installationisoservice-packwindows
We know that it is possible to directly install Windows OS (or any OS) using ISO image without extracting it to a local folder by an end user.
I am using Oracle VirtualBox for creating multiple instance of Windows OS and all the time I have to extract and then install the Service Pack whose ISO image is kept in a central server machine.
So, is it possible to install a Windows Service Pack from an ISO image without extracting it to a local folder by the end user?
"Real" service programs have code to handle performing cleanup and shutdown activities. You're running a program that wasn't intended to be run as a service, and it has no such code to handle graceful termination when the Service Control Manager (SCM) signals that the service is stopping.
Somebody could write a nice service wrapper for VirtualBox that could gracefully handle running as a service. That's the real solution. Unfortunately, you're not going to come up with a "hack" that will do what you're looking for. SRVANY (and every other program of the same type that I'm aware of) doesn't have any capability to execute user-specified code when SCM signals that the service is stopping.
Best Answer
For each Windows OS, there are three types of ISOs you can download from MSDN or VLSC: the base install ISO containing the original (RTM) version of the OS; the service pack ISO containing only the service pack, which must be installed on a running system; and finally the latest ISO containing the OS already updated with the latest service pack (and/or additional updates).
The service pack ISO can only be used to update a running system; but if you download the latest ISO (usually described as such, otherwise you can just look at the release date) you can use it to install the most recent release of the OS.
For example, for Windows 7 you have:
For Windows 8.1, which doesn't have any service pack (yet), there still is an updated ISO which already contains several updates, including the major ones.