Windows XP SP3 Scheduled Release Date: April 29th

windows_logo If you’ve been anxiously waiting for Windows XP Service Pack 3 to be available, then your wait should be over by April 29th. This info comes straight from Neowin, who was able to get a sneak-peek on the internal schedule for release of Windows XP’s last service pack. These are the super-secret dates set by Microsoft for SP3:

  • April 14, 2008: Support is available for the release version of Service Pack 3 for Windows XP
  • April 21, 2008: Original Equipment Manufacturers, Volume License, Connect, and MSDN and TechNet subscribers
  • April 29, 2008: Microsoft Update, Windows Update, Download Center
  • June 10, 2008: Automatic Updates

There you have it! OEMs, License Customers, MSDN and TechNet subscribers will get XP SP3 on April 21. Rests for us have to wait till April 29th for the SP3 to be available on Microsoft Download Center. Like always, automatic updates are delayed by over a month.

But since TechNet and MSDN subscribers get their hands on SP3 a week before we do, there is a possibility that SP3 might leak before the actual release date ;)

This post was published by on April 16, 2008

About the Author: Thilak Rao works as a Social Media Expert. He is one of the first professional bloggers from India, and he loves to write, travel and click photos. Follow him on Twitter @thilak

  • http://www.greatpriceshere.com Nicole Price

    What however is the long term fate of XP? There are all kinds of stories going around that it will be retired by 2010 in favor of Vista.

  • http://www.gadgets4nowt.co.uk Wii

    Does anyone know off hand what the main features of SP3 will be?

    And how long should we wait for others to find the errors for Microsoft to fix !

  • http://tech-buzz.net Thilak

    Wii: Here’s the PDF document which contains the overview of XP SP3. That should give you a better idea of SP3, but don’t expect anything fancy (like the ones we saw in SP2). Infact, SP2 was the most complete service pack to come out of Microsoft’s door.

    Come down to the second point, I think bugs are weeded out during beta. It’s sent for RTM already.

  • http://www.seoresults.co.za SEO Man

    From discontinuing support to releasing service pack number three. Vista has been a spectacular flop, and I personally know, and know of many people that went there and are back on XP. Microsoft is acknowledging this by extending support for XP, The latest release of Ubuntu Linux is getting really close to Microsofts offerings. Another year or two and opensource is realy going to start impacting on Microsoft’s business.

  • http://www.gadgets4nowt.co.uk Wii

    Thanks Thilak, much appreciated.

    Beta can never get rid of all bugs though, it’s only when millions of us get into it that some of the subtler ones come out of the woodwork.

  • http://tech-buzz.net/2008/04/22/windows-xp-sp3-released-to-manufacturers/ Windows XP SP3 Released to Manufacturers

    [...] anticipated by Neowin earlier, Windows XP SP3 has been released to manufacturers yesterday. OEM and enterprise [...]