Security updates for Microsoft End of Life operating systems..

Andrew LeniartIT Professional, Freelance Journalist, Certified Editor
IT Professional - Helping others to help themselves. https://andrewleniart.com & https://www.computerhelpzone.com.au/testimonial/
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This article provides a convenient collection of links to Microsoft provided Security Patches for operating systems that have reached their End of Life support cycle. Included operating systems covered by this article are Windows XP,  Windows Server 2003 and 2008  - Both 32 and 64 Bit installs.

In the wake of the recent Wannacrypt (also known as Wannacry) Ransomware attack, it appears evident from questions still regularly asked at Experts Exchange and other forums that some are still falling prey to Ransomware attacks, mostly due to not having applied appropriate available patches to their older operating systems.


As recently released security patches for Operating Systems that have already reached their End of Life cycle have not been made "automatically" available via Windows update, many seem to be struggling to find links to the patches they need, or indeed decipher and make sense of the (sometimes confusing) Microsoft pages, listing where patches can be downloaded.


**Note** This article does not promote the continued use of any "no longer supported" operating system. That having been said, this author recognises that some people may have little choice but to continue doing so, or be faced with financial hardship by having to replace expensive propriety hardware or software solutions they've already paid for.  It's with you folks in mind that this article has been written.


With that out of the way, below I present a list of handy links to the patches you should make sure are installed in any of the operating systems listed that you may still be using.  If you're unsure if you've installed the listed patches or not, I suggest downloading all those that are applicable to your system. If you don't need a patch when you try to install it, Windows will tell you so and you can just move onto the next one.


Tip! - Grab them all now while they're still available!  They will come in handy if you ever need to reinstall.




Service Pack and Patches for Windows XP (SP2 & SP3)



If your copy of Windows XP hasn't been updated to SP3, you can still download and install SP3 using the following source:



Check to see if you have all of these patches installed:


Listed in ascending KB patch order..


Tip! Also grab this KB4018271 patch to update Internet Explorer 8




Service Packs & Patches for Windows Server 2003



Download Links to Service Packs


Supported Operating System

Windows Server 2003


Supported Operating Systems

Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2 (32-Bit x86), Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, Windows SBS 2003


Supported Operating Systems

Windows Server 2003 R2 x64, Windows Server 2003 x64


Download Links to (32-bit) Server 2003 Patches


Check to see if you have all of these patches installed:


Listed in ascending KB patch order..



Download Links to (64-bit) Server 2003 SP2 Patches


Check to see if you have all of these patches installed:


Listed in ascending KB patch order..





Service Packs & Patches for Windows Server 2008



Due to the many different flavors of Windows Server 2008, these can be a little trickier to list. The easiest way to ensure you're protected as best as you can be is to first update to the latest available service pack - before applying the following patches.


Tip! - Some of the following patches may list as available for the Microsoft Vista operating system - in those circumstances, note that they also apply to Windows Server 2008


Download Links to Service Packs


Supported Operating Systems

Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2


Supported Operating Systems

Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista

Includes all updates since SP1 was delivered


Supported Operating Systems
Hyper-V Server 2008, Windows Server 2008

Includes all updates since SP1 was delivered


Supported Operating System
Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems



Download Links for Windows Server 2008 (32-bit) SP2 Installations


Check to see if you have all of these patches installed:


Listed in ascending KB patch order..




Download Links for Windows Server 2008 (64-bit) SP2 Installations


Check to see if you have all of these patches installed:


Listed in ascending KB patch order..



The following are Specific to Windows Server 2008 "R2" (64-bit)



Download Links for Server 2008 SP2 (Itanium Based) Installations


Check to see if you have all of these patches installed:


Listed in ascending KB patch order..



The following are Specific to Windows Server 2008 "R2" SP1 - Itanium Based Installations




Manual Patch Installation


Installing the above patches manually is simplicity itself.


  1. Download (or transfer) the patches to the machine required and save to Hard Disk
  2. Open Windows Explorer and Double Click on the downloaded patch
  3. Follow the prompts and restart if instructed to by Windows Installer


Patching Tips! 


  1. If a patch fails to install with an unspecified error, move on to the next patch and try installing the failed patch again later in the event that it may need to be installed in a particular order
  2. If you've accidentally downloaded and tried to apply an incorrect patch version, Windows will warn you. Return to this guide, download the correct Service Pack to update your system and try again
  3. Still having problems?  Visit Experts Exchange and post a Question asking for help. Keep a record of the steps you did to try and apply the patches and post that information to help the experts to help you!


Conclusion


I hope this article eases some of the confusion about patching out of date operating systems.  Do keep in mind that while the above list of patches will effectively make your operating system a "little" more secure, you should try to upgrade to a supported Operating System version as soon as possible.  More vulnerabilities are being discovered every day and there is no guarantee that Microsoft will provide any additional security patches in the future.


Till the next time...




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Andrew LeniartIT Professional, Freelance Journalist, Certified Editor
IT Professional - Helping others to help themselves. https://andrewleniart.com & https://www.computerhelpzone.com.au/testimonial/

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