What is a safe download link for Windows XP Service Pack 3? [closed]
Is this still available from MS? If not can someone suggest a reliable 3rd party site that does not bundle adware/malware into the download?
Service Pack 2 and Service Pack 3 are available from Microsoft here: http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/
You must use Internet Explorer 6 or later.
Search for "XP Service Pack" (without quotes)
Note that SP3 itself is quite old by now; even with it installed, you'll still need to check Windows Update (if it still works) for a few more years' worth of patches.
Archived SP3 download links from the official website are:
Digitally signed EXE installer (Authenticode):
WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU.exe
SHA1: c81472f7eeea2eca421e116cd4c03e2300ebfde4ISO image:
xpsp3_5512.080413-2113_usa_x86fre_spcd.iso
aka en_windows_xp_service_pack_3_x86_cd_x14-60489.iso
SHA1: 8fa76ccea145d050fc6a506ffbdedfe53282e5b4
MS seem to have removed the XP down-loads from their site, so you are stuck with finding third-party down-loads. If you find more than one with the same MD5 check-sum, and you have a good virus scanner which finds no problems, you will have a degree of assurance that the down-load is safe.
However, MS continue to support XP covertly in the guise of WePOS, and this link seems to work for the present. You may need to install the registry patch detailed here before you can install it.
Whatever you do, so you must back up everything profusely before attempting to install anything.