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Users made to jump through hoops for Vista SP1
Microsoft makes RC1 a real test.
By Gregg Keizer, Computerworld US
Published: 06:43 GMT, 13 December 07
Microsoft has released the preview of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) to the general public. However, the company has not made it easy for users, requiring them to go through an elaborate process involving multiple reboots before they can download it.
The long-awaited Vista SP1 Release Candidate (RC), where any user running a valid copy of Vista can grab it, said the company. Microsoft first seeded preliminary copies of the service pack to thousands of by-invitation-only testers in September.
"Today we made the SP1 RC available to the public on Microsoft's Download Center," a company spokeswoman said. "Because Windows Vista SP1 will be available to hundreds of millions of customers, we want to make sure we get a breadth and depth of customer feedback. By increasing the test base of SP1, this helps customers ensure [there] will be a thoroughly tested product at RTM [release to manufacturing]."
To get the release candidate, however, users must jump through the hoops detailed in a document posted to Microsoft's support website. "Systems running on Windows Vista RTM require as many as three updates before SP1 can be installed," the document warns. "Windows Update will detect your system configuration and offer the prerequisite packages that are applicable to your system."
Before doing that, however, a script must be downloaded and run. The script sets a registry key required for Windows Update to sniff out the system as eligible for a SP1 RC update. After that, two additional updates are necessary - each followed by a reboot of the operating system - before Microsoft's servers confirm that the machine is suitable for SP1. Only then do they offer the download.
According to Microsoft, when Vista SP1 is offered to users normally through Windows Update, the prerequisite steps will have already taken place automatically over several nights. Microsoft has not set a definitive release date for SP1, other than to promise that it will launch sometime in the first three months of 2008.
The SP1 release candidate will have to be uninstalled before applying the final code in 2008, Microsoft warned as it also issued an odd caution on the subject. "After you uninstall Service Pack for Windows (KB936330), we recommend that you wait at least one hour before you try to install the final release of Windows Vista SP1," another support document read.
The company also noted that SP1 RC will expire at the end of June 2008.
To begin the process of updating a Vista-powered PC to SP1 RC, users should follow these instructions.
Not everything planned for the final version of SP1 has made it into the release candidate, however. Major changes to Vista's anti-piracy scheme outlined only last week are not included, for example.
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Add your commentComments
bulldog | Published: 11:05 GMT, 14 March 2008
Windows is crap & an impediment to progress. It is ugly & stupid. Windows is made by evil people. Anyone who can't see that must be 3/4 brain dead. The only difference between Micro$oft Windoze & a bucket of shit is the bucket. And if you don't agree with me, you probably are a retard, or work for Micro$oft, or both.
forrestcupp | Published: 19:57 GMT, 19 December 2007
Why should new OS's run faster on the same hardware? I'd like to see someone run Ubuntu Gutsy with all it's flashy features on the same hardware that was common when Ubuntu Hoary came out. Don't tell me it would be faster.
Patrik | Published: 11:38 GMT, 15 December 2007
James, you have a point but you totally missed mine. Even if I have tuned vista for hours and turned all that eye candy off it still doesn't deliver performance or stability to be usable. My hardware meets the recommended requirements so who should I blame? Sony for shipping Vista with my VAIO TX5 or Windows for claiming that Vista is fast enough for my system. I've been using Windows since the late 80's and this is by far the worst version of them all! The sad thing is that I'm stuck with Vista since there are programs I need that depends upon it.
Don | Published: 14:59 GMT, 14 December 2007
No One- When I said this is not anti-MS propaganda, I was simply trying to point out the difference between propaganda (spin) and fact. The fact is that Vista, as XP was before it, is loaded with problems, leaving the end user responsible for obtaining and installing the "fixes". This is like having your car recalled but being told where you, the owner, can go to pick up the parts and get complete installation instructions. By the way, I am a PCLinuxOS user at home and a Debian user at work. Although I work closely with the department and pushed hard for PCLinuxOS workstations, our IT guys prefer Debian.
No one | Published: 14:06 GMT, 14 December 2007
Don, don't you think there is something wrong with spending hundreds of $$$ on a software program that is buggy, and the anticipated update a year later doesn't fix your problems? Don't you think that there is something wrong with having to disable the latest-n-greatest from this software just to make it useable, albeit slower than the now-equivalent functionality of the previous version? Wouldn't you want to know about alternatives, and how other companies have managed to overcome these obstacles that Microsoft can't seem to jump over? I would.
Don | Published: 13:16 GMT, 14 December 2007
I think a lot of you are missing the point here... this is not anti-Microsoft propaganda... the end user spends hundreds of dollars on an operating system and then has to download more the 400mb to fix it 10 months after the purchase. And not everything is fixed. There are some "enhancements" but the enhancements are things that didn't work well enough to be included in the release that they planned to issue the "fixes" for. I will remind you that according to various reports, Microsoft was working on these "fixes" before the original release.
sdaemon | Published: 06:55 GMT, 14 December 2007
just get the technet release (v.668) and install it. It's a single executable and it does the job in 2 restarts (at least on my machine). The benefits of SP1 are huge, I cannot imagine myself working on a not SP1 Vista.
Dean | Published: 20:33 GMT, 13 December 2007
Stop it already! This is a discussion about SP1 RC. It is not a place for your anti-MS propoganda. Go get a job with Linux if you want to be a salesman for them. Linux is great if you want to run five apps. I'm glad you're using Linux. Go talk on on a Linux forum. Maybe you guys can have a group hug. Seriously! You are right... a RC is supposed to be what they are ready to ship if all feedback is positive. However, I've read that SP1 is not going to be subject to activation like they did with XP SP1. It is going to be like XP SP2 where anybody (even those with illegal copies) can get it.
Slar | Published: 20:10 GMT, 13 December 2007
DRM, WGA, bugs, incompatibilities, activation, no consumer privacy, and being at the mercy of a hapless non caring software giant, these are a few of the reason I would never buy or run Vista. Its now officially easier to find a Linux distro and run that.
SW | Published: 20:07 GMT, 13 December 2007
I did like liff said, and I'm so happy I did. Still need to use this XP machine from time to time, but Linux is way easier to use than MS products.