
Just finished a set of tests, and everything checks out so far. It takes some time to make, and a few things (within my limited knowledge) are post-install updates. The result is at this time with the update pack, 4 critical updates and a few MCE updates are required when freshly installed.
I followed this hidden gem: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/For ... bc995105c8 to slipstream SP3, however I copied the CMPNENTS\MEDIACTR from the 2nd CD to the cd-in-making after the slipstream. All tests at this point came out positive, beside the fact WMP9 was installed instead of 10.
Moving onto Nlite and updates, the most compatible SP3 Update back is "XPSP3_QFE_UpdatePack for Windows XP Post-SP3", here on these forums. Also since MCE needs .NET 1.1, I had very good success integrating DotNetFx_All_In_1_Addon_v2.4.7z into the it. IE8 will also install if integrated using the addon from http://www.winaddons.com/nlite-addons (13 min installer)
At this point, IE8 and a ton of SP3 updates are installed, which leaves WMP and MCE components to deal with.
Method 1 (Most failsafe): Download & Install WMP 10 (MP10Setup.exe) from Microsoft. Then you should be able to run Windows Updates, install the 2005 Update Rollup 2, reboot, then install Oct2006 Update Rollup and WMP11 setup
Method 2 :
I used YumeYao's YumeYao_WMP11_Addon_ENU_V3_2_1.7z to integrate WMP 11
Download Update Rollup 2 (KB900325). Run the program. After it extracts it should give you a warning with a YES/NO selection. At this time, browse to the extracted contents (something like c:\522nsdtn34blahblahblah). Run KB900325.exe. It should install, but don't reboot. Close out of the previously running install (hit NO on that YES/NO prompt). You should be able to use windows updates and install the Oct2006 Update Rollup. However WMP 11 will show up once again in Optional on Windows Update (WMP11 for MCE). Doesn't seem to hurt to install it again.
Why I couldn't integrate 2005 Update Rollup 2: 1) I'm a n00b. 2) The updater part of the setup checks to see if MCE is installed, and the WinAPI command GetSystemMetrics doesn't work during the GUI setup
Again, I've had no install errors this way, and the two computer systems I have and virtual machines are running stable at this time