Copied this from WZOR


Subject: Clarifying SP2 piracy policy
From: "Gary Schare [MS]" <gschare@online.microsoft.com>
Sent: 8/6/2004 2:24:52 PM
There have been a number of discussions on this newsgroup regarding whether SP2 will install on non-genuine (aka "pirated") versions of Windows. Here is the official Microsoft position on this topic:
We expect that nearly all Windows XP users, running genuine or pirated Windows, will have access to the security technologies in SP2. The same users that were blocked from installing SP1 - those that have used a small set of legacy pirated product keys - will be blocked from installing SP2. We believe that there are very few systems in use today that use these keys -- in other words, the pirates have moved on to other keys which we are not blocking.So how do we charaterize our policy?
We want to make sure that the broadest number of people can install SP2. The nature of malicious attacks on computer users is constantly changing and we will continue to evaluate how we deal with security updates for pirated versions of Windows to best protect our genuine Windows customers.
Thanks,
Gary Schare
Microsoft.

I will vouch personally that I have seen SP2 install and function on pirated keys!

Yes, the actual service pack will install on a pirated copy. BUT (note the caps) as the illegal codes are recognized, the auto update feature will NOT work. You will get a web page that says your key is not valid and you'lll be redirected to the MS Piracy web site where you can "report" the source of your key. Now I'm almost positve that the IP of your computer will be logged so use your best judgment here.

Peace

Looks to me like the best way to update in the futute is to use the Autopatcher from these guys: http://www.autopatcher.com

They're awesome, and it will save the hassle of dealing with any surprises from MS!