Did I get all the files I need?

June 22, 2010 5:06 AM

Can I copy whatever Windows Update automatically downloaded?

For reasons I won't go into depth here, I need to reformat/reinstall WinXP SP2 on a machine. The machine is an LG 50 inch all in one unit at work. Is there a way to copy all my patches, updates, hotfixes, and .net framework? Or did I need to have downloaded the network version of all of these items?

I know to copy over the i386 folder,drivers, and whatever apps I downloaded manually, but my Internet speed is capped at 256k, and I have no control or ability to up it.

Thank you ahead of time.

posted by MrMulan to computers & internet (4 answers total)

Moving over patches is hard. In the future, I suggest you use autopatcher.
posted by TomMelee at 5:36 AM on June 22, 2010

I could be wrong, but it seems to me that Microsoft security patches are rolled up into single downloads over time. I say this because when I have had to do a reinstall, the windows update-to-current process takes far less time than what the cumulative time had been for all the previous updates.

Sort of like mini service packs. When I fire one up and let it download all of its updates, there are far fewer, and they are titled differently than what the previous ones were.

I would bet that if you just set it to "download but let me choose when to install" and let it run overnight, everything will be ready to go in the morning.

(The reason I say this is that the install folder for windows xp is a few hundred megabytes. Over time, you have downloaded newer versions of the same files over and over. On a fresh install, you really only have to download the newest version from WU.)
posted by gjc at 5:51 AM on June 22, 2010

While it is possible to download all the patches in the form of .exe or .msi files which you can save and reuse later, if you didn't do that originally, i.e. you used automatic update, then the patches were deleted after they were applied and you'll have to redownload them.
posted by Rhomboid at 6:04 AM on June 22, 2010

Rhomboid: That's what I suspected. Thanks.
posted by MrMulan at 6:11 AM on June 22, 2010