How to update Windows XP after MS support ends

You can install Windows XP on your computer not only “from scratch” (i.e., full installation), but also on top of the old operating system. This type of installation is called Windows update.
Unlike a full installation, an update allows you to keep your documents, programs and settings in working order. When an update is performed, Windows is installed in the same folder as the current OS (thus updating it). Whatever installation option you choose, you must have a boot disk with the required version of Windows.

There is an opinion that all problems in the operation of the OS can be solved by updating it. In fact, this is not always the case. When reinstalling “over”, there is a possibility that errors in the system registry accumulated by the old OS during its “life” may transfer to the new operating system.
In addition, it is impossible to say with one hundred percent certainty that after the update absolutely all programs will work as before. It is possible that problems will arise with some program.

Updating (reinstalling) Windows is a last resort solution for troubleshooting. After it - only a full installation (with formatting the hard drive). Therefore, if malfunctions occur in the operation of your system, do not rush to solve them with such a radical method. There are other options for restoring the health of your Windows.

Before updating the system, I would strongly advise you to create a backup copy of your important data on another local drive or external media (for example, if you have the 1C accounting program installed, be sure to copy the directories with the database). The best option would be to make an image of the entire system partition using the program Acronis True Image.

So, I warned you about the possible consequences of reinstallation; Now let's proceed directly to updating Windows. This installation can be launched directly from the operating system.

1. Turn on your computer and wait for the OS to load.
2. Disable your installed antivirus.
3. Insert the Windows XP installation disc into your computer's DVD drive. If after this the welcome window does not appear on the screen, then open the disk and run the file setup.exe.
4. In the window that appears, you must select “ Installing Windows XP”.
5. In the next window, select the installation type “ Update (recommended)” and click the “Next” button.
If we chose the installation type “ New installation”, then a full installation would be launched, and then our programs and settings would not be saved. They may remain in the Program Files folder (if we refuse to format the disk during the installation process), but will not work on the new system.

6. Then we accept the license agreement and click “Next”.
7. In the next window, enter the license key.
8. In the “Dynamic update” window, you can put a marker next to “ Download updated installation files” if our computer is connected to the Internet. Otherwise, select “ Skip this step and continue installing Windows" Click “Next”.
9. In the next window we will see on the left an indicator for copying installation files. If no unexpected problems arise, the computer will reboot itself. And we can only calmly watch the further update process. By the way, it is much faster than installing from scratch.
10. Finally, our PC will reboot one last time and the updated Windows XP will start. If the Internet and local network settings go wrong, configure them again.

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Above I described the installation process as it should ideally be. But sometimes during installation some problems may arise. For example, when following step 9 of our instructions, the “ Error when copying files”:
It is impossible to unequivocally answer why it appeared. Below are possible causes of this problem and some solutions:

1. Anti-virus software was not disabled before installation.
2. The Windows XP installation disc is scratched.
3. Your CD or DVD drive is faulty.
4. There is a virus on the computer. Before starting installation, conduct a full system scan with an antivirus (for example, DrWebCurelt).
5. Malfunction of RAM or hard drive.
6. There is incompatibility of any program or device. To check this, insert the installation disk with Windows XP into the drive - select “System compatibility check” - “Automatic system check”.
7. Try copying the entire contents of the installation CD to a folder on your local hard drive and run the installation from there (via the setup.exe file).
8. At the beginning of the installation process, in the “Dynamic Update” window, select “Download updated installation files” (if, of course, you have Internet access on your computer).

As you can see, there can be quite a lot of options and getting to the bottom of it is not so easy. For this (and not only) reason, I believe that The optimal reinstallation of Windows is a complete installation from scratch with formatting of the system partition. Naturally, you must first copy all the files that are important to you, as well as settings and drivers.

Operating system updates allow you to keep security tools and software up to date, and correct errors made by developers in previous versions of files. As you know, Microsoft has stopped official support, hence the release of Windows XP updates from April 8, 2014. Since then, all users of this OS have been left to their own devices. Lack of support means that your computer, without receiving security packages, becomes vulnerable to malware.

Not many people know that some government agencies, banks, etc. still use a special version of Windows XP - Windows Embedded. The developers announced support for this OS until 2019 and updates are available for it. You probably already guessed that you can use packages designed for this system in Windows XP. To do this, you need to make a small registry adjustment.

Warning: By performing the actions described in the “Modifying the Registry” section, you are violating the Microsoft license agreement. If Windows is modified in this way on a computer that officially belongs to the organization, problems may arise during the next scan. There is no such threat for home machines.

Registry modification

Before setting up the registry, the first step is to create a system restore point so that in case of an error you can rollback. Read the article on our website to learn how to use recovery points.
Next, create a new file by clicking on the desktop RMB, go to point "Create" and choose "Text Document".
Open the document and add the following code to it:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

"Installed"=dword:00000001
Let's go to the menu "File" and choose "Save as".

We select a location to save, in our case it is the desktop, change the parameter at the bottom of the window to "All files" and give the document a name. The name can be anything, but the extension must be ".reg", For example, "mod.reg", and press "Save".

A new file with the appropriate name and registry icon will appear on the desktop.
We launch this file by double-clicking and confirm that we really want to change the parameters.
Reboot the computer.

The result of our actions will be that our operating system will be identified by the Update Center as Windows Embedded, and the appropriate updates will be sent to our computer. Technically, this does not pose any threat - the systems are identical, with minor differences that are not key.

Manual check

To manually update Windows XP, you must open "Control Panel" and select a category "Security Center".
Next follow the link "Check for the latest updates from Windows Update" in the block "Resources".
The browser will launch and display the Windows Update page. Here you can choose a quick scan, that is, get only the most necessary updates, or download the full package by clicking on the button "Selective". Let's choose the quick option.
We are waiting for the package search process to complete.
The search is completed, and we see a list of important updates in front of us. As expected, they are designed for the Windows Embedded Standard 2009 (WES09) operating system. As mentioned above, these packages are also suitable for XP. Install them by clicking on the button "Install updates".
Next, the download and installation of packages will begin. We wait…
Once the process is complete, we will see a window with a message stating that not all packages were installed. This is normal - some updates may only be installed during system boot. Press the button "Reboot Now".

The manual update has been completed and your computer is now as protected as possible.

Automatic update

In order not to go to the Windows Update website every time, you need to enable automatic updating of the operating system.

Conclusion

Regularly updating the operating system allows us to avoid many security-related problems. Check the Windows Update website often, or better yet, let the OS install updates on its own.

More than 2 years have passed since Microsoft stopped releasing updates for the legendary version of the Windows XP operating system. However, to this day it is used by many office workers and owners of weaker PCs. And everything would be fine, but these users are deprived of the opportunity to receive bug fixes, improvements in system performance and security.

However, as it turned out, Microsoft will be releasing updates for Windows XP even before 2019. However, only government agencies, banks and other services can receive these updates. They have Windows XP Service Pack 3 installed and the necessary changes have been made in the Registry Editor. How can you update Windows XP for free and improve the performance of your own PC?

Updating Windows XP Service Pack 3

You can update Windows XP only if you have Service Pack 3 installed and a 32-bit operating system. You can check this data by right-clicking on the “My Computer” icon and selecting “Properties”.

A window will open with information about the Windows XP system.

If your system meets the above requirements, you should follow these steps. Open Notepad and copy the following text into it:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

“Installed”=dword:00000001

We save the file with any name, the main thing is that its extension is reg. Set the file type to “All files”.

After that, run the file and agree to make changes to the registry. Reboot the PC. The Windows XP operating system will begin receiving updates. However, it is worth warning that operations with the registry editor are quite complex, therefore, before performing these actions, it is worth making a backup copy of the system.

After April 8, 2014, official support for Windows XP ended. There is a solution to this problem! Our website will introduce you to it.

For users, this means both good and bad news. The good news is that Windows XP will continue to work. The bad news is that the free Microsoft Security Essentials antivirus will no longer work on Windows XP, and operating system updates that eliminate security threats, i.e., will no longer be released. the computer will become more vulnerable. A solution has been found to extend the life of Windows XP and it saves money.

Surprisingly, the share of Windows XP is growing gradually for the second month in a row, although its support ended more than a year ago. According to NetMarketShare, Windows XP's market share was 29.53% in February and 29.30% in January. In December its share was 28.98% , which means that she chopped off a little more for herself.

What to do?

First, check the box “Don’t show this message again” in the warning window that constantly appears.

You can clearly see that the Windows XP operating system works for us!

And the most interesting thing is that there are updates, they continue to come out! Everything turns out to be simple, there is a special version of Windows XP that was developed for terminals, ATMs, and cash registers, support for which ends only in 2019! (this is when you can think about changing the operating system; in most cases this means changing the entire hardware). Of course, these updates will not arrive on your computer. You need to follow certain steps so that Windows Update XP sees that you have the right to do this:

Create a text file in Notepad
You need to enter the following information into it:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
"Installed"=dword:00000001

You must save it with the .reg extension under any name
Now let's run these files and agree and make changes to the registry
Run the file and agree that information will be entered into the registry

After the window appears that this information has been added, you must restart the computer
Now you can safely receive updates

So what's the catch?

2. A Microsoft representative stated: "We recently became aware of a method that purportedly will allow Windows XP users to receive security updates. These security updates are targeted at Windows Embedded and Windows Server 2003 and do not fully protect Windows XP users. Windows XP users are putting their machines at significant risk by installing these updates because they have not been tested for Windows XP. The best way for Windows XP users to protect their systems is to upgrade to a newer version, such as Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 or wWindows 10."

In April 2014, official support and updates for the well-proven Windows XP operating system ended. This prompted many users to upgrade to the more modern Windows 7.

But, despite the fact that Windows 7 turned out to be quite successful, the new operating system is more demanding on the computer’s hardware. Computers that ran on Windows 7 with Windows XP may have already slowed down a little. In addition, the new system brought inconvenience to those who were already accustomed to and had studied Windows XP quite well, since everything in the interface had moved to other places and they needed to be relearned.

But the main problem was the lack of drivers for old equipment. Many people still have old printers, scanners and other devices that still work well that they could not get to work on Windows 7.

Thus, users who, for one reason or another, remain on XP have to put up with the lack of updates and, as a result, reduced protection from new malicious technologies that exploit vulnerabilities in the operating system.

But it turned out that all was not lost. Recently, a German hacker came up with a very simple way to extend the receipt of updates on Windows XP. The fact is that Microsoft continues to support the Windows POSReady 2009 operating system for payment terminals and ATMs, which is built on the Windows XP kernel. The updates for these operating systems are absolutely identical.

This support includes the release of security updates and will last until April 2019. All that remains is to convince the Microsoft update server that you do not have Windows XP installed on your computer, but Windows POSReady 2009. A German hacker found a very simple solution on how to do this.

You need to add the following branch to the Windows XP registry:

And create only one DWORD key in it:

"Installed" with value "1"

This is easy to do using the Registry Editor. But if you don’t know how to use it, then in order not to ruin the system, it’s better to download a file that will do everything itself. Just double-click on it and agree to make changes to the registry.

With security updates, your Windows XP will be protected for a long time. You can download the file for making changes to the registry from the link below.

Hard drive A-Data Ultimate SU650 120GB
Hard drive Transcend StoreJet 25M3 1 TB
Transcend JetFlash 790 8Gb