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DOWNLOAD MICROSOFT WINDOWS VISTA SERVICE PACK 1
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta Whitepaper here.
Make sure you have a LOT of bandwidth, or a lot of time. Better yet, plan on having both. Microsoft officially released Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1). It will be pushed out via Windows Update for those who have Automatic Updates configured. Be prepared though. The SP1 download is estimated at nearly 700Mb. Take your time getting that cup of coffee, or maybe go see a movie while it is downloading. Like Vista itself, SP1 has generated some conflict and controversy regarding what it is supposed to achieve, and how well it achieves it. Many have had mixed success in terms of the performance improvements promised by Microsoft. Here is an in-depth look under the hood to see what Vista SP1 is supposed to do and how it does it.
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Top Six Tips Before you Install Vista SP1
After considerable rumor and speculation, numerous false starts, and not a small amount of frustration on the part of consumers, Microsoft has released Windows Vista Service Pack 1 into the wild.
The bundle of updates, which includes all updates released for the OS since its debut in February 2007, is now available for download via Microsoft’s Windows Update service.
The easiest way to get your hands on Vista SP1 is to sit back, relax, and let Microsoft Update grab it for you. However, if you can’t wait, you can get the standalone update in a 32-bit version or a 64-bit version.
Mixed Results
PC World’s in-house tests with the release-to-manufacturing (RTM) version of Vista SP1 have shown mixed results. In file copying tests, the service pack proved noticeably faster than the original Vista OS. Other tests, on the other hand, showed little improvement (or actually performed worse than Vista without the service pack). For instance, our preliminary file compression tests showed a decrease in performance with SP1 installed.
Overall, we found Microsoft’s claims of dramatic performance enhancements to be somewhat overstated. PC World continues to evaluate the performance impact of Vista SP1, and more test results will be forthcoming.
Microsoft promises performance and power consumption improvements in many aspects of the Vista user experience, including better performance while browsing network file shares, improved power consumption, faster loading of large images, and faster searches.
In addition to intended performance improvements, Service Pack 1 comes with a number of low-level enhancements such as support for the Extensible Firmware Interface and Extended File Allocation Table. It also includes improved compatibility with some hardware and software. Many users will be pleased to find that SP1 also removes the reduced functionality mode that disables computers which have not been activated through Microsoft.
Who Needs Vista SP1?
Third-party software companies will have mixed reactions to SP1. While it will open up access to the built-in search functionality for third-party desktop search apps, it has already raised problems for some third-party security software vendors whose utilities have been disrupted by the update.
On the security front, the service pack enables single sign-on for authenticated wired networks, which should streamline the end user experience in enterprise environments, in addition to many other updates.
While most users are likely to find Vista SP1 benign (if not beneficial), some organizations–such as large corporate IT departments–may wish to wait a while before deploying this software update. To do so, administrators should download the Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool, which will prevent the service pack from being installed. This tool creates a registry key entry that can be later removed by the administrator, and can be run remotely across a network.
Vista Crash Video Corruption SP1
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Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) FAQ
Major update: Microsoft has finalized Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) and released it to manufacturing. This FAQ has been updated to reflect the final release, and Microsoft’s schedule for getting this code into the hands of its users.
While most Windows service packs are hardly worth discussing, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) has been steeped in mystery almost since before Vista itself was completed. With Vista, Microsoft has engineered a new update deployment technology that allows administrators and power users to "slipstream" service packs and other fixes into new Vista installations in a manner that is much simpler than with previous Windows versions. But the real issue with SP1 is in how Microsoft has mishandled the dissemination of information about this release. For this reason, and because there are so many silly rumors floating around, I’ve created a FAQ for Vista SP1 that will be updated as new information is released. If it’s not in this FAQ, it’s just speculation.
Q: What is Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1)?
A: Windows Vista SP1 is the first major update to Windows Vista, a collection of bug fixes, minor functional changes, and other additions to Microsoft’s latest operating system. As is the case with Vista, however, the feature set for SP1 has changed dramatically over time. Originally, Microsoft hoped to ship a Media Center update with SP1 but this update will no longer be included in SP1. Indeed, from an end user point of view, there won’t be any major functional changes added to Vista with SP1.
Q: Why all the secrecy?
A: During a Microsoft briefing in 2006, I was told that the company planned to ship SP1 alongside Windows Server 2008, which is exactly what happened. However, in the interim, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer twice publicly disavowed any knowledge that the company had even considered releasing such an update. The first time he said this was at the Windows Vista business launch in November 2006, and I was in the audience at the time. My guess is that Ballmer didn’t want to discuss SP1 then because the company’s corporate customers typically wait for the first service pack release of an OS before upgrading. Microsoft was hoping that with Vista, companies would upgrade on the initial release and not wait for a service pack. Now we know that Microsoft’s corporate customers are proceeding as they always do, so Microsoft begrudgingly begun discussing SP1.
In late August 2007, Microsoft finally came clean about SP1 by officially announcing the update and explaining its feature set, such as it is. That release is now complete. However, for over a week after the finalization of SP1, Microsoft continued to be secretive about how it would ship this release to customers. That information, finally, is now public as well.
Q: What features are included in Vista SP1?
A: The following end-user features are included in Windows Vista Service Pack 1:
1. A collection of previously-released and new security fixes, bug fixes, and other minor updates.
2. An update to the Windows kernel to bring the Vista kernel (version 6.0) up to date with the version in Windows Server 2008 (version 6.1).
3. A change to the Kernel Patch Protection ("PatchGuard") feature in the Vista kernel that prevents security companies like McAfee and Symantec from integrating as tightly with the OS as they could in previous Windows versions. This will include a set of APIs aimed at helping developers write code that interacts with this security feature.
4. A change to Vista’s Instant Search feature that will allow third party desktop search product makers to more closely integrate their products with Windows Vista. In the initial shipping version of Vista, the Instant Search indexer still runs at full speed even if a third party product is installed, reducing overall system performance.
5. A change to Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) that will remove the Reduced Functionality Mode (RFM) and Non-Genuine State (NGS) mode for Vista installs in expired non-activated and non-genuine states. See New WGA Behavior in Windows Vista Service Pack 1 for more information about this change.
And folks, that’s about it. For a more complete rundown of SP1’s features, please read my showcase, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Revealed.
Q: Surely there’s more to Vista SP1?
Actually, yes. In addition to the obvious functional changes listed above, Vista SP1 includes a number of low-level changes that improve the overall Vista experience in a number of ways. These include:
Device compatibility is up dramatically, from a bit over 40,000 compatible devices to just under 80,000 devices today with SP1. The number of logoed devices–devices that are certified by Microsoft to work properly with Vista–is also up dramatically, from about 2000 at launch to over 17,000 today. Microsoft director Chris Flores pointed out to me that the improvements to Vista’s drivers aren’t limited to sheer numbers, either: Improvements to video, audio, and other drivers have actually improved the battery life on laptops from several major PC makers by an average of 7 percent.
Application compatibility, too, improves significantly with SP1. While this area includes consumer-oriented applications, incompatible enterprise applications were the big deployment blockers over the past year. In the past year, Microsoft and its partners have remediated over 150 enterprise application blockers: These are applications that previously prevented one or more corporations from upgrading to Vista.
Reliability is up in Vista SP1, too, Microsoft says. Flores described the company’s telemetry data, which allows it to analyze various system disruptions in Vista, including such things as non-responding applications, application hangs and crashes, and system crashes. Compared to the release version of Vista, SP1 more than doubled the mean number of hours between disruptions, from about 17 hours to about 34 hours.
File copy improvements. One of the biggest complaints users have had with Windows Vista concerns file copy operations, both locally on a single PC and over networks. Microsoft isolated the cause of these and provides the fixes in SP1. A number of areas are affected, including the performance of file copy operations and system responsiveness during these operations. According to the latest data, file copy operations are 44 to 71 percent faster with SP1 than they were under the original version of Vista. Microsoft has also improved the speed at which Vista resumes from Sleep or Hibernation in SP1.
Security is another oft-discussed aspect of Vista, and Microsoft points to a number of recent studies of the system compared to rival OSes and its own predecessor, Windows XP. "Users are far less likely to be infected with malware or spyware on Vista," Flores told me. "We’re really happy how Vista stacks up, security-wise." One interesting item that came up during the development of SP1: The highly-criticized User Account Control (UAC) feature in Vista only needed to be changed in two small ways for SP1 because Microsoft’s data shows that the majority of consumer sessions don’t require any UAC prompts at all after the first 30 days of use.
Q: When will Microsoft release Vista SP1?
A: This is where things get confusing.
Microsoft announced the RTM, or finalization, of Windows Vista SP1 on February 4, 2008. However, it is releasing the update in a staged fashion. How and when you can get this update will depend on a number of factors. Here’s how it breaks down.
Upgraders. Those wishing to upgrade an existing Windows Vista-based PC to SP1 will be able to do so in mid-March 2008 or in mid-April 2008, depending on their hardware configuration. Apparently, Microsoft discovered a small number of device driver issues late in SP1’s development, so it needs some time to fix those before it can ship SP1 to systems with that particular hardware installed. If you enable Windows Update to automatically download updates and do not have any of the affected hardware installed, you’ll be getting SP1 in mid-March. Otherwise, it will be mid-April. And no, Microsoft is not announcing which hardware is the problem, sorry.
Standalone downloads. The standalone versions of the SP1 downloader will be made available in mid-March.
Preinstalled on new PCs. New PCs with Vista and Service Pack 1 will appear on store shelves "in the coming months." PC makers began receiving the SP1 code on February 4, 2008, but it will likely take a few months before new PCs based on that code hit the market.
Retail copies of Windows Vista with Service Pack 1. If you’re hoping to buy a retail, boxed copy of Windows Vista with SP1 preinstalled, those versions of the system will also replace the initial Vista release on store shelves "in the coming months."
Enterprise customers. Corporate users who participate in Microsoft’s volume licensing programs will receive DVDs with Vista and SP1 integrated in the coming weeks. Microsoft says they are manufacturing these disks immediately.
International users. On February 4, 2008, Microsoft RTM’d only the English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese language versions of the update. The remaining languages Microsoft supports will be released to manufacturing in April and ship worldwide after that.
Q: Why the convoluted release schedule?
A: Microsoft says that it identified some hardware incompatibilities late in the testing phase for SP1 and wants to correct those issues–reportedly related largely to networking hardware–before shipping SP1 to customers. The company expects to complete this work between mid-March and mid-April. So customers without the affected hardware will get SP1 first.
Q: Any word on when Microsoft will ship the much-need "Fiji" Media Center update?
A: No, when I last spoke with the Media Center team, I was told that Microsoft shipped a Media Center update every year around the holiday season and they would try to keep doing that. At the time, SP1 was expected by late 2007, so the delivery schedule made sense. Right now, it’s unclear if the Media Center update will ship out of band by itself to Vista users this year or as part of a set of related updates (like "XP Reloaded" from 2005) later on. What is clear is that it will not ship as part of SP1.
Q: Where can I learn more about Vista SP1?
A: My Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Revealed showcase includes a detailed rundown of everything that’s Microsoft will deliver in Vista SP1. Also, stayed tuned to my Vista Activity Center for the latest information: My review of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 will be available soon.
–Paul Thurrott
July 25, 2007
Updated September 3, 2007; December 13, 2007; February 4, 2008; February 12, 2008
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Vista SP1 will deliver big network speed boost
I downloaded the release candidate of Vista Service Pack 1 yesterday and was prepared to wait till its public debut next week before writing about it. But after upgrading a few machines here and doing some tests, I changed my mind. If Microsoft’s decision to ditch the WGA kill switch in SP1 didn’t convince you, would you be interested in a 300% increase in tripling your network file transfer speeds?
Forget the reports you might have read about SP1 resulting in no performance boost. That story was based on a silly artificial benchmark involving scripting of Office applications. Back here in the real world, where gigabit network connections are now commonplace, you’ll see at least one huge improvement when transferring files over network connections.
In its original release, Vista had some design problems with its networking stack, resulting in slow file transfers, especially when connecting to computers running Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, or Windows Home Server (all three of these products share a great deal of their code base, including core networking components). In Vista SP1, file transfer speeds are dramatically improved. In this post, I’ll describe what I saw.
I did two sets of file-transfer tests using two separate systems configured to dual boot between Vista RTM and the new Vista SP1 release candidate. Both systems have dual- or quad-core processors (both in the Intel Core 2 Duo family) The first group of files consisted of two large DVD images in ISO format, totaling 4.2 GB. The second group of files was a folder filled with more than 3,000 files of all types, in 299 subfolders, totaling roughly 6.5 GB.
For the first test, I transferred the two groups of files from a shared folder on an HP MediaSmart Windows Home Server to the two test systems running Windows Vista RTM, recording the total transfer time for each one. Then I rebooted the two systems into an SP1 installation and repeated the test. I converted the times into throughput rates; here’s the result (note that bigger bars equal higher throughput and thus better performance):
As you can see, the file transfers under Vista SP1 were dramatically faster than the Vista RTM times. For the directory full of many small files, the performance increase throughput was more than 300%; for the large files, the speed increase was roughly 260%. Note that you can expect similar results when transferring files from Vista to systems running Windows XP or Windows Server 2003.
For the second set of tests, I performed transfers between the two machines running equivalent versions of Windows Vista: RTM to RTM, SP1 to SP1. Here, the results were less dramatic. For the folder full of small files, the throughput rate increased by about 50% under SP1, and the large files transferred slightly slower, although still faster than the transfer from Windows Home Server.
When I spoke with Microsoft about this phenomenon a few months ago, they explained that the issue was caused by a design change in Vista that eliminated the buffering used by XP and its siblings when transferring files over a network. Bypassing the cache read-aheads and deferred writes makes for better disk-to-disk performance and provides better control over how much data you’re pushing over the network, but the mismatch slowed down transfer speeds in Vista RTM. That’s been addressed effectively in SP1, as these results show.
Unfortunately, the other big Vista networking issue doesn’t appear to be addressed in SP1. If you run an application that uses the Multimedia Class Scheduler (such as Windows Media Player), you’ll continue to see a performance hit when transferring files over gigabit network connections. For more details, see this explanation from Microsoft’s Mark Russinovich and earlier test results from ZDNet’s Adrian Kingsley-Hughes.
But when I fired up Windows Media Player while a network file transfer was in operation I saw a sharp drop in throughput when the music began playing and then saw throughput pick back up when WMP was closed.
Even with the “release candidate” label, this is still a beta, so I can’t recommend SP1 yet unless you’re willing to assume the risks that come with beta software. But so far, the results I’m seeing are extremely encouraging.
Ed Bott is an award-winning technology writer with more than two decades’ experience writing for mainstream media outlets and online publications. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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When developing Windows Vista, Microsoft set out to provide higher levels of productivity, mobility, and security, with lower costs. After more than six months of broad availability and usage, it’s evident that these investments are improving the Windows computing experience. For example, in the first six months of use, Windows Vista had fewer security issues than Windows XP (Windows Vista had only 12 issues, and Windows XP had 36). According to the Windows Vista 6-Month Vulnerability Report by Jeffery R. Jones, Windows Vista had fewer security issues than all the popular operating systems he studied.
Although most companies are cautious when deploying a new operating system, many have already started testing and evaluating Windows Vista for deployment, and some have already deployed Windows Vista into their production environments and begun seeing the business benefits Windows Vista can provide.
Microsoft’s efforts to provide the best Windows experience ever in Windows Vista did not end with its launch. This white paper describes the ways Microsoft strives to continuously improve Windows Vista. It then introduces Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) and describes how the service pack will fit into the ongoing improvement process.
Organizations do not need to wait for SP1 to deploy Windows Vista; they are encouraged to begin their Windows Vista evaluation and deployment now:
- Organizations currently evaluating and deploying Windows Vista should continue their evaluation, pilot programs, and deployment on the initial ("Gold") Windows Vista release. Microsoft provides the tools and guidance needed to deploy Windows Vista today and will provide additional guidance, tools and support for moving to SP1 when the service pack is released.
- Organizations just starting to evaluate Windows Vista should plan a pilot program, targeting the PCs that gain the most business value from Windows Vista (for example, many organizations will find that mobile PCs get the most benefits) and present the simplest upgrade from the gold release of Windows Vista to SP1 (How to Start a Windows Vista Pilot Deployment describes best practices for running a pilot).
- Organizations waiting for Windows Vista SP1 should start their compatibility testing on the gold release of Windows Vista now, and then begin their evaluation and pilot programs on the release candidate of Windows Vista SP1 when it is released. Windows Vista includes architectural changes relative to Windows XP that improve security and reliability. These changes can cause some applications which work on Windows XP not to work on Windows Vista. However, these architectural changes are also part of Windows Vista SP1. For this reason, testing applications on Windows Vista today will be a very good proxy for compatibility with Windows Vista SP1.
Improving the Customer Experience
Microsoft uses Windows Vista instrumentation to learn what issues affect customers most and then address the issues. This instrumentation includes the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) and Online Crash Analysis (OCA), both of which are opt-in, anonymous services. Microsoft not only uses this information to fix Windows Vista issues, but it also shares this information with software and hardware vendors so they can fix application compatibility and device driver issues.
The traditional service packs with which most organizations are familiar are only one way that Microsoft improves the Windows experience. Continuous improvements to the Windows Vista experience come from numerous channels, including ongoing updates, application compatibility improvements, and device driver improvements. The following sections describe each of these channels in detail.
Ongoing Updates
Ongoing updates address some of the most important issues affecting Microsoft customers. For example, Microsoft recently released two performance and reliability updates that address issues reported by customers (see Microsoft Support articles 938194 and 938979). Microsoft already delivers these and many other Windows Vista updates through various channels, including:
- Windows Update
- Microsoft Download Center
- Private updates for enterprise customers and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners
Organizations choose which updates they want to deploy and the methods for deploying them-using Windows Update, for example. Enterprises are more likely to deploy updates using Windows Server® Update Services (WSUS), Microsoft® System Center Configuration Manager 2007, or third-party tools.
Application Compatibility Improvements
Microsoft is making steady progress toward resolving application compatibility issues by engaging with independent software vendors (ISVs) to get major applications-such as antivirus and virtual private networking (VPN) applications-working on Windows Vista. Since the launch, more than 70 major enterprise applications have moved to Windows Vista. These include applications from ISVs like Adobe, Citrix, Oracle, Sun, HP, LANDesk, and IBM. Hundreds more applications have been tested and remediated by ISVs that visited the Microsoft ISV application compatibility lab for weeklong engagements. As a result of these efforts, nearly 2,100 applications now have the Windows Vista logo, (see Figure 1). Applications that are Certified for Windows Vista are designed and tested to deliver a superior experience with PCs running the Windows Vista operating system so software is easy to install, better performing, and more secure, while products that have earned the Works with Windows Vista logo have been tested for baseline compatibility with PCs running the Windows Vista Operating System.
Figure 1. Applications with the Windows Vista logo
In addition to helping ISVs resolve application compatibility issues, Microsoft provided robust tools at the Windows Vista launch to help information technology (IT) professionals assess and mitigate problems with existing applications. The primary tool they use is the Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.0.. To help make migrating to Windows Vista easier, Microsoft has created the Application Compatibility Factory (ACF) that connects its enterprise customers with selected partners that deliver high volume, low cost application compatibility and remediation services.
Device Driver Improvements
Device compatibility is also important to Windows Vista customers. As shown in Figure 2, device driver coverage continues to grow for Windows Vista. Microsoft has added 700,000 new device types since the initial Windows Vista release in November 2006. Including device drivers in the box and those available from Windows Update, by July 2007 Windows Vista supported nearly 2.2 million devices. That covers the vast majority of devices in use. The number of Windows Vista logo devices exceeds 10,000, and the growth is outpacing Windows XP.
Figure 2. Device driver coverage for Windows Vista
Introducing Windows Vista Service Pack 1
In addition to regular Windows Vista updates, application compatibility improvements, and device driver improvements, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) is another way Microsoft will deliver improvements to the Windows Vista customer experience.
The goal of Windows Vista SP1 is to address key feedback Microsoft has received from its customers without regressing application compatibility. Windows Vista SP1 will deliver improvements and enhancements to existing features that significantly impact customers, but it does not deliver substantial new operating system features. For example, the service pack improves the performance of the desktop shell, but does not include a new version of Windows® Media Center.
The updates in Windows Vista SP1 fall into three categories, which the following sections describe in detail:
- Quality improvements, including all previously released updates, which address reliability, security, and performance.
- Improvements to the administration experience, including BitLockerTM Drive Encryption (BDE).
- Support for emerging hardware and standards, such as an Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) and an Extended File Allocation Table (exFAT).
Quality Improvements
Quality improvements have the broadest impact on all customers. It is the foundation of Windows Vista SP1 and is about improving the overall Windows Vista experience.
First, Windows Vista SP1 will include all previously released updates for Windows Vista. It also will include security, reliability, and performance improvements. These improvements target some of the issues Microsoft has identified as the most common causes of operating system crashes and hangs, giving customers a more reliable experience. These updates also improve performance in key scenarios-for example, when copying files or shutting down the computer.
The following sections describe many of the security, reliability, and performance improvements that will be in Windows Vista SP1.
Security
Security improvements that will be in Windows Vista SP1 include:
- Provides security software vendors a more secure way to communicate with Windows Security Center.
- Includes application programming interfaces (APIs) by which third-party security and malicious software detection applications can work with kernel patch protection on x64 versions of Windows Vista. These APIs help ISVs develop software that extends the functionality of the Windows kernel on x64 computers without disabling or weakening the protection offered by kernel patch protection.
- Improves the security of running RemoteApp programs and desktops by allowing Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) files to be signed. Customers can differentiate user experiences based on publisher identity.
- Adds an Elliptical Curve Cryptography (ECC) pseudo-random number generator (PRNG) to the list of available PRNGs in Windows Vista.
- Enhances BitLocker Drive Encryption (BDE) to offer an additional multifactor authentication method that combines a key protected by the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) with a Startup key stored on a USB storage device and a user-generated personal identification number (PIN).
Reliability
Windows Vista SP1 will include improvements that target some of the most common causes of crashes and hangs, giving users a more consistent experience. Many of these improvements will specifically address issues identified from the Windows Error Reporting tool. The following list describes some of the reliability improvements that Windows Vista SP1 will include:
- Improved reliability and compatibility of Windows Vista when used with newer graphics cards in several specific scenarios and configurations.
- Improved reliability when working with external displays on a laptop.
- Improved Windows Vista reliability in networking configuration scenarios.
- Improved reliability of systems that were upgraded from Windows XP to Windows Vista.
- Increased compatibility with many printer drivers.
- Increased reliability and performance of Windows Vista when entering sleep and resuming from sleep.
Performance
The following list describes some of the performance improvements that Windows Vista SP1 will include:
- Improves the speed of copying and extracting files.
- Improves the time to become active from Hibernate and Resume modes.
- Improves the performance of domain-joined PCs when operating off the domain; in the current release version of Windows Vista, users would experience long delays when opening the File dialog box.
- Improves performance of Windows® Internet Explorer® 7 in Windows Vista, reducing CPU utilization and speeding JavaScript parsing.
- Improves battery life by reducing CPU utilization by not redrawing the screen as frequently, on certain computers.
- Improves the logon experience by removing the occasional 10-second delay between pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL and the password prompt displaying.
- Addresses an issue in the current version of Windows Vista that makes browsing network file shares consume significant bandwidth and not perform as fast as expected.
Administration Experience
Many of the changes in Windows Vista SP1 will improve the deployment, management, and support experience for Windows Vista customers. The following list describes some of these enhancements:
- BitLocker Drive Encryption encrypts extra local volumes. For example, instead of encrypting only drive C, customers can also encrypt drive D, E, and so on.
- Addresses problems with printing to local printers from a Windows® Terminal Services session.
- The Network Diagnostics tool will help customers solve the most common file sharing problems, in addition to the basic problems that it already diagnoses.
- Administrators can control the volumes on which to run Disk Defragmenter.
In addition to these changes, Windows Vista SP1 will change the tools that customers use to manage Group Policy. Administrators requested features in Group Policy that simplify policy management. To do this, the service pack will uninstall the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) and GPEdit.msc will edit local Group Policy by default. In the SP1 timeframe, administrators can download an out-of-band release that will give them the ability to add comments to Group Policy Objects (GPOs) or individual settings and search for specific settings.[1]
Emerging Hardware and Standards
The technology industry is fast-paced and constantly changing. Throughout the life cycle of any version of the Windows operating system, the industry creates new hardware innovations and defines new standards. Windows Vista SP1 will include support for some of these new hardware innovations and standards, because Microsoft expects them to become increasingly important in the near future. The following list describes some of the enhancements of Windows Vista SP1 that will support these emerging innovations and standards:
- In the future, flash memory storage and consumer devices will use the exFAT file system. Windows Vista SP1 adds support for this file system to Windows Vista.
- The service pack will include support for Secure Digital (SD) Advanced Direct Memory Access (DMA), which will be on compliant SD host controllers soon, to improve transfer performance and decrease CPU utilization.
- x64 PCs can boot using the EFI. Windows Vista currently supports network boot by using Windows Deployment Services for x86, a PC’s basic input/output system (BIOS) for x64 PCs, and EFI for IA-64 PCs. Windows Vista SP1 will add support for network boot by using x64 EFI.
- The service pack will add support for Direct3D 10.1, adding application programming interfaces (APIs) and features that enable 3-D applications, so game developers can better take advantage of a new generation of Direct3D graphics hardware.
- The Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol (SSTP) is a remote access tunneling protocol that will be part of the Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS) platform. This protocol helps provide full-network virtual private network (VPN) remote access connections without challenges that other protocols face when traversing NATs, Web proxies, and firewalls. Windows Vista SP1 will include support for SSTP.
Evaluating Windows Vista Service Pack 1
In key areas, Windows Vista SP1 will compare favorably to earlier Windows service packs. Windows® 2000 Service Pack 4 (SP4) and Windows XP SP1 both made limited changes to the user interface and had limited impacts to application compatibility. Both service packs were small in download size. Windows XP SP2 was an exceptional case, as noted in the next paragraph. It significantly impacted the user interface and application compatibility, and was large in download size. While Windows Vista SP1 is still in beta, Microsoft’s intention is that it will make limited changes to the user interface, have limited impact to application compatibility, and the Windows Update and WSUS download size will be small.
The purpose of Windows Vista SP1 is different from the purpose of Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). Windows XP SP2 was a special update — Microsoft recognized that it was in a unique position to address new and emerging security threats, and the service pack was the best answer. To address these threats, Microsoft incorporated significant, well-considered changes into the service pack, which had a significant impact on application compatibility. For example, the service pack enabled Windows Firewall by default, causing some applications to fail until the customer configured the exceptions in the firewall. However, Microsoft determined that the security benefit far outweighed any challenges the changes caused to end users and administrators. (Likewise, moving from Windows XP SP2 to Windows Vista introduced new, well-considered changes, such as User Account Control, which impacted compatibility).
Although Windows Vista SP1 does compare favorably to earlier service packs, specific benefits have certain costs:
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Benefits |
Tradeoffs |
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The standalone service pack will include all languages. It can update all PCs running Windows Vista -regardless of language[2].
Componentization brings benefits such as the ability to uninstall updates in any order more reliably.
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The standalone package will be large (1 GB for x86).
Installing the service pack will require a large amount of free disk space (7 GB for x86 and 12 GB for x64). However, most of this space will be reclaimed after installation. |
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SP1 will improve the performance, reliability, and other areas of Windows Vista.
Windows Vista contains a significant amount of files shared with Windows Server 2008 and therefore benefits from the continual improvements made during the Windows Server 2008 development cycle.[3]
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SP1 will change a significant number of files; customers cannot apply SP1 to offline Windows Vista images. |
Deploying Windows Vista Service Pack 1
Windows Vista SP1 will support a number of deployment scenarios and methods, which the upcoming Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Deployment Guide will describe in detail. This section provides an overview of the delivery methods that Windows Vista SP1 will support.
Windows Vista SP1 will support the following delivery methods:
- Express. Requires an Internet connection but minimizes the size of the download by sending only the changes needed for a specific computer (approximately 50 MB for x86-based operating systems).
- Stand-alone. Recommended for computers with limited Internet connectivity and for applying the service pack to multiple computers. The download size is larger than the express package, but customers can apply a single package to any Windows Vista version and language combination (within a platform). Distribution tools like System Center Configuration Manager 2007 use stand-alone packages to deploy Windows Vista SP1.
- Slipstream. The slipstream version of Windows Vista SP1 is media that already contains the service pack, which companies can use to deploy the operating system to new computers or to upgrade existing computers. Availability will be limited. Microsoft will update Windows Vista retail media with Windows Vista SP1 slipstream media in the future. Slipstream media will also be available to Volume Licensing customers.
For express and stand-alone deployment methods, Microsoft recommends the following:
- Laptops must be plugged in to an AC power source.
- A minimum of 7 GB free disk space on the boot partition, which contains the Windows operating system files, for x86-based operating systems and a minimum of 12 GB free disk space for x64-based operating systems.
- The stand-alone deployment method requires administrative credentials.
Summary
Customers can take advantage of all that Windows Vista has to offer by evaluating and deploying the operating system now. They do not need to wait for Windows Vista SP1. Windows Vista enables higher levels of productivity and mobility than earlier versions of Windows, and it helps lower the cost of ownership.
Customers currently evaluating and deploying Windows Vista should continue their evaluation, pilot programs, and deployment on the currently available version of Windows Vista. Microsoft provides the tools and guidance customers need to deploy Windows Vista today and will provide additional guidance, tools, and support for moving to Windows Vista SP1 when Microsoft releases it.
Customers just starting to evaluate Windows Vista should plan a pilot program based on the original release and then move to a pilot or deployment when Windows Vista SP1 becomes available. Pilot programs are an effective way to introduce the operating system into the production environment. Pilot testing is best performed on PCs that present a high business value or a simple upgrade path.
Customers waiting for Windows Vista SP1 should start their compatibility testing on the currently available release of Windows Vista now, and then begin their evaluation and pilot programs on the release candidate of Windows Vista SP1 when it is released. Windows Vista includes architectural changes relative to Windows XP that improve security and reliability. These changes can cause some applications which work on Windows XP not to work on Windows Vista. However, these architectural changes are also part of Windows Vista SP1. For this reason, testing applications on Windows Vista today will be a very good proxy for compatibility with Windows Vista SP1.
See the whitepaper How to Start a Windows Vista Pilot Deployment today to get started moving to Windows Vista so that your organization can begin taking advantage of the benefits that Windows Vista provides.
[1] Beta testers will find that after installing Windows Vista SP1, they no longer have access to GPMC, and that the new, enhanced version of GPMC has not yet been released. In this case, administrators can continue to edit Group Policy by opening a remote desktop session directly to the server or to a PC running the release to manufacturing (RTM) version of Windows Vista.
[2] The Windows Vista Service Pack 1 package is platform specific. Each platform (x86 or x64) requires a separate package.
[3] Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 have been built from the same fundamental source code base since the beginning. Many of the core files are identical between the two products, although each product has unique features, specific individual files and functional behaviors that are appropriate for the intended customer uses for the specific product. For example, Windows Media Center only appears in Windows Vista, while Active Directory or Windows Clustering only appear in Windows Server 2008. Examples of common files shared between the two operating systems are the kernel and core OS files, the networking stack, file sharing. In the past year since the Windows Vista public release, the common files in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 have been continually improved based on customer beta feedback, customer deployments, and Microsoft internal testing.
The earlier reports on Vista SP1 were right on mark as Microsoft has announced their plans to release the final version of Vista SP1 in the first quarter of 2008. The Redmond giant has already delivered Vista SP1 to a group of approximately 12,000 beta testers. If you are thinking that the Service Pack 1 will at last provide major interface improvement or some cool new features then you’re in for a disappointment as the new version focuses on "improving performance, reliability and application compatibility." The most unexpected change comes in Windows search function as integrating third-party programs (such as Google Desktop Search) is much easier now. It extends support for emerging hardwares such as the exFAT file system, Direct3D 10.1, and Secure Digital (SD) Advanced Direct Memory Access (DMA).
Microsoft also claims that the SP1 edition will speed up copying and extracting files, make PCs return more quickly from Hibernate and Resume modes, and improve laptop battery life by reducing CPU utilization. It’ll also beef up computer security and fix problems that Windows Vista has encountered with newer graphics cards.
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