Slipstreaming Windows XP (SP2) with Service Pack 3

Windows XP Home or Professional with SP2 Setup CD. It's possible that an original XP Setup CD or an XP with SP1 Setup CD will work, but I've only tested XP with SP2

Step 1: Copy the Windows XP Setup CD contents to your hard drive

Insert your Windows XP with SP2 Setup CD in the optical drive of your PC and close any auto-run window that appears. In My Computer (or Computer), right-click the optical drive and select Open. Leave the window open with a view of the contents of the Windows XP Setup CD.

Open My Computer again. This time, navigate to the root of the C: drive or another location to which you'd like to save the files you'll eventually integrate with SP3. Create a folder named XPCD (as in C:\XPCD). Then, create a second folder named sp3 (as in C:\XPSP3).

Now, drag and drop the contents of the XP Setup CD into the C:\XPCD folder.

Step 2: Extract the contents of the XP SP3 updater to your hard drive

Now, you need to extract the SP3 files. While the files are copying between the two locations, copy the Windows XP SP3 standalone installer (typically windowsxp-kb936929-sp3-x86-enu.exe in the US) to C:\XPSP3. Then, open a command line window (Start, Run, cmd in Windows XP; in Vista, just open the Start Menu and type cmd in Start Menu Search).

Then, using the following commands exactly, navigate to C:\XPSP3 and extract the files (Note that the text [ENTER] means hit the ENTER key):

cd \ [ENTER]
cd XPSP3[ENTER]
windowsxp-kb936929-sp3-x86-enu.exe -x:c:\XPSP3[ENTER]

An Extracting Files dialog will come up and display the progress

Step 3: Integrate XP with SP3

Now, type the following in the command line window (where [ENTER] means hit the ENTER key):

cd i386 [ENTER]
cd update [ENTER]
update.exe /integrate:c:\XPCD[ENTER]