Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC1 Available

The time of patching the Windows Vista Registry to be able to download the first release candidate of the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is over. Microsoft made the download of the Service Pack 1 Release Candidate 1 publicly available. The funny thing is that the process to download the Service Pack 1 of Windows Vista is almost the same that we described earlier already.

You need to download a patch from Microsoft that adds a key to the Registry that makes the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 available in Windows Updates. After rebooting the computer Microsoft advises the user to download all security patches that have been previously released, this is important to be able to continue with the Service Pack 1 download. It might take up to 10 minutes after rebooting the system before the next patches become visible.

After installing the patches the user needs to download updates that prepare the system from Windows Updates several times rebooting after each before the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 download becomes available.

Download the self extracting executable and extract its contents to a folder on your computer. Run the script on an elevated prompt.
Install all pending “Important” updates and reboot. You may have to do this several times to get fully up to date.
Install Update for Windows (KB937287) and Update for Windows (KB938371) as they are offered sequentially
• The first package that will be offered is Update for Windows (KB937287) and it does not require a reboot.
• Check for updates on Windows Update again, install and reboot when prompted for Update for Windows (KB938371). You may need to wait 10 minutes and re-scan again if it does not show up right after reboot.
Install Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (KB936330).
• Check for updates on Windows Update again, install and reboot when prompted for Windows Vista Service Pack 1. You may need to wait 10 minutes and re-scan again if the package does not show up right after the previous reboot.
• This process will typically take from 30 minutes to 1 hour but may take longer on some systems.