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I have been tasked to install Windows XP, IE, and Office 2007 on a computer that will become part of a standalone network not connected to the Internet. What is a good way to install all of the security updates? I'm installing from CD's of Windows XP SP2 and MS Office 2007. Next I plan to download Windows XP SP3 and Office 2007 SP2, burn them to CD's, and install both service packs. Finally I plan to go to the Microsoft Download Center and download all applicable security updates, burn then to CD, and install them. I estimate that there are over 100 of these updates. Is there a more efficient way to do this?

5 Answers 5

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Microsoft offers ISOs of the security patches that have come out each month. I don't think this is cumulative, so you might have to grab a few month's worth unless MS has a bundle of several months' updates.

Go to http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/results.aspx?displaylang=en&freetext=security%20update and search "security update $month $year." I was able to find the December 2010 ISO of all December updates, but I'd rather post the general link since I can only post 1.

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"...that will become part of a standalone network not connected to the Internet."

How about you install it, do all the updates, then move it to the standalone network?

You should also image it using ntfsclone or something before moving it so that you can redeploy the image if necessary.

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  • Too late; the machine is already in the isolated environment, and we are not allowed to move it back out again. Also, I don't have access to an identical machine on the outside that I can use to image the target machine.
    – JPaget
    Jul 20, 2010 at 15:27
  • A similar idea would be to install XP, IE, and Office on a virtual machine to create a redeployable image. Unfortunately this requires second licenses for both XP and Office, which I don't have, and the image would likely have generic hardware drivers rather than ones specifically tailored to the target machine.
    – JPaget
    Jul 22, 2010 at 13:38
  • It does not require second licenses for XP and Office if only one copy of that VM runs. However, doing a V2P conversion is not easy to accomplish with Windows - if you were to go that route I'd suggest just running that VM on the disconnected host.
    – MikeyB
    Jul 22, 2010 at 18:09
  • For what it's worth, it would be fairly easy to mount the configured VM's hard disk (VHD) file and image it using imagex or DISM. Whether the physical machine would boot after you applied the image to the physical drive is a different question. I don't think XP had a 'system reserved' partition like newer versions of windows so that complexity is removed. You would have to mark the physical disk partition as 'active' if it is not already (e.g. after a format). I've also had some success using bootsect/bootrec before when machines won't boot.
    – goofology
    Feb 5, 2016 at 22:30
  • oops didn't see how old this thread was... wish there was a big red bar that notified a person when they were responding to a post older than ~6 months..
    – goofology
    Feb 5, 2016 at 22:34
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Use the slipstreaming process to update the actual install media.

A process for doing so as well as an external tool is shown here:

http://www.devtoolshed.com/content/how-slipstream-windows-xp-service-pack-3-installation

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  • This shows promise for Windows XP (and I plan to try it) but what about Office 2007? Is there a tool for slipstreaming MS Office?
    – JPaget
    Jul 20, 2010 at 18:47
  • Unfortunately the license for nlite (the "external tool") forbids commercial usage, and this is also stated on their website at nliteos.com/contact.html .
    – JPaget
    Jul 27, 2010 at 17:47
  • There exist other tools to do this same thing - nothing comes to mind at the moment unfortunately. You could also try asking if you could buy a license.
    – MikeyB
    Jul 27, 2010 at 18:01
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Would it violate your policies to build an internet-attached WSUS server, fill it up w/ updates, and then move it into the standalone network? The isolated client could be pointed at it with registry settings. Using WSUS has the benefit of auto-detection of needed updates for each product, and by forklifting the server over, you move everything at once.

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sysprep the configured computer, pull the hard drive out, attach it to another computer and use an imaging software to clone the drive. Make sure you are licensed for the additional XP/Office installations.

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  • oops didn't see how old this thread was... wish there was a big red bar that notified a person when they were responding to a post older than ~6 months..
    – goofology
    Feb 5, 2016 at 22:33

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