Need SP2 for wireless?

I emailed the place i bought my laptop from and asked why my wireless doesnt work.

They replied and said that i need to install XP SP2 because SP1 doesnt have wireless options

I have never heard of this before.. is he just having me on?

I hate SP2 and will go to great lengths to never install it.

 

You don't need SP2 for wireless. But there is no reason to hate it or not install it (now, that is - in the beginning there were quite a few glitches with it).

You do need SP2 for the wireless network icon in the system tray to look wireless and not the same as the regular network icon. Also, if you don't have SP2 and want to use WPA, you need to download a patch.

 

I would just get SP2 if you can, you can avoid all the things then that you have to do if you have SP1.

If not, you will have to do what Dr said

 

I hate all the extras that come with SP2, including that disastrous annoying firewall.

The laptop is detecting my wireless adapter, but Im not picking up any networks.
I dont know if thats just because there are no networks, or if the whole thing just isn't working.

 

The firewall is not disastrous and it can be turned off easily. But that's a side note.

Best way to test your adapter is to make sure it is on (the fact that it's detected doesn't mean that it is on) and go to a place where you KNOW there is a wireless network.

 

i am not sure where the disdain for SP2 is coming from but i feel that it is a bit easier when you float to different networks (libraries and coffee houses mostly) to have it. The bugs in the initial release for it have been worked out.

 

simply put, for me to support a client system it has to be up to date..including SP2. 95% of the time I turn off the firewall but there is no reason to not got to SP2.

and no SP2 is not at all required for wireless. It does have a better GUI for the wireless though.

 

No reason not to get SP2 and every reason to get it ... if you want to access Windows Updates. But, no, it is not needed for wireless.

 

Windows Updates are available for SP1 as well.

 

Thats right

Last time I used SP2 (last year) you could not turn off the firewall, it just kept popping up all the time no matter what I tried.
Has that changed now?

 

Yea I couldnt get rid of that as well, so I decided to go into the services.msc and completely disabled the entire secutrity centre...that solved the problem

 

So disabling in services actually removes the whole thing from view?

Im tempted to install it now.. I just know I cant uninstall if I dont like it.

 

During an SP2 install, there is the option to be able to roll it back if something doesn't work right.

 

I installed SP2 at least 4 times on different machines now (sometimes using WinXP CD with integrated SP2, sometimes downloading from the web), and every time disabling the security center annoyance was a matter of three mouse clicks - you just tell it ignore firewall, antivirus and auto-updates. Then disable autoupdates and the firewall.

 

Ok, thats good.
Like I said I have not seen it since last year, nice to know its a little more customisable now.