates. Is there a method to roll these updates into the installation of Windows so that they do not need to be constantly downloaded for each reinstallation?

This is a very good question since quite a number of users encounter this issue. We will first talk about slipstreaming Windows XP service packs. When Microsoft releases a service pack for Windows, that service pack includes all of the updates released prior to the service pack. So, if you have the installation media for Windows XP with Service Pack 1 then you can update that installation media to Service Pack 3 (the latest available service pack) by slipstreaming the service pack and creating a new Windows installation CD. In the long-term this is more efficient because you will need to install Service Pack 3 one way or another (since if you install the original Windows XP with Service Pack 1 on the computer then the first time you load Windows Update it will request that you download and install Service Pack 3). Therefore, by slipstreaming that service pack into the installation media you eliminate this step and the need to re-download Service Pack 3 every time you install Windows. The process for slipstreaming a service pack into the Windows installation media is quite in-depth, so I will not go into the details in this column. However, if you search Google for “slipstream Windows XP Service Pack 3” (or alike) then you will find a large number of resources which can provide guidance on how to complete this procedure.

At this point you should have a working Windows XP Service Pack 3 installation CD. However, there are a lot of updates which have been released subsequent to Service Pack 3 that you still need to install. The total size of these updates is usually not too substantial, so exceeding your download quota should not be a major concern (unless you have quite a small download quota). That said, it can be inconvenient having to download all of these updates especially if you reinstall Windows on your computer on a regular basis. This was an interesting question to research, since I had thoughts on this issue previously but had never conducted thorough research to figure out how it could potentially be resolved. The most difficult part of integrating the various Windows updates into an installation CD seems to be locating and downloading the updates from the Microsoft website. However, there does appear to be a utility available called Windows Updates Downloader (www.windowsupdatesdownloader.com) which has update lists detailing the available updates for a particular version of the operating system. For example, the Windows XP Service Pack 3 update list should contain all of the updates available subsequent to the release of Windows XP Service Pack 3. The Windows Updates Downloader will then download all these updates which you can then integrate or slipstream into the Windows installation source. Please be aware, I have not used the Windows Updates Downloader before as I have not attempted the procedure we are describing. However, from research on the internet it seems that this utility is quite useful and does perform the required functions. I would encourage you to also read the MSFN forums (www.msfn.org/board/forum/147-windows-updates-downloader/) as this forum is where most support for the utility can be found.

An alternative to Windows Updates Downloader is the AutoPatcher utility (www.autopatcher.com) which also allows you to download the Windows updates off-line so that they can then be integrated into the installation media. I would suggest that you look at both possible utilities to see which one will meet your needs best and is the most convenient to use.

Once you have used the Windows Updates Downloader to download the various updates available for Windows XP Service Pack 3 you will next need to find a way to integrate those into your Windows installation source so that you can produce a new Windows installation CD containing all the latest updates. You will obviously be using the slipstreamed Windows XP Service Pack 3 CD that you created previously as the base installation source onto which you will apply the downloaded updates. The first method to integrate the updates is manually, as detailed in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article: support.microsoft.com/kb/828930 . However, for a large number of updates (as you are likely to have since quite a few have been released since Windows XP Service Pack 3) this would be a lengthy process. Fortunately, there are utilities available which can help integrate and build a new installation CD. One of the better known utilities (also mentioned on the Windows Updates Downloader) website is nLite (www.nliteos.com) which allows you to not only integrate the updates into the Windows installation but also tweak the actual installation process so you can make the installation relatively unattended (e.g. pre-fill fields such as the registered owner, product key, regional settings, etc.). If you are semi-regularly doing reinstallations of Windows this could save you a significant amount of time as you can automate much of the installation process. Again, I have not used the nLite utility but have read positive things about the utility. Much like the Windows Updates Downloader utility the support for nLite can be found on the MSFN forums (www.msfn.org/board/forum/89-nlite/) so I would encourage you take a read and see whether this utility meets your needs.

I would be eager to hear about your successes with integrating the updates into the Windows installation source, as I am sure that other readers are asking the same question. However, be aware that Microsoft releases new updates on the second Tuesday of each month (known as Patch Tuesday - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patch_Tuesday) so if you make a CD with all the updates integrated this month, then next month there may be new updates available. However, since Windows XP is now quite old the release of updates for this operating system is becoming less frequent so hopefully this should not be a problem. However, I would recommend that after you have installed Windows using your CD with all the updates integrated that you run Windows Update to capture any remaining updates, which should not be that many (if any).

Be aware, the availability to download new patches using the Windows Updates Downloader or AutoPatcher utility is contingent with the update lists in those applications being kept current. Therefore, even if these utilities say that no new updates are available you should still run Windows Update once Windows has been installed to double-check that no updates have been released which are missing from the update lists in those applications.