gHacks technology news » service pack 1

A Host of Tips – Week 1

joshua — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 06:43:57 +0000

As I read my feeds each day I see a whole lot of great little tech tips coming through, and often I want to share them, but that would mean either stretching a whole post out for just one little tip and that’s pretty lame.

So I decided something along the lines of what Martin does each week with his Software Updates, a compilation of the best tips I see around the blogosphere and some links to the original sources.

Make SP1 Permanent

I never knew of this till I found out on Life Rocks! 2.0 that there’s a file which you can use to make the Vista Service Pack 1 permanent. It’s useful once you’re confident everything it working fine as it cleans up the installation folders and files.

Restore ‘Search’ to Folder Context Menus

Thanks to some badgering from Google Microsoft removed the direct access to Search from the start menu and context menus. If you used these then the How-to Geek provides a registry hack to get it back.

5 Google Reader tips for Bloggers

gHacks author Daniel’s personal productivity blog, Hack Your Day, had a great article on how to use Google Reader efficiently. Always interesting and useful I recommend giving him a read.

FireFTP

As I have just re-installed Vista and my net is crippled to less then dial-up speed at the moment I haven’t been able to download FileZilla. After seeing it featured on the FF extensions page I decided to give FireFTP a try and have been impressed so far.

Tags: ftp, gmail, service pack 1, tips

XP SP3 and Vista SP 1 available through Windows Update

Daniel Pataki — Wed, 07 May 2008 05:24:11 +0000

I awoke to find that the new service packs for Windows XP and Vista are available through Windows Update Center. This will make installation much easier, although for XP users there’s less in it than there is for Vista people who could experience a significant speed boost.

The XP SP3 brings a lot to the table that has already been released as fixes or other Windows updates. Some features that are totally new are that activation is not required, Network Access Protection, Black hole router detection and a few more. Most of these are backports of Vista, but if you do have XP, why not download it?

Vista SP1 contains all kinds of updates, with solutions to many problems, additions and other fixes. For a full, detailed list read the Microsoft white paper on Vista SP1 and get downloading!

Tags: microsoft, service pack 1, service pack 3, Windows, windows-vista, windows-xp, xp sp3

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Update Errors

Martin — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:22:06 +0000

According to Microsoft there are eight known causes if Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is not offered in Windows Updates nor offered by Automatic Updates. While some of he causes do not provide much value like cause 1 which states that the operating system is already updated to Windows Vista Service Pack 1 some can be an excellent problem solver. Each cause comes with a method that resolves the issue.

The most common causes in my opinion are trying to upgrade to Service Pack 1 from a Vista version in an unsupported language, that a beta version of Service Pack 1 is still installed on the system and that vlite was used to create a custom Windows Vista installation DVD.

Even more interesting than those eight causes are the Help and Support options that are available without costs. Microsoft is offering support by email, live chat and even phone (with some limitations). It will be pretty interesting to see if Microsoft can keep the 1 day email response time. Live Chat is only available during certain hours of the day, surprisingly though it is available on Saturdays and even Sundays. Support is available free of charge until March 18, 2009.

Tags: microsoft, service pack 1, vista sp1, windows-vista

Cleanup Vista after Service Pack 1 installation

Martin — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:50:58 +0000

Users who download and install the service pack 1 for Windows Vista are most likely not reverting to the old state their computer was in unless something stops functioning properly due to the service pack installation. If everything turns out well you might like the following tip [found at Digital Inspiration] that cleans Windows Vista of old system files that are no longer needed because they have been replaced by newer versions.

The old files are kept in place just in case the user wants to revert back to the old system. The great thing about this tip is that Microsoft is providing the Windows Vista Cleanup Tool which is installed during service pack 1 installation.

The name of the file that you need to execute to cleanup Vista after the Service Pack 1 installation is vsp1cln.exe which is short for Vista Service Pack 1 Cleaner. Just execute it from the command line and select yes when you are asked if you want to continue. The old files will be removed from the system which frees some disk space.

The only drawback of this utility is that you cannot go back to Windows Vista pre Service Pack 1.

Tags: microsoft, service pack 1, vista, vista cleanup, vista service pack 1, windows-vista

Windows Vista SP1 Download

Martin — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:48:44 +0000

Microsoft finally released the standalone version of the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 for 32-bit and 64-bit systems. Both versions contain five languages which are English, German, French, Spanish and Japanese. The 32-bit Service Pack 1 download has a file size of 434 Megabyte while the 64-bit file size is 726 Megabyte.

This release is intended for system administrators according to Microsoft who wants that “normal” users download the service pack and all other patches through automatic updates and Windows Update. The update should already be available in Windows Update for most users. The download will be smaller than the standalone release because there is obviously only one language that needs to be patched

Users should also take a look at the Knowledge Base article at Microsoft that lists applications that are known to pose problems after installing Windows Vista Service Pack 1.

“Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) is an update to Windows Vista that addresses feedback from our customers. In addition to previously released updates, SP1 will contain changes focused on addressing specific reliability, performance, and compatibility issues; supporting new types of hardware; and adding support for several emerging standards.”

Tags: microsoft, patch, service pack 1, vista, Windows, windows-vista

Windows Vista SP1 breaks applications

Martin — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 08:17:03 +0000

Microsoft released a list of applications that will either stop working completely or work with reduced functionality after installing Windows Vista Service Pack 1. Among the applications that are blocked from starting after installing Windows Vista SP1 are Zone Alarm Security Suite and Trend Micro Internet Security.

The list at the Microsoft website contains only twelve applications but the count could be a lot higher considering that there is not a possibility that all known applications have been tested.

Microsoft asks users who encounter problems to try a restart first and see if that fixes the problem. If it does not it asks the users to update the application so that it will work without difficulties in Windows Vista SP1.

Tags: microsoft, service pack 1, vista, Windows, windows-vista

Windows Vista SP1 Refresh 2 is Vista SP1 RTM

Martin — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 17:38:48 +0000

Microsoft released the RTM version of the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 to manufacturers throughout the country about eight days ago and claimed that end users would have to wait until March before they would be able to download the long awaited Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista from the Microsoft servers. The reason for the delay were some bugs in some drivers that would be problematic for users without a technical background.

Well now there is a post on Windows Vista News by Mike Nash who clearly states that Windows Vista SP1 is indeed final and that Microsoft has no plans of changing the Service Pack 1 code prior to going public. The question that comes immediately to my mind is why the hell do they release the service pack 1 in March if it already is final ? Why are they claiming that some bugs have delayed the release of it when there clearly will be no changes prior to the public availability ?

The current release schedule for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 according to Mr. Nash will see a release later this week for Volume Licensing Partners and later this month to MSDN and TechNet Plus subscribers. I always had the impression that the latter were technical inclined enough to cope with possible driver issues. Maybe I’m wrong.

Tags: microsoft, service pack 1, vista, windows-vista

Windows Vista SP1 WGA Changes

Martin — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 10:44:13 +0000

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is almost there and Microsoft kept their word related to changes to the WGA, Windows Genuine Advantage, system currently in place in Windows Vista. There are actually two different scenarios in place, the first is called Reduced Functionality Mode which Vista will start in if the user does not activate the product in time.

The second is if a WGA check fails which will make Vista run in Non-Genuine Mode. Both modes impose certain penalties upon the user like logging him off after an hour or disabling features like Aero or Readyboost. Adrian posted the changes that users will face if they have Service Pack 1 installed.

The good news is that both modes described above are gone. Users will not be logged off automatically anymore which is great. Microsoft however decided to change tactics and nag the user to death – eh registration / activation – instead. Users will experience the following if their Vista installation fails the WGA check or if they fail to activate Vista in time.

A nag screen to activate at logon that cannot be dismissed for 15 seconds.
Every hour the desktop background is switched to black (it can be changed back, but after an hour it’s set to black again).
Activation dialogs and balloon dialogs appear regularly.
Optional Windows Updates aren’t delivered.

Tags: microsoft, service pack 1, vista, wga, windows-vista

Windows Vista SP1 will be released in March 2008

Martin — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 20:32:30 +0000

Microsoft finally made the announcement when the first – and very important – Service Pack for Windows Vista will be released. The released date for the Service Pack 1 will be in mid march. It will become available through Windows Update first and users with automatic downloads set to on will receive it in April. If you want to get your hands on the Service Pack before you have to manually access Windows Update and download the Service Pack there.

Only five languages will be available when it is released in march, those are English, French, Spanish, German and Japanese. All other languages will not be released before April as well. Manufacturers on the other hand are receiving the Service Pack in the coming days to integrate it with computers that ship with Windows Vista.

You might be asking now why Microsoft is not releasing the Service Pack to customers as well right now and delaying the release for another month. That is a very good question. According to Microsoft the reasons are the following:

There are a couple of reasons for this. Our beta testing identified an issue with a small set of device drivers. These drivers do not follow our guidelines for driver installation and as a result, some beta participants who were using Windows Vista and updated to Service Pack 1 reported issues with these devices. Because the issue was with the way the drivers were installed and not the drivers themselves, the solution was simply to reinstall the drivers. While this worked fine for our more technical beta testers, we want to deliver a better experience for customers as we make the update broadly available.

While we know that most customers who update from Windows Vista to SP1 will NOT be affected, our approach is to improve the experience for all our customers. To do this, we will begin making SP1 available through Windows Update in mid-March, giving us time to work with some of our hardware partners to make adjustments to the installation process for the affected drivers. As SP1 gets delivered through Windows Update, we will only offer it to PCs that we detect don’t have any of the affected device drivers installed. We’re taking the next month or so to continue our work of identifying as many of these devices as possible.

This is only one reason and the blog post is not specifying other reasons why Microsoft might be delaying the release of the first Service Pack for Windows Vista. Guess we all have to wait another month to finally download the final version. All beta and test versions have to be uninstalled before the final version can be installed.

Tags: service pack 1, vista sp1, vista sp1 download, windows-vista

Windows Vista SP1 Refresh 2 is out

Martin — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 10:25:04 +0000

Microsoft is picking up pace with yet another release of a beta version of the upcoming Windows Vista Service Pack 1. The so called Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Refresh 2 has been released to 15.000 beta testers just a few hours ago who are currently downloading it from Windows Updates.

A leak was posted on the Neowin forum but unfortunately deleted before anyone was able to copy the instructions which include changes to the Registry. It is in my opinion only a matter of time before the leak becomes public though. The question is if you really want to install a new Beta when the final version of the Service Pack 1 is rumored to be released on February 15th, which is a little bit more than three weeks from now.

Still, if you get your hands on the code that has been send out to the beta testers let us know in the comments so that everyone who would like to install this new version of the service pack may install it.

Tags: microsoft, service pack 1, Windows, windows-vista

Direct Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3 downloads

Martin — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 09:26:27 +0000

Enough with all those registry keys that had to be changed and dozens of restarts before users were able to download the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Release Candidate 1 or the Windows XP Service Pack 3 Release Candidate 1. This is all a thing of the past because Microsoft finally added both Service Packs as direct downloads on their website.

Please note that those downloads are still Release Candidates and not the real official Service Pack which will come out in the next year. I would not advise to download and install it unless you really now what you are doing and have backups of your settings in case something goes wrong.

Microsoft did release a document entitled: “Installing Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Things to Know Before you Install” which should be read before upgrading the system. It basically states that users have to uninstall prior installed versions of the Service Pack 1 before installing the new one, that the copy of Windows Vista has to be genuine, that this release is a time limited software which will no longer operate after June 30, 2008 and that it is a pre-release version of the upcoming Service Pack 1.

Four Download Links are available for the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 depending on the language of your installation and whether you use a 32-bit or 64-bit edition.

Download link of 32-bit Windows Vista Service Pack 1, 5 languages (English, German, French, Spanish and Japanese)
Download link of 32-bit Windows Vista Service Pack 1, all 36 languages
a href=”http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/f/7/2f7155c9-00f3-4bf0-be92-d308da28d69e/Windows6.0-KB936330-wave0-X64.exe”>Download link of 64-bit Windows Vista Service Pack 1, 5 languages (English, German, French, Spanish and Japanese)
Download link of 64-bit Windows Vista Service Pack 1, all 36 languages

Only one download for the Windows XP Service Pack 3 download is available which points to the English Service Pack.

via My Digital Life

Tags: service pack 1, service pack 3, windows-vista, windows-xp

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC1 Available

Martin — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 12:57:57 +0000

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.

Tags: service pack 1, vista, windows-vista

Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 1 released

Martin — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 16:03:49 +0000

Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 1 has been finally released – sort of – and can be downloaded from the Microsoft download website. The links are already up and it is only a matter of time when the links do not point to a Ups sorry link not found message but the real download link of the Office 2007 Service Pack 1.

I’m not sure why Microsoft decided to create the links first and wait with the page creation that those links lead to but it surely is annoying. The only link that is currently working is the Office Update link on the left side of the download center which requires a genuine Office 2007. The download links are not working right now.

Lets see what Microsoft has to say about the Service Pack 1 and the benefits for home users and businesses found in the Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 1 Whitepaper.

By deploying the 2007 Office system SP1, home users and businesses can quickly reap benefits in the following areas:
Stability. Using data from the Dr. Watson bug-reporting system, Microsoft fixed, at minimum, the five software bugs that most frequently caused each application in the 2007 Office system to crash. The 2007 Office system SP1 also improves the stability of server components in the 2007 Office system and compatibility with Windows Server® 2008, so companies can more confidently move forward with upgrade plans.
Performance. The 2007 Office system SP1 improves performance in applications that are pervasive in modern offices, most notably: Microsoft Office Excel® 2007, Microsoft Office Outlook® 2007, Microsoft Office PowerPoint® 2007, and Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007.
Security. By incorporating incremental advances in security and results from application testing, the 2007 Office system SP1 offers home and office users better protection against malicious software and potential threats to privacy

Here are my top picks that I think really make it worth to install the Service Pack 1 for Microsoft Office:

When inputting calculations that should result in numbers 65,534 through 65,536, Office Excel 2007 no longer returns the display error of 100,001
Office Outlook 2007 no longer closes unexpectedly when the junk e-mail rule is set to null.
Items moved from an offline folder file (.ost) to a personal folder file (.pst) now display properly in the preview pane.
When users try to open a presentation in Office PowerPoint 2007 from a Web site using forms authentication, the presentation will now appear properly.
With Office Word 2007, users can now open and edit embedded objects that contain other embedded objects.
Office Word 2007 no longer prints an extra page when users choose a printer with the duplex option enabled.
Improved performance in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 eliminates frustrating delays when opening large mailbox files and frees office workers to focus on important business tasks. The 2007 Office system SP1 makes it easier to open large offline folder files (.ost) and personal folder files (.pst) that are located directly on the user’s machine.

Here are the direct links to the Service Pack 1 downloads, as mentioned above they are not active yet but will be later today.

Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 1
Visio 2007 Service Pack 1
Project 2007 Service Pack 1

Calendar Printing Assistant for Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

Microsoft Office InterConnect 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

Microsoft Office Language Pack 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

Microsoft Office Project Language Pack 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer Language Pack 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

Microsoft Office Visio Language Pack 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

Microsoft Office Visio Viewer 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

The 2007 Microsoft Office Servers Service Pack 1 (SP1)

The 2007 Microsoft Office Servers Language Pack Service Pack 1 (SP1), 64-Bit Edition

Tags: microsoft-office, office 2007, service pack 1

Remove Evaluation Copy from Vista SP1

Martin — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:01:04 +0000

If you did update your version of Windows Vista with the latest release candidate of Service Pack 1 you might have noticed an annoying text in the lower right corner of your operating system stating Windows Vista (TM) Evaluation Copy. Build 6001 even if you are running a genuine version of Windows Vista.

The message is misleading and could be interpreted in the wrong way especially if more than one user is working with the computer or if it is used for presentation purposes. According to Microsoft this message is just a reminder for the user that he is using a release candidate of Service Pack 1 which will stop functioning eventually.

I suppose a user who did install the release candidate of Windows Vista knows that this is not the full version. The easiest way to get rid of the Evaluation Copy text is to exchange the file user32.dll.mui with a patched copy that has the text removed. This works only on English Vista editions however.

Download the patched file from My Digital Life and follow the instructions posted there. It basically requires you to get full administration rights for the file user32.dll.mui to be able to replace it with the patched one.

I would strongly suggest to create a backup copy of the file before you proceed. The result is that the Evaluation Copy message will no longer be displayed.

Tags: service pack 1, vista, windows-vista

Windows Vista SP1 Guides for IT Professionals

Martin — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 23:47:50 +0000

The long awaited Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista is scheduled for a release later this week and Microsoft is doing its best to provide everyone, from the end user to the it professional, with information about the upcoming service pack 1. Five documents in total have been released that address specific user groups.

Two of the documents, Deployment Guide for the RC1 Version of Windows Vista SP1 and Enterprise Guidance for Application Compatibility Testing and Windows Vista SP1, are clearly aimed at organizations and companies while the remaining three documents, Hotfixes and Security Updates in Windows Vista SP1, Notable Changes in Windows Vista SP1 Release Candidate and Overview of Windows Vista SP1, might also be interesting to end users who want to read more about the changes that the new Service Pack 1 will bring.

Even if you only look at the last three documents you might find this to be incredibly time consuming. Some of the noteworthy changes that I found are:

SP1 addresses issues many of the most common causes of crashes and hangs in Windows Vista, as reported by Windows Error Reporting. These include issues relating to Windows Calendar, Windows Media Player, and a number of drivers included with Windows Vista
Improves reliability by preventing data-loss while ejecting NTFS-formatted removable-media
Improves Windows Vista’s built-in file backup solution to include EFS encrypted files in the backup.
Improves the performance of browsing network file shares by consuming less bandwidth
Significantly improves the speed of moving a directory with many files underneath.
Improves performance over Windows Vista’s current performance across the following scenarios1:
• 25% faster when copying files locally on the same disk on the same machine
• 45% faster when copying files from a remote non-Windows Vista system to a SP1 system
• 50% faster when copying files from a remote SP1 system to a local SP1 system
Improves responsiveness when doing many kinds of file or media manipulations. For example, with Windows Vista today, copying files after deleting a different set of files can make the copy operation take longer than needed. In SP1, the file copy time is the same as if no files were initially deleted.
Improves responsiveness when doing many kinds of file or media manipulations. For example, with Windows Vista today, copying files after deleting a different set of files can make the copy operation take longer than needed. In SP1, the file copy time is the same as if no files were initially deleted.
Improves the time to read large images by approximately 50%.
Improves overall media performance by reducing many glitches.
Adds support for new strong cryptographic algorithms used in IPsec. SHA-256, AES-GCM, and AES-GMAC for ESP and AH, ECDSA, SHA-256, and SHA-384 for IKE and AuthIP
Adds full support for the latest IEEE draft of 802.11n wireless networking
With SP1, Windows Vista will report the amount of system memory installed rather than report the amount of system memory available to the OS. Therefore 32-bit systems equipped with 4GB of RAM will report all 4BG in many places throughout the OS, such as the System Control Panel. However, this behavior is dependent on having a compatible BIOS, so not all users may notice this change.

Download of the documents called
Windows Vista SP1 Guides for IT Professionals.

service pack 1

windows-vista

Download Windows Vista SP1 RC1

Martin — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 09:38:58 +0000

The registry tweaks to download previous versions Windows Vista Service Pack 1 do not longer have the desired results because Microsoft is already distributing the release candidate 1 of Windows Vista SP1 using Windows Update. The old keys that have been added to the Registry previously have to be removed and new keys have to be added.

The release candidate of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 should then be available via Windows Update. It might be that you will have to download some prior updates before the Release Candidate becomes available. It should be noted that this is only working on English editions of Windows Vista unless you tweak the Registry on non-English Vista editions to make Vista believe that you are using an English Vista.

Download the file Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Hack and unpack it to your Vista system. Executing the file will remove the old Registry keys that are no longer needed and add the new ones.

Another option would be to open the file in a text editor and manually remove and add the keys to the registry. Restart your computer afterwards and visit Windows Update. You will most likely be prompted to install three minor updates before you will see the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 in the list, those are:

Update for Windows Vista (KB935509) – v1.008
Update for Windows Vista (KB938371) – v1.028
Update for Windows vista (KB937287) – Build 6001.17052

Make sure you restart your computer after each update even though you will not get a prompt to do that.

Now you will see Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Release Candidate 1 – Build 6001.17052 in the update list. Download and install it normally to update your system to Service Pack 1.

via My Digital Life

Tags: service pack 1, vista tip, windows-vista

Download Windows Vista SP1 Beta through Windows Update again

Martin — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 08:41:02 +0000

Microsoft quickly closed the hole that allowed all users with a fully patched English version of Windows Vista to download the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 through Windows Update. What they did however as well was to open another way for their beta testers to download the service pack which is now available for everyone again.

If you want to download and test Windows Vista SP1 you can do so with a few Registry tweaks. At the end Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta 6001.17036 v. 652 should be available and ready for download.

Please be aware that this is a beta version of the new service pack. It could lead to problems and should only be downloaded by users who know how to fix them.

Download a zip here which contains the necessary registry keys to allow the computer to download Windows Vista SP1 through Windows Update. Take a look at it first, maybe backup your Registry.

Execute that bat file as an administrator by right-clicking it and selecting Run As Administrator. Start Wndows Update afterwards and go through the process three times in total downloading (KB935509) – v1.005, (KB937287) -Build 6001.17036 (x86) and (KB938371) v1.018 in each consecutive try.

The computer has to be rebooted after every try which means that you start Windows Updates three times and reboot the computer as many times as well. Once this is done you start Windows Update once again and Windows Vista SP1 Beta – 6001.17036 (x86) should appear on that list.

Download it as well and reboot the computer afterwards. Et Voila, the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta has been installed on your system.

Users who already have an older version of the Service Pack 1 installed have to uninstall it before they can download the new one. Just use the normal way to uninstall a software.

Special thanks to FredBone and The Hotfix

Update:

The SP1 beta is no longer available, take a look at Download Windows Vista SP1 RC1 for the newest working hack.

Tags: service pack 1, vista tip, windows-vista

Download Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta

Martin — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 08:30:20 +0000

If your itching to get your hands on the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 you could try the following fool-proof method that downloads the new service pack right from the Microsoft Windows Updates server. Currently, only a beta version for Windows Vista is available but that is probably better than nothing at this time.

Apparently, all you need to do is to install a small registry fix which will then display the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta as an available update at Windows Updates. The Service Pack 1 adds a watermark to your screen saying ‘Evaluation copy, Build 6001′ which can be removed with another script as well.

You should be aware that this is a beta version of the Service Pack for Windows Vista which means that it could harm your computer or files. I know that some of you guys still want to give it a go and I can fully understand that. Everyone else who is probably working with a Vista computer right now should probably better wait until the Service Pack is officially released by Microsoft.

Downloading Windows Vista Service Pack 1 from Windows Updates:

Download Windows Vista Service Pack and unpack it to your system.
Run SP1Beta_Hack.cmd with administrator privileges and Windows Updates afterwards. It should show KB935509 which you should download and restart afterwards.
Run Windows Updates again, it should display KB937287. Download and restart your PC afterwards.
Run Windows Updates for a third time. Download the now appearing KB938371, restart your computer.
Finally, visit Windows Updates again and you should see the Service Pack 1 Beta for Microsoft Windows Vista available for download.

Removing the Evaluation Copy message:

This is fairly easy to accomplish. Run watermark_fix.reg first
Rename user32.dll.mui to user32.dll.mui.old in C:\Windows\System32\en-US\
copy user32.dll.mui from the archive to that location
Reboot Windows Vista

Several websites claim that this is the legal way to download Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta. I’m not a lawyer and can only use my judgment here but I really can’t see a huge difference between downloading the Service Pack from Torrent sites or the Microsoft website. Both are not really authorized downloads somehow.

Update:

The old hack is not working anymore, visit Download Windows Vista SP1 Beta through Windows Update again for a working hack.

Tags: hack, microsoft, service pack 1, Windows, windows-vista

Another Vista Service Pack 1 build leaks out

Martin — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 16:18:51 +0000

Microsoft was never good at keeping data for themselves and it is no coincidence that yet another build of the upcoming service pack 1 for Windows Vista is now available through various means such as Usenet, P2P networks and ftp sites. The size of the 32-bit service pack 1 of Windows Vista is about 720 Megabyte while the 64-bit service pack 1 has one of about 640 Megabyte.

Both versions of service pack 1 for Windows Vista are shipped as executables and can be installed on any RTM version of Windows Vista, be it 32-bit or 64-bit. I would not suggest to go out and search for this release and install it on a computer that you work with because it is still a beta release and not a final one.

Unpacking the service pack reveals more than 1.7 Gigabyte of data and the installation seems to need three restarts before it finishes. In case you are wondering: I did not install the service pack 1 but found the information at blog.

Tags: service pack 1, service pack 1 download, vista sp1, windows-vista

gHacks technology news » service pack 1

A Host of Tips – Week 1

FireFTP

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