Windows XP, soon to be ex-P

[FatherJack]

So, next Tuesday support is being withdrawn for Windows XP. What, if anything, are you doing about it and what does it mean?

Support for Office 2003 is also being withdrawn, so WindowsUpdate and Microsoft/OfficeUpdate will likely no longer work on existing installations or new ones. Security Essentials is being maintained for another year, but will probably only update within its own client. MS are unlikely to release a fourth service pack, and since SP3 is quite old, any future installations you may do for media servers, random machines you have lying around or friends and families will have quite a lot (100-200) of patches/hotfixes missing.

MS's answer is to buy a new Windows, but for many that also means buying a new PC. Fuck that.

I'm trying a few options out and will let you know how it goes.

A slipstreamed install disk can be made with nLite, but the process is not entirely simple and requires all the patches to be downloaded now, before they become unavailable. Luckily http://xdot.tk/updates.html has a list and a tool to download them all, then you can just add them to the Hotfix, Add-ons and Update Packs section of nLite and make a new Super Duper Install disk/USB stick.

However that only works for new installations, so I'm also looking at Autopatcher and WSUS Offline Update both of which can create various means of applying all the available patches to any existing version of XP.

If you think you might need to re/install XP at some point, or be called upon to support someone who has it, I'd recommend at grabbing one or more of those tools and at least running them once before Tuesday, so you have the files on disk should you need them. It's also be worth grabbing the Service Packs, too - although they aren't likely to become unavailable any time soon: SP3 (requires at least SP1 or SP2 installed first) - you need them for nLite if your XP disk doesn't already include SP3.

[Dog Pants]

I still support around 200,000 XP installations. I daresay a lot of corporate systems are the same.

[FatherJack]

I still support around 200,000 XP installations. I daresay a lot of corporate systems are the same.

Presumably you use WSUS and/or have a standard build you rollout to them.

[Dog Pants]

Standard build and third party software distribution servers. Patching on that many assets is like painting the Forth bridge. Fortunately that's not my job.

[spoodie]

Is there anything you can do with Linux? A small scale migration, testing, R&D, stuff like that.

I see the odd headline about organisations adopting Linux over Windows, presumably in part prompted by the end of support for XP. It's going to be around for a good while it seems and it's worth gaining knowledge of it I reckon.