Microsoft to allow serial-number free install of XP. PLUS: what's in XP SP 3After four years in the making, Windows XP Service Pack 3 is almost ready for release. We've taken an in-depth look at it -- and one aspect of it jumps out as being particularly interesting: the ability to install XP without a serial number.
But first, a little background: Windows XP SP3 was recently released for public beta testing -- “public†being Microsoft Connect and MSDN subscribers. As we’ve already seen, SP3 is really more of a Windows rollup, rather than a massive feature-enhancing package like SP2 was. However, it seems that SP3 does contain some new functionality:
Descriptive Security Options UI – this makes the Security Centre a bit more intelligible and intuitive to try to prevent security problems caused by accidental misconfiguration
Enhanced security for Administrator and Service policy entries – this is an enhancement to System Center Essentials, specifically for SP3
Black Hole Router Detection – this detects routers which are silently discarding network packets, and is enabled by default in SP3
Microsoft Kernel Mode Cryptographic Module – this module (FIPS.SYS) is a FIPS 140-1 cryptographic module which runs as a kernel mode export driver
Network Access Protection – the NAP Client is network-based policy enforcement platform currently running on Windows Vista and Windows 2008 (beta), and will now be available in XP SP3
Most interesting, though is this last feature:
Windows Product Activation – this gives you the functionality to install Windows XP without having to enter the product key, as with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2003 SP2.
That is a really useful feature for testing Windows builds (unless you can memorise a 25-digit key) and will make life immeasurably easier for people who do system benchmarking, or set up systems for roadshows, and so on. Ever since Windows was created, it has been a pain in the ass to have to find the product key before the software can be installed. Nobody begrudges the need to put in a product key at some point soon after installation, and clearly Microsoft has heard the positive feedback from Vista's keyless install process loud and clear.
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