Users have the option to download the Windows 7 Service Pack from Microsoft’s Download Center or use Microsoft’s Windows Update service to directly install it from within the operating system.

The latter option has several advantages for users who only need to update the operating system on a single computer. The biggest advantage is that it requires less disk space on the hard drive Windows 7 is installed on.

Check out our Windows 7 SP1, All You Need To Know, And Do guide for detailed information about the space requirements and other service pack related information.

Is there anything that you specifically need to take care of before installing the operating system update? Microsoft recommends several things, from scanning the computer for malicious software to updating the device driver and backing up important data before installing the update. Our guide has details on all recommendations so make sure you check it out if you have not already.

The service pack has already been posted on Microsoft’s Download Center. Windows users can download it in iso format right now. Remember that the download includes both the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack. It is necessary to burn the iso to DVD first before the update can be installed. Make sure you select the right language before you start the download. The process requires genuine validation.

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (KB976932) [download]

Windows® AIK for Windows® 7 SP1 [download]

The disk image has a size of nearly 2 Gigabytes.

Microsoft has not enabled the service pack yet under Windows Update. We keep you informed once that happens.

Update: Users can now install the service pack via Windows Update as well.

Windows 7 users need to click on Start > All Programs > Windows Update for that.

Why would someone want to download the service pack right now? Most users are likely better of by waiting for the official release announcement by Microsoft. They can then download and install the Windows 7 SP1 from official sources. Another reason why it may not be necessary to install the service pack right away is the fact that it does not offer many new features or improvements that were not available before.

The list of new features is short:

• Additional support for communication with third-party federation services
• Improved HDMI audio device performance
• Corrected behavior when printing mixed-orientation XPS documents
• Enhanced support for additional identities in RRAS and IPsec
• Support for Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX)
• Change to behavior of “Restore previous folders at logon” functionality

Some users, especially developers and system administrators, may want to have early access to the final service pack for a chance to test it thoroughly before it is deployed on computer systems.

The service pack can only be installed on RTM versions of Windows 7. It has to be noted as well that any Service Pack 1 betas or RC releases need to be uninstalled first before the final release can be installed on the computer.

Windows 7 SP1 RTM is available as a download at Softpedia.

Service Pack 1 Beta is made only available for IT Professionals and Developers, it is therefor required to pick an IT or developer related occupation in the questionnaire during registration.

windows 7 sp1 download

Windows 7 SP1 is offered for 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 7. Supported languages are English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish.

The service pack is offered via Windows Update or as a 1.2 Gigabyte standalone iso image which needs to be burned to DVD before it can be used. It has to be noted that the beta will expire on June 30, 2011. Users with the beta installed need to upgrade to a newer build by then or uninstall the SP1 beta.

windows 7 service pack

All selections on the download screen will trigger a Java applet that is initiating the download to the local computer system.

We have uploaded the 32-bit and 64-bit updater to Ghacks for your convenience.

• WUSignUpTool_x86
• WUSignUpTool_x64

Executing the download enables the system to receive the Service Pack 1 Beta via Windows Update. It can take a while before the update shows in Windows Update. We had to download one important update first before the Windows 7 Service Pack 1 Beta was offered in Windows Update.

Windows 7 users who install the beta via Windows Update will notice that it’s size is considerably smaller than the size of the ISO image.

windows update windows7 sp1

Interested users should read the FAQ over at Microsoft which answers common questions.

The beta can be uninstalled without affecting the operating system. Microsoft is providing uninstallation information on this page.

The easiest way to uninstall SP1 Beta is using Programs and Features.

If you’ve used the Disk Cleanup Wizard since you’ve installed SP1 Beta, the backup files needed to uninstall the service pack might have been removed from your computer. If that’s the case, then use System Restore to uninstall the service pack.

1.

Click the Start button Picture of the Start button, click Control Panel, click Programs, and then click Programs and Features.
2.

Click View installed updates.
3.

Click Service Pack for Microsoft Windows (KB 976932), and then click Uninstall.

If you don’t see Service Pack for Microsoft Windows (KB 976932) in the list of installed updates, or if the uninstall option is disabled, use System Restore to uninstall the service pack.

Additional resources of interest:

• Deployment Guide for Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 and Windows 7 with SP1 [link]
• Documentation for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 Beta (KB976932) [link]

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 does not add new features to the operating system. This alone should be reason enough for most users to stay away from the beta and wait until the final version is released before upgrading.

If you have installed the beta, what’s your impression of it?

• Windows Explorer crashes and then restarts when you access a third-party Control Panel item.
• You cannot connect to an instance of SQL Server Analysis Services from an application in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2 after you install Office Live Add-in 1.4 or Windows Live ID Sign-in Assistant 6.5.
• Windows Explorer may stop responding for 30 seconds when a file or a directory is created or renamed after certain applications are installed.
• The Welcome screen may be displayed for 30 seconds when you try to log on to a computer if you set the desktop background to a solid color.
• You are not warned when you delete more than 1000 files at the same time. Then, the files are deleted permanently and are not moved to the Recycle Bin.

The update is available on Windows Update and directly from the Microsoft website. Below are the download links:

• Windows 7 32-bit
• Windows 7 64-bit
• Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Itanium

The downloads require a genuine operating system. Additional information are provided at the update’s Knowledge Base article.

The reason for this is to give their users an option to use the Windows XP mode to run software that is not running on Windows 7. Windows XP Mode required a processor with hardware virtualization support when it was introduced which meant that some computer users were not able to make use of it.

Users can find out if their PC is supporting hardware virtualization by downloading Microsoft’s Hardware Assisted Virtualization Tool.

Microsoft announced that they had removed the hardware virtualization requirement of Windows XP Mode two days ago and that they would make a patch available so that ever Windows 7 user with the right edition could make use of Windows XP Mode in the operating system.

The patches have now been made available for 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 7. Once installed they remove the requirement of hardware virtualization which gets rid of error messages like “Unable to start Windows Virtual PC because hardware-assisted virtualization is disabled” and “Cannot start Windows Virtual PC Host Process. Check the System event log for more details” which users experienced previously.

A genuine validation check is performed before the download becomes available.

Update for Windows 7 (KB977206)
Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB977206)

Install this update to remove the prerequisites required to run Windows Virtual PC and XP mode

Have you been making use of the Windows XP Mode in Windows 7? If so how was your experience?

The update improves the anti-piracy detection of the Windows 7 operating system and it could turn many illegally activated Windows 7 systems into a system that is not activated with all the consequences if the activation period has been passed.

The update will detect more than 70 different activation exploits and act accordingly if hacks have been used to activate Windows 7.

The Update is designed to run on all editions of Windows 7, although we will distribute first to the Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise editions. It will be available online at www.microsoft.com/genuine beginning February 16 and on the Microsoft Download Center beginning February 17. Later this month, the update will also be offered through Windows Update as an ‘Important’ update.

The update at this point is voluntary meaning that users can but must not install it. Data that is transferred to Microsoft servers during the checks will not include any identifiable information according to a blog post at the Windows Team blog.

How does it work? Once installed, the Update protects customers by identifying known activation exploits that may affect their PC experience. If any activation exploits are found, Windows will alert the customer and offer options for resolving the issue – in many cases, with just a few clicks. Machines running genuine Windows 7 software with no activation exploits will see nothing – the update runs quietly in the background protecting your system. If Windows 7 is non-genuine, the notifications built into Windows 7 will inform the customer that Windows is not genuine by displaying informational dialog boxes with options for the customer to either get more information, or acquire genuine Windows. The desktop wallpaper will be switched to a plain desktop (all of the customer’s desktop icons, gadgets, or pinned applications stay in place). Periodic reminders and a persistent desktop watermark act as further alerts to the customer.

It is important to know that the customer will see no reduced functionality in their copy of Windows – a customer’s applications work as expected, and access to personal information is unchanged. The Update will run periodic validations (initially every 90 days). During validation, Windows will download the latest ‘signatures’ that are used to identify new activation exploits – much like an anti-virus service. When tampering, disabling, or missing licensing files are discovered, the WAT Update runs a check and repair weekly to ensure that the licensing files are properly repaired.

According to the blog post the activation update is being released to protect customers from the risks of activation exploits. Microsoft cites a recent stury done by German company Media Surveillance that 32% of over 500 hundred downloaded copies of Windows 7 and Windows 7 activation exploits contained malware.

It will be interesting to see if and when Microsoft decides to make the update mandatory.

Paul Thurott discovered a way to perform a clean install of Windows 7 using Windows 7 Upgrade media and to activate it with just a simple tweak which can be applied in the running operating system.

According to Paul all that needs to be done after performing the initial clean installation of Windows 7 is the following:

After performing the clean install, ensure that there are no Windows Updates pending that would require a system reboot. (You’ll see an orange shield icon next to Shutdown in the Start Menu if this is the case).

Then, open regedit.exe with Start Menu Search and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE/

Change MediaBootInstall from “1″ to “0″.

Open the Start Menu again and type cmd to display a shortcut to the Command Line utility. Right-click this shortcut and choose “Run as administrator.” Handle the UAC prompt.

In the command line window, type: slmgr /rearm

Then tap ENTER, close the command line window and reboot. When Windows 7 reboots, run the Activate Windows utility, type in your product key and activate windows. It should just work.

There you have it. An easy way to do a clean install of Windows 7 using an upgrade DVD. This is obviously only legal if you own a previous Microsoft operating system that’s supported by the Windows 7 Update program.

This essentially means that no data will be taken over automatically to the new operating system. Experienced Windows XP users should not have a problem installing Windows 7. They also should not have a problem backing up and moving their data to the new operating system. Inexperienced users on the other hand might wonder how they can move their pictures, music, emails and applications to the new operating system.

If you are running Windows XP on a computer system currently and want to upgrade to Windows 7 you basically have a few choices which largely depend on the storage capacities of the computer system. The easiest way would be to backup all data, format the hard drive and install Windows 7 afterwards. Some users might not like this solution. They could alternatively create and install Windows 7 on a second partition to create a dual booting operating system until all data from Windows XP has been moved to Windows 7.

Backup Data

We covered Windows Backup Software (Hard Drive Backup Software) before here at Ghacks. Both applications can be used to backup a hard drive. This obviously requires another storage device with enough hard drive space to transfer all of the data. It might be a good idea to backup the data even if you have the intention to install Windows 7 on a different partition. This might be less important for individuals but should be essential for business computers.

Installing Windows 7

We recommend to install Windows 7 on another partition or hard drive at the beginning. This will essentially create a dual-boot system with the option to switch between Windows XP and Windows 7. This is the easiest way to keep the Windows XP data for the time being as Windows 7 will not overwrite or tamper with the data of the Windows XP installation.

The other option would be to format the partition containing Windows XP and install Windows 7 on the (now) empty partition. The data of the Windows XP partition would be gone for good if it would not have been backed up first.

The third option is to install Windows 7 on the Windows XP partition without formatting the hard drive first. Most computer savvy users do not recommend this option as it can lead to all kinds of troubles and problems. It has virtually no benefits as the programs and applications of Windows XP cannot be used in Windows 7 without reinstalling them.

Moving data from Windows XP to Windows 7

Microsoft has created a tool called Windows Easy Transfer
which can be used to transfer data from Windows XP to Windows Vista. The application should also work in Windows 7 as Microsoft recommends it in the Windows 7 installation guide. The software can be used to transfer data over network, usb cable or disk to another operating system. It will copy files like music or pictures but also emails and settings to the new operating system.

If Windows 7 has been installed on a second partition or hard drive data can simply be copied by dragging and dropping it to the new partition. Some data might need to be imported, for example web browser bookmarks or emails. Please note that it is usually not possible to move installed applications to the new operating system. It is necessary to install them again when the new operating system is running.
If backups have been created the data can also be restored or extracted from the backups to the new operating system.

Verdict:

Inexperienced users will find it troublesome to move data from their old operating system to Windows 7. Microsoft should make sure to include a step by step guide prior to the release of Windows 7 that explains how to migrate the data to the new operating system.

If you run into troubles you can visit our sister site Windows 7 News or the Windows 7 Forum to find help with the migration and other Windows 7 related difficulties.