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Since support for Windows XP has ended, anyone with an occasional need to run up an XP machine will be wise to make sure it at least has all the possible updates that were made available before support ended.

The obvious way to do this is to keep running Windows Update until it says no updates are currently available.

Rather than rely on negative confirmation though, I'd like to be able to check and ensure the latest update is actually installed. But what's the KB identifier for the last XP update? I've been googling to try and find out, but without any success.

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  • I'd be inclined towards the limiting factor that anyone still on XP didn't check the last KB available, nor possibly the prior 150 updates. People stay on XP because they got it free & never updated anything….
    – Tetsujin
    Jun 14, 2015 at 20:06
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    It's KB # UPGRADE-TO-A-MODERN-OS. In seriousness, the latest XP update is known to not cover several vulnerabilities. If you value system security, get off the sunken ship and start swimming. Jun 14, 2015 at 20:43
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    So what's your strategy going to be? You'll simply check whether the last released KB is installed (no matter whether it was important or optional) and conclude that the system has all updates installed?
    – Karan
    Jun 14, 2015 at 21:01
  • @Karan, while it's true that the presence of the latest update doesn't prove all previous updates are installed, that's an ever-present issue with any version of Windows, not just XP post-EOL. I don't think that makes it pointless to check if the latest update's present.
    – Reg Edit
    Jun 15, 2015 at 6:07
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    I still don't see the advantage of doing so.
    – Karan
    Jun 15, 2015 at 6:42

3 Answers 3

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You still can use extended support from Microsoft as a paid service. So to answer this question properly would be that updates for XP are still rolling.
Yes that's not the answer, but you can still get these updates for free, by changing your product. Licence won't be broken, and it still will look and behave as XP. But it's difficult to say if it's 100% legal.

Microsoft reaction to this is that this product shift will not fully protect you from security issues, but no mention about that it would be against the licence.
To switch to POSREADY, you only need to change one registry value and updates will continue to come possibly for few more years. Read the supposed MS reaction and how-to switch XP to POSREADY

And please, no comments about XP being old, and advises to 'just switch to new OS'. There are many reasons someone might still want to have working XP around. Old laptop, or dedicated system, kiosk, or just running as VM for fast testing

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    This is not an answer to the question posted. Jun 15, 2015 at 0:35
  • I believe this answers the question - there is no last KB number because new ones are still released.
    – gronostaj
    Jun 15, 2015 at 7:20
  • "Windows XP customers also run a significant risk of functionality issues with their machines if they install these updates, as they are not tested against Windows XP. "
    – DavidPostill
    Jun 15, 2015 at 10:55
  • thanks @DavidPostill, that is relevant information to be noted. There are no issues with installations I have so far and I think that the adj. "significant" was used just to discourage users from doing this. But I agree the risk of functionality issue is valid.<br />
    – papo
    Jun 15, 2015 at 14:11
  • @papo Yes, I think the key words are not tested. I would never install untested software ;)
    – DavidPostill
    Jun 15, 2015 at 14:14
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What is the KB number for the final XP Windows Update?

https://technet.microsoft.com/library/security/ms14-021 (kb2965111) seems to be the last.

I wasn'table to find any newer out-of-band updates for Windows XP.


Support for Windows XP ended on April 8, 2014.

Source What does it mean if Windows isn't supported?


Out-of-band fix for Internet Explorer zero-day flaw now available -- for XP, too.

That was fast: Microsoft today released an emergency patch for a previously unknown Internet Explorer vulnerability revealed over the weekend that was discovered being exploited by a cyber espionage group out of China.

In a surprise twist, Microsoft included a patch for IE on Windows XP, the older operating system it no longer supports as of last month.

Microsoft was under pressure for a quick fix to the flaw (CVE-2014-1776), which came just after it ended support for Windows XP, prompting advice from UK and US CERTs for users to consider using alternative browsers until IE got its patch. The bug, a "critical" memory corruption vulnerability, according to Microsoft, was spotted being used in drive by web attacks. It affects IE versions 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11, and basically allows an attacker to remotely run code on a targeted machine.

Source Microsoft Issues Emergency Patch for IE, Covers XP


MS14-021 (Released out-of-band on May 1, 2014) Security Update for Internet Explorer (2965111)

This security update resolves a publicly disclosed vulnerability in Internet Explorer. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted webpage using an affected version of Internet Explorer. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the current user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.

Source Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for May 2014 (CVE-2014-1776)

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  • Hmm, at https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/kb/2965111 it says, "The update that this article describes has been replaced by a newer update. We recommend that you install the most current cumulative security update for Internet Explorer. To install the most current update, visit the following Microsoft website: windowsupdate.microsoft.com"
    – Reg Edit
    Jun 14, 2015 at 20:27
  • @RegEdit Yes, but there were no later out of band updates for Windows XP that I could find.
    – DavidPostill
    Jun 14, 2015 at 20:42
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If you're still looking in 2017, this is the latest: KB4012598

XP 32-bit: Security Update for Windows XP SP3 (KB4012598) (May 15th, 2017) https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=55245

XP 64-bit: Security Update for Windows XP SP2 for x64-based Systems (KB4012598) (May 13th, 2017) https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=55250

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  • But those links don't say anything about being the latest.They just say "A security issue has been identified in a Microsoft software product that could affect your system. You can help protect your system by installing this update from Microsoft."
    – Reg Edit
    Sep 18, 2017 at 6:26

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