Upgrading SP2 to SP2b

sdanseo

Can this be done, and what does it include apart from the nice new apearance of windows?

8T8

Do you mean XP SP2 ?

SP2b as far as I know contains just the updates that have been released on Windows Update post SP2.

Capt'n Midnight

generally speaking (Office 2K being and exception) service packs are cululative , in that any service pack contains all the previous updates as well as current ones.

For windows XP
sp2b seems to be on the OS cd rather than a download ?

sdanseo

You see that's what I thought, but on all the new PCs in shops the desktop appearance/theme is much better and I can't find a similar one. I assumed it came with SP2b since that's when it appeared in shops - but i've just reformatted and downloaded every single update and nothing new

Im now using the Zune theme for Windows but I'm still curious

8T8

New theme ?

There isn't one there are only three ones official from Microsoft which are digitally signed (you can override this to use your own themes).

Luna = default XP theme with the blue/silver/green

Royal = glassy version of Luna comes with XP MCE 2005 (is this the one you are seeing)

Zune = a copy of Royal but uses black and orange elements.

sdanseo

8T8 wrote:

Royal = glassy version of Luna comes with XP MCE 2005 (is this the one you are seeing).

That's the one, cheers

8T8

Those systems are running the media centre edition of XP if you want the royal theme you can get it here, I do not know if that is the signed version or not but to install just create a folder in the :\Windows\Themes\Resources section and drop the .msstyle into it. (If it's not the digitally signed version from MS you wont be able to use it)

It will then appear in the display properties section.

A far better method is to use the Neowin UxTheme.DLL patcher to disable the requirement of digitally signed themes then you can use whatever you want like this Royal Mod theme which has lots of colour variation plus loads more.

Edit: DeviantART is messed up for some reason try KoL's site for more skins under visual styles take a look.

Sparks2000

just to add, a lot of themes are offered online that come in an exe installer thats bundled with adware :mad:

8T8

Well on shady sites like ThemeXP yes I agree but if you stick to the safe well known ones you should not have any issues;

Deviant ART (linked above)
Neowin forums
KoL's StudioTwentyEight (linked above)
GUI Styles
GfxOasis
GetSkinned

All the best stuff turns up there.